CONCILIO CUBANO 7-1-96</header>

CONCILIO CUBANO


Grupo de Apoyo a Concilio Cubano
Vol.1 No.1
July 1, 1996

Afro-Cuban Dissident Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

Leonel Morejon Almagro, a Cuban attorney, National Delegate of Concilio Cubano, has been nominated for this prestigious award


Facts

Born: September 26, 1964, in Havana, Cuba.
Law Degree from the University of Havana, July 22, 1991
Married to Soiris Aguilar Calleja (D.O.B. December 20, 1991)

Background

Organizer of Naturpaz(Nature-peace), an enviromental group that was prohibited by the Cuban government.
Supports a ban on all nuclear weapons testing in the world.

1986 to 1987
Taught Ecology and Civil Disobedience to middle school youngsters in Havana.
Critic of the Cuban military intervention in Ethiopia and Angola.

1991
Detained by the Cuban State Security for organizing a peaceful demonstration in front of the UNESCO office in Havana to protest the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the enviromental destruction it caused.

1995
General Secretary of Corriente Agramontista a group of courageous jurists pursuing the independence of the judicial system and the rule of law in Cuba.

March 20. Signed along with Rene Gomez Manzano, President of Corriente Agramontista, and eight other jurists, an affidavit that was presented to the Cuban Justice Department (Junta Nacional de Bufetes Colectivos) requesting the resignation of its Director , Emiliano Manresa Porto, who fired several attorneys for practicing law without fulfilling the established ideological rules and regulations.

Wrote a letter to the Secretary of Justice, requesting an investigation into the massacre of 41 people on July 13, 1994, while escaping from Cuba, on the tugboat "13 de Marzo"

Dismissed from work because of his defense of numerous political prisoners in court.

December 1995 to February 1996 Arrested nine times during his pacific quest for freedom.

Played a decisive role in the coordination of Concilio Cubano, a coalition of over 100 peaceful pro-democracy organizations inside of Cuba.

October 10
Signed the Official Declaration of Concilio Cubano.
December 21. Wrote the Official Statement of Concilio Cubano concerning the event scheduled for February 24, 1996, requesting a permit for a public, peaceful assembly during February 24, 25 ,26 and 27.

1996
January 18. Elected to the National Secretariat of Concilio Cubano.

February 10. Elected National Delegate of Concilio Cubano

And on the 8th day...

February 15. Arrested under the charges of civil disobedience and resisting arrest, Case No. 80-96. His attorney is Jose Angel Izquierdo, also from Corriente Agramontista.
February 23. Sentenced to six months in prison.

March 8. In apellate court, his sentence was increased to 14 months. Sent to Villa Marista, where he remains in prison.

Corriente Agramontista


Born of the spirit of the human rights movement within Cuba, was the first group of professionals to take up the challenge of freedom. Disregarding career and personal safety, they set out to honor the principles of their profession, confronting Cuba's un just and arbitrary system under which the law is a tool of opression and the judicial process is an empty ritual of the totalitarian state.

Concilio Cubano


Concilio Cubano encompasses more than one hundred human rights groups, civic organizations, labor unions, and independent professionals, considered the formal opposition of the current system in Cuba. Their priority is to spare the nation of any further bloodshed, while seeking to restore the state of freedom, justice, and human dignity, known and upheld throughout the civilized world today. As a consequence of their activities, members of Concilio Cubano are harassed, persecuted and incarcerated, by th e Castro regime.

All of the Delegates of Concilio Cubano were incarcerated during the brutal repression that took place in Cuba in February 1996.

The majority of the members of Concilio Cubano are 35 to 45 years old, and are of all races, religions, and social classes. There is a high percentage of women, and in fact, this female participation is much higher than that allowed within the communist party or ruling hierarchy.

Their only crime:
The desire to peacefully assemble...


Placing their belief and faith on Articles III, VII, IX, XII, XIX, and XX of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Concilio Cubano produced the Official Statement of Concilio Cubano concerning the event scheduled for February 24, 1996

The Cuban government forbid the celebration of the First Forum assembly, and the police force set in motion a repressive wave against Concilio Cubano, detaining or incarcerating more than 200 of their members.

Premeditated murder

On February 24, in international waters while on a humanitarian mission, two small civilian planes of Brothers to the Rescue, were shot down by two MIG's of the Cuban regime, and four peaceful individuals were murdered by the Castro government: Carlos Cos ta, Pablo Morales, Mario de la Peņa, and Armando Alejandre Jr., a member of the Support Group to Concilio Cubano.

We ask for your help

Your patronage for those brave men and women who inside Cuba are struggling for justice, using non-violent methods, at great personal risk is vital and urgent.

We hope that you will support the emerging civil society in Cuba, and the struggle of the Cuban people to obtain their freedom.

For more information, please email us at:Supporting Concilio
or contact us at:

Supporting Group
Concilio Cubano
P.O. Box 450809
Miami FL. 33245
(305) 667-8541 telephone
(305) 662-1748 facsimile

Letters supporting Morejon Almagro's nomination should be sent to:

The Nobel Committee Parliament
Kingdom of Norway
Drammamaveien 19
N-0255 Oslo I
Norway