Freed Dissident Is Welcomed by Güineros

By Ernesto Roque, Grupo Decoro (Decorum Group)

Güines, March 11, 2003 (www.cubanet.org) - “I never expected the welcome that my neighbors in Güines offered me, including those who are loyal to the Government. Many were interested in my health and my mental well being,” said by telephone, Virgilio Marante Güelmes, one of the three dissidents arrested together with Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet and freed last Friday.

Marante added: “The days spent in jail reaffirmed my conviction that we have to keep with our pacific struggle… A million thanks to all the journalists that were cognizant of our situation… thanks to our brothers in exile, for giving us faith and trust… Thanks, a thousand thanks to all.”

At 10 o’clock at night on Friday the 7th, prisoners Virgilio Marante Güelmes, Raúl Arencibia Fajardo and Orlando Zapata Tamayo, incarcerated since last December 6th together with Dr. Biscet for their participation in a class about human rights inside Arencibia’s home, were freed. The activists were freed without any explanation even though they spent 91 days in jail.