Iván Hernández Carrillo

Born 24 May 1971. Studied in the Sistemas de Computación technological school, from which he was expelled for his dissident activities. Iván Hernández was a member and international relations secretary of the "Pedro Luis Boitel" Democracy Party, has worked as a journalist for several agencies, including the "Patria", "Fatherland", agency, and established the Juan Gualberto Gómez Library (Branch II, Matanzas), in his house.

Iván is not married and lived with his grandmother, for whom he is the sole support.

According to reports received by Amnesty International, Iván Hernández has been repeatedly subjected to harassment involving short-term detention, searches and being called in for questioning. In 1992, while only 21 years old, he was condemned to two years in jail for "enemy propaganda and disrespect for the person of Fidel Castro." He was apparently visited by police officers on two occasions in January 1997, arrested in February 1997 and again arrested in November 1999. On 23 June 2002 he was reportedly arrested with other members of his group in order to prevent them from attending a meeting of the "Pedro Luis Boitel" Democracy Party in the municipality of Perico. In 2002 he joined “Patria,” one of the independent press agencies of the Nueva Prensa Cubana project, as correspondent from Colón, Matanzas province.

He was arrested on 18 March 2003. The evidence submitted against him at his trial included a computer allegedly sent from the United States and invoices for moneys said to have been received by the private library. Witnesses for the prosecution stated that cars belonging to the diplomatic corps had visited his home.  He was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment on the basis of articles 4.1, 4.2a-b, 6.1, 6.3b, 7.1, 7.3 and 8.2 of Law 88.  He began his sentence in the Centro Penitenciario Provincial de Holguín and was later transferred to the Jóvenes de Villa Clara prison on 4 January 2006.

His library’s books were burned by court order:
Trial of Felix Navarro Rodriguez and Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, Juan Gualberto Gómez Library (Branch II, Matanzas), in Matanzas, 4 April 2003. Sentence number 2 of 2003, available at http://www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu/documents-matanzas-2e.cfm.
“… printed material and other that have films and recording will be immediately destroy [sic] by incineration, which it will also be done with the handwritten and typed documents …”
From the original court record:
“Los materiales impresos y otros que tienen filmaciones y grabaciones serán destruidos mediante su incineración oportuna.”

These included the following:
81 pamphlet(s) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
un libro con el titulo "Martín Luther King"
Forty and two books of injurious Literature
Twenty-two subversive pamphlets
Two books titled “Manual de seguridad e Higiene del trabajo"
60 documents titled "Proyecto Varela"
300 signed questionnaires of the Project Varela
Four books titled, "Normas Internacionales"
Four books titled "La lucha pacífica por los derechos humanos”
Nine books of religious character.

In the dusty, empty streets of the small village of Colón, it is impossible not to fall. Here are no tourists. The house that we find lies precisely at the end of the long street. We feel many eyes on us when we enter the back porch of Iván’s house.

Iván’s grandmother, an old, fragile woman is surprised by our visit. She says immediately that it goes well with Iván, both in health and in spirit. He is still strong and optimistic. Iván is in prison because of his “subversive” activities. He was adopted by Manon Uphof [see http://www.ikvpaxchristi.nl/conflictgebieden_latijns_amerika_cuba_adoptiecampagne_adoptieactie.htm].  Iván’s mother Asunción is there and says that the hardest moment for the family was that Iván's grandmother was very sick and Iván could not be there. He is now 35 years old [born 24 May 1971] and has been in prison since March 2003.

In the meantime, Asunción continues her son’s independent library.

There will be regular people along to borrow books and to discuss the political situation in Cuba. “It is striking and also hopeful that people who are not openly opposed to the regime come to borrow political books, in the eyes of the regime ‘subversive’ books,” she says. “These are people who have mounting doubts about Castro's leadership.”  The library plays an important role in raising awareness of people and through books; we can open people's eyes. Hopefully there will in this way be a fully fledged opposition in Cuba that, when the time is right, can play a role in a peaceful transition to democracy.”

Asunción would be very happy to receive tourist visitors who come to bring books and listen to her story. All books are welcome. Furthermore, she says, despite the obvious poverty in which they live, they have no needs. But as we give her a stack of books and a world receiver, she is very happy. She knows about the broadcasts of the World Netherlands (in Spanish) and looks forward to be finally able to listen.

Trial of Felix Navarro Rodriguez and Ivan Hernandez Carrillo 4 April 2003, in Matanzas. The charges, from the Cuban court's sentencing document (see http://www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu/documents-matanzas-2e.cfm):

•    Receiving literature ... debating and distributed among its members ...

•    … solicited ...  different persons ... in their group not to participate in activities of social and mass organization organized by our country ... looking for an imbalance in our current socio-political system. 

 
•    Celebrating meetings and reunions in his own residence ...

•    … living without being registered in an official manner ...

•    … to ideologically motivate ... members of the antirevolutionary groups so that they could carry out actions tending to create a state of abnormal public situation ... to destroy the revolutionary and popular power of our country.  Called second meeting of National Independence Cuban Farmers and Cooperatives ... inviting members of diplomatic missions and other foreign citizens ... asking permission to celebrate this activity to the President of the Municipal Government.  

