FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BLOGGERS UNITED FOR CUBAN LIBERTY APPEAL TO THE POLICE
TO ADVOCATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBA

The Police’s guitarist stumbles into candlelight vigil being held to get band’s attention

Miami, FL (7/10/2007) – Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty (BUCL) held a candlelight vigil at Versailles, a popular Cuban restaurant in Miami, on Monday July 9th. The vigil was part of that group’s “Campaign for the Invisible Ones” which aims to raise awareness of Cuba’s political prisoners while The Police are in Miami for their July 10th show.

The Police’s singer, Sting, who worked with Amnesty International in the 1980s and that group’s efforts in denouncing human rights abuses in South Africa and Chile, is reported to have accepted an invitation from the Castro regime for The Police to play a concert in Havana, Cuba in December. To date, no members of The Police have denounced human rights abuses in Cuba.

Unexpectedly, Andy Summers, the band’s guitarist arrived at the restaurant for dinner while the vigil was in progress. BUCL member and vigil organizer, Henry Gomez, spoke with Summers about Human rights in Cuba.

“I told him we were having a candlelight vigil outside, precisely because he and The Police are in town,” said Gomez. “He listened patiently as I explained that Amnesty International recognizes 69 prisoners of conscience in Cuba and that in our community there are 1 million Cubans who fled the human rights abuses in that country.”

Summers told Gomez that the Havana concert is not firm.

“We want the people of Cuba to enjoy The Police,” said BUCL campaign sponsor Ziva Sahl, “but we’d also like for Sting to use his prestige and influence to help raise awareness of Cuba’s political prisoners, like the Afro-Cuban Doctor Oscar Elias Biscet.”

Bloggers United for Cuban Liberty is a confederation of blogs, web sites and readers that pool resources and ideas for use in campaigns that raise awareness of the Cuban reality.

Current campaign sponsor sites include: http://blogforcuba.typepad.com; http://www.claudia4libertad.com; albertodelacruz.com; http://marcmasferrer.typepad.com; jluix.com; therealcuba.com; cubanology.com; ninetymilesaway.blogspot.com; cubacompanioni.blogspot.com; lacontrarevolucion.blogspot.com; kensieg.livejournal.com; nelsonguirado.com; abajofidel.blogspot.com; babalublog.com; and CubanAmericanPundits.com.