| For Immediate Release Jul 23, 2004 |
Contact: Press Office 202-646-5188 |
Economist Roque To Remain Staunch Opponent Of Cuban Regime (MIAMI) – Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, reports the release yesterday from a Cuban prison of its client and renowned economist Martha Beatriz Roque, who was serving a 20-year sentence simply for opposing Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro’s oppressive regime. The 59-year-old Roque served a year and a half in the deplorable conditions of a rat-infested Cuban dirt cell. Castro claims he ultimately released her because of her poor health. Roque maintains that she will continue opposing the ruthless dictator. “Her ideas have not changed. She will continue to be a dissident of that horrible regime,” said Roque’s sister, Isabel Roque, from her Miami home. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against Castro and the Cuban government last year on behalf of Roque and independent journalist Normando Hernandez, who continues to serve his sentence. Roque and Hernandez were among 75 Cuban dissidents arrested and sentenced to long prison terms in a crackdown last year after being accused of working with U.S. diplomats to undermine Cuba’s communist government. Judicial Watch conducted an international campaign for Roque’s release. Upon gaining her freedom, Roque expressed gratitude for such efforts: “I thank the exile community and the international community because I am convinced pressure on the Cuban regime has achieved this,” she said. “We are thrilled that our client has been released from jail. Now Fidel Castro needs to release all of his political prisoners, most of them independent journalists, who are serving bogus sentences in inhumane conditions,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. | |