http://www.huffingtonpost.com/salim-lamrani/the-cuban-dissident-guill_b_781102.htmlOn October 21, 2010, the European Parliament announced the recipient of the 2010 Sakharov Prize "for freedom of thought," and awarded it to the Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas Hernández. According to the European organization, Fariñas joins "a long line of dissidents and defenders of human rights and freedom of thought." The president of the Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, pointed out that the opponent of the government in Havana "was prepared to risk his health and life to change things in Cuba." This is the third time in nine years that a Cuban opposition figure has received this distinction, following the Ladies in White in 2005 and Oswaldo Payá en 2002.
It is worth reviewing the personal journey of Guillermo Fariñas and his entrance into the world of dissidence in Cuba, before evoking the politicization of the Sakharov Prize.
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It was only in 2003 that Fariñas made a 180-degree ideological switch and turned his back on the ideas he had defended in years past. He joined the dissidents and founded the press agency Cubanacan Press, financed by "anti-Castro Cuban-Americans," according to the Associated Press. The European Parliament indicates that he is "an advocate of non-violence" and that he has carried out "no less than 23 hunger strikes to attract attention to the oppression of Cuban dissidents and to demand freedom of access to the internet." It also stresses that Fariñas was sentenced to eleven years in prison -- actually nine, but he was jailed a little more than one year -- without disclosing the reasons for the various convictions.
At no time did the European organization claim that his stints in prison were due to his political activity for the simple reason that his imprisonments were the result of common crimes. The European Parliament's discretion with respect to Fariñas' criminal history is understandable, since his illegal acts discredit the assertion of the "non-violent" nature of the 2010 Sakharov Prize.
In fact, Fariñas has a serious criminal history. In 1995 he was sentenced to a term of three years parole and fined 600 pesos after violently assaulting a woman, a work colleague at the institute of health where he held the position of psychologist, causing her multiple wounds to the face and arms. He then carried out his first hunger strike.
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In 2005 Fariñas began another hunger strike and demanded that the Cuban government install internet access in his home. He met with the US diplomatic delegation in Havana, the US Interests Section, which finances his activities. Fariñas readily acknowledges this fact. The French daily Libération writes that "Fariñas has never denied receiving 'donations' from the US Interests Section to obtain a computer and to exercise his profession of 'independent journalist' on the internet."
But Guillermo Fariñas really became a media sensation as of February 24, 2010, when he began a hunger strike at his home that lasted until July 8, 2010, to demand the freeing of those he identifies as "prisoners of opinion," in reference to those opposition figures sentenced for accepting financing from the United States. Indeed, in this regard, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency of the federal government, admits that it finances the Cuban opposition. According to USAID, the amount of assistance destined to the Cuban dissidents increased to $15.62 million in fiscal year 2009. "The vast majority of this money is intended for individuals on the ground in Cuba. Our objective is to maximize the amount of support that benefits Cubans on the island."
The government organization also emphasizes the following point: "We have trained hundreds of journalists over a ten year period whose work has appeared in major international news outlets." This admission destroys the statements about the independent nature of opposition journalists in Cuba. Trained and financed by the United States, these journalists respond first and foremost to the interests of Washington, whose objective is, as official State Department documents state, "regime change" on the island.
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