NEW YORK – The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) strongly condemns the harassment and threats made by Cuban state security agents against Gorki Águila, lead singer of the anti-dictatorship rock band Porno para Ricardo. The singer and human rights advocate was arbitrarily arrested on August 5 and released after a few hours with the warning that if he were to continue supporting the Ladies in White, he would not be allowed to leave the country. The musician was also arrested last May for calling for the release of Cuban graffiti artist Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado, a recipient of the Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, who has been imprisoned since December.
“Both of these artists excel at irreverent criticism, which is why they are frequent targets of a tyrannical and humorless regime that has muzzled Cuban artists for 56 years,” said HRF president Thor Halvorssen. “In totalitarian Cuba, the freedom of expression of artists is curtailed by article 39 of the constitution, which states that ‘artistic creativity is free as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution,’” he added.
The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally, with a focus on closed societies.
Contact: Jamie Hancock – Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246-8486, jamie@thehrf.org.