HAVANA: Prominent Cuban dissident Marta Beatriz Roque on Tuesday reported feeling dizzy and weak on the first day of a hunger strike protesting the communist regime’s harassment of political opponents.
At least 20 other dissidents across the island have joined Roque, who is diabetic, according to activist Idania Yanes.
Roque, the 67-year-old “Iron Lady” of Cuban dissidents, began a hunger strike at her Havana home at noon Monday to protest what she said was the government’s “intolerable and untenable” treatment of political opponents.
“Marta has felt weak, she has been dizzy, her mouth has dried up and she has difficulty urinating,” Yanes, who has been with Roque since Monday, told AFP. “She has spent nearly the whole day laying down.”
An economist and former university professor who began her opposition activity in 1989, Roque was the only woman among the 75 activists arrested and given long prison sentences in a high-profile 2003 crackdown. She was released in 2004 for health reasons.
Roque has vowed to only drink water and refuse assistance from “any official doctor” if she suffers a sudden drop in blood sugar, a condition known as hypoglycemia.
Meanwhile Yohandry, an official blogger linked to the government, accused Roque of being an attention-seeker who wants to “return to stardom” after being “relegated to the back of the line” of dissidents seeking money that Washington has allegedly set aside “to take ‘democracy’ to the island.”
“Let’s continue in this circus-strike, let’s see how it ends, because it’s clear that to earn money, the Yankees are asking for street action,” Yohandry wrote on his website.
The Cuban government claims that dissidents are “mercenaries” working for the US government.
Every month, Cuban police arrest hundreds of political opponents — 521 in August alone — then release them without charge, sometimes after hours and at other times after days, according to dissident leaders.
Roque said Monday she believed that within 48 hours she would begin suffering serious health problems.
Cuban dissident Roque 'weak' on day one of hunger strike
