Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez

Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez was released from prison in Cuba in mid-2010 and exiled to Spain, arriving in Madrid on 23 July 2010. Many other Cuban writers and journalists were freed and forced into exile between July and September 2010 under a deal brokered by the Catholic Church and the Spanish foreign ministry.

Blas Giraldo Reyes Rodriguez was a librarian at 20 de Mayo Library in Sancti Spiritus and a member of the steering committee of the pro-democracy Proyecto Varela (the Varela Project), a petition calling for a referendum on legal reform in Cuba with the goal of greater personal, political and economic freedoms and an amnesty for political prisoners. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison under Law 88, Article 91, which deals with charges of acting against “the independence of the territorial integrity of the state”.

While in prison, Reyes denounced prison conditions on several occasions, including flooding and sanitary problems, severe overcrowding and lack of beds. He was reportedly hospitalized in August 2008 for low blood sugar and sudden weight loss which it was feared may indicate the onset of diabetes.

(Information courtesy PEN International)