Between a Rock and a Hard Place

According to the AFP:

Cuba rejects hunger striker's 'blackmail'

HAVANA — Cuba assailed the 12-day hunger strike of a dissident journalist as "blackmail" on Monday as it rejected his demand to free 26 political prisoners needing medical care.

But Guillermo Farinas, 48, vowed to press ahead "to the end" with his protest fast, which he began the day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on the 85th day of his own hunger strike.

"I say to them: either they free the 26 political prisoners who are the sickest, or nothing. I am going to stick to my position to the end," Farinas told AFP by telephone.

"They say it is unacceptable blackmail, I say it is a gesture of goodwill."

The Communist Party newspaper Granma, the mouthpiece of the Cuban leadership, weighed in for the first time on Farinas's refusal to take food or water, accusing him of being an agent of US and European interests.

"Cuba, which has demonstrated many times its respect for human life and dignity, will not accept pressure or blackmail," the newspaper said.

EDITOR'S NOTE: In other words, Granma has declared that the Castro regime will not be blackmailed or pressured into releasing 26 political prisoners that are in need of medical care.

As such, the Castro regime has just conceded the fact that it is holding 26 political prisoners that are in need of medical care.

Farinas has undoubtedly placed the Castro regime between a rock and a hard place.