Zapata vive. Homenaje del exilio
Un grupo de exiliados cubanos se reunió en Miami, Florida, este 24 de febrero para homenajear al preso político Orlando Zapata Tamayo, fallecido el 23 de febrero de 2010 luego de una prolongada huelga de hambre.La convocatoria fue una iniciativa del Presidio Político Histórico Cubano y de Exilio Unido Ya.
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00:00 A group of Cuban exiles met in Miami, Florida on February 24 to pay tribute to the political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo,
00:10 who died on February 23, 2010 after a prolonged hunger strike.
00:15 The call was an initiative of the Cuban Historical Political Presidium and Exilio Unido Ya.
00:22 Among so many things, it is important, essential and necessary to remember Zapata because Zapata is a symbol of Cuban resistance.
00:33 It is the expression of the young, of the warrior, of the Cuban on foot, of the political prisoner who never broke.
00:41 It is the example of the new generations that took the flag of the previous political presidium.
00:48 Zapata was a Cuban opponent, a fighter, a defender of human rights.
00:53 Activism was huge.
00:58 Zapata, being a man from the eastern region, a man from the eastern region, goes to Havana looking for a better life.
01:05 And there, from the first moment, activism is incorporated.
01:08 And so, he did activism throughout Havana, in the Central Park, in the Curitiba Park, the hill.
01:13 And there they started to have it. But in Zapata it was seen, and according to those who knew him,
01:19 the fighting spirit, the fiber, the perseverance and the warrior that he was.
01:24 He is one of the pillars in this fight for the freedom of Cuba.
01:28 He is someone who literally gave his life, was murdered by the Castro regime.
01:33 And I think that, as José Martí says, "honor, honor".
01:36 And we have to keep it in mind because he is one of the people who have had the most results in this fight for the freedom of Cuba and against communism.
01:44 And we have to use the new generations, all those tools.
01:48 Zapata Tamayo, Albañil, opponent of the Fidel and Raúl Castro regime, died on February 23, 2010, at the age of 45.
01:58 On December 3, 2009, he had started a hunger strike in protest against the abuses of the guards in the provincial prisons of Holguín and Camagüey.
02:08 He was considered the first Cuban opponent to die in a regime prison since 1972,
02:15 the year in which poet and dissident student leader Pedro Luis Boitel died.
02:20 Also on a hunger strike.
02:22 At the end of 2009, he started his last strike and I am a witness that his mother told him when he was pretty bad,
02:30 Reina asked him to leave and he said no.
02:33 Reina has a little, little letter of some prayers where I have seen her and Zapata says, "Mom, I'm not going to give up."
02:42 Zapata gave the greatest sacrifice that a human being can give for a cause, for freedom, and it is life.
02:51 I think it is the duty of all Cubans to respect this 42-year-old boy who became known to the whole world.
02:58 Zapata died as a result not only of the hunger strike, but also of the torture that was applied to him.
03:04 The death, the murder of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, expresses how far those criminals are capable of going.
03:12 And today we say more than ever, Zapata lives.
03:15 Orlando Zapata Tamayo, recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, was arrested in 2003 during the Black Spring.
03:25 Zapata is someone that political prisoners have to know well, they have to know well about his story.
03:30 As I said, Zapata has a lot of tools that all those boys in the Castro prisons need today.
03:36 Because he is a pillar in this fight, and even more so in prison, because the tyranny was afraid of Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
03:45 And I think it is very important, through the same relatives, to bring the information of who Orlando Zapata Tamayo is to political prisoners,
03:52 because definitely there is the way in this fight, and mainly in the political prison.
04:03 When we say Zapata lives, we are not only saying that Orlando Zapata Tamayo lives, but that his example and his spirit will last forever.
04:12 [Music]
04:17 [BLANK_AUDIO]