•    2000 January 28th went to the bust of Jose Martí located in the park ... of Perico ... putting a garland in the name of the group ... persons present in the park ... became irritated ... and immediately retired the ribbon when the disaffects left.  

•    A public act celebration on May 20th, 2002 ... placed in front of the house located in Colon, a Cuban flag publicly manifesting ... the day of national independence which motivated the expressed disagreement of the neighbors of that place ... went to the park Libertad of Colon ... opening up a national flag ... and remained silent for one minute.  

•    Visit the Interest Section of the United States of America ... receive subversive documentation ... transmit distorted information of our reality to foreign means of communication.  First Secretary of the Interest Section ... visited the residence ... contacting and meeting with them.  Visited the Interest Section ... October 28th 2002 ... continuing to inform the functionaries ... and to receive printed materials.     Facilitated a visit of James Cason ... with the objective of preparing the meeting with the leaders of disaffect groups located in the province of Matanzas.  

•    Established relations with the so-called Cuban American National Foundation and with the main leaders Jorge Mas Canosa ... telephonically contacting them, updating them.  

•    Established direct relations with radio stations that transmit from the North American territory to our country ... a letter ... requesting the resignation of the president ... read ... via telephone for the radio station Radio Martí to Cuba.  Placed on the internet ... two informative articles ... to discredit the current situation in Cuba ...

•    … started to distribute to pedestrians that accepted pamphlets of content contrary to the revolutionary process.  

•    Started to receive monetary resources from the United States government ... through supposed friends and family members taking advantage of ... Western Union ... receiving ... $3352.00 between November 2001and March of this current year [2003].  

•    Also visited by functionaries of the Interest Section ... delivering technical and technological equipment, literature and other materials manifestly against the revolutionary process.  

•    March 18th of this year 2003 ... confiscating among other things more than 50 books, 103 pamphlets of CUBANET and more than 150 pamphlets of other denominations ... two pictures in which appear one group of disaffect to the revolution with James Cason [US Interests Section Chief of Mission], ... radio ... typewriter ... computer ... 6 audio cassettes ... 20 video cassettes ... 3 radios ... 4 mini tape recorders, 16 magazines and 30 pamphlets ... some documents from the internet ... harmful to the revolutionary process.  

•    IVAN HERNANDEZ CARRILLO ... has never performed a socially useful work in his life, he does not participate in mass organizations.  

•    He received ... pamphlets and literature…scathing and aggressive writings ... the authors of such documents are of ideological ideals and virulent antirevolutionary positions such as ... Carlos Alberto Montaner and Vaclav Havel.  

•    Found TECSUN radios ... not been commercialized in our country ... United States of America gave it ... to listen to radio stations aligned with their purposes ... a computer ... file ... contrary to our social system ... medicines ... produced outside the country.  In front of the houses of either one of the convicts, it was frequent to see new vehicles with diplomatic tags ... out of the cars with boxes and yellow envelopes ... leave in their houses ... frequent reunions and activities of disaffects.  

•    HERNANDEZ CARRILLO May 20th, 2002 ... he displayed a Cuban flag in the front of his house to celebrate this day that signify the insurrection in Cuba of Pseudo-Republic ... displayed the same flag and yelled that they should allow them to do whatever they wanted ... distributing one antirevolutionary pamphlet ... meeting of “independent” farmers would take place with the purpose of obstructing the event of maximum degree that would take place in our country on that day.  They were dedicated to motivate other people to participate in activities that our people repudiate due to the antirevolutionary character ... honest citizens that felt bothered in their patriotic convictions after observing the manner in which other citizens were dedicated to denigrate the socio-political process of the country.  They were leaders of antirevolutionary groups dedicated to give lecture to documents simulating the feelings of people ... .to alter the tranquility of an area ... to produce physical confrontations among people ... with the purpose of breaking down the internal order.  They personally transmitted information regarding their antirevolutionary activities to the maximum representative of the North American government in our country ... at least twice ... delivering data ...

•    … receiving payment by this camouflaged and disguised as supposed remittance from families or friends living in the United States.  

•    Video cassettes with propaganda from antirevolutionary leaders of the exterior ... sent in more than one occasion twisted information regarding our social, economic and political reality to the radio press.

•    The huge dangerousness that comes from these acts ... requires a penal projection that is in tune with such dangerousness based on ... complicity with the enemy ... lack of patriotic conscience ...

•    … conduct[ed] a lucrative way of life.  …

SENTENCE: 25 YEARS OF FREEDOM DEPRIVATION.  

His wife, Yaraí Reyes found him in very poor shape when she visited him on 21 June 2007. He weighed just 53 kilos [117 lbs.]. His ailments include severe intestinal problems that prevent him eating normally, tuberculosis for which he is not getting the necessary treatment, and he has refused to eat several times since 4 March. Reyes requested a special medical release permit on his behalf on 7 July 2006, without success.