As such, let's not forget all of the courageous pro-democracy leaders and human rights advocates separated from their loved ones, in distant political prisons, due to their selfless pursuit for freedom and justice.
Advocates such as Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who is on the 22nd day of a hunger strike in the Kilo 8 prison in Camaguey, due to the beatings and inhumane treatment he has been subjected to by the Cuban authorities.
Zapata, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, is serving a 36-year prison sentence. On December 20th, in solidarity with Zapata, 16 other inmates of the Kilo 8 prison joined in the hunger strike.
Our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Fittingly, the following Christmas postcard was designed in 1997 by a group of Cuban political prisoners in Kilo 8. Some remain in prison to this very day.
May their hopes and dreams (of freedom and justice) become a reality in 2010.
