MADRID, Spain.- Renowned Cuban actor Erdwin Fernández called on his professional colleagues to express solidarity with fellow actor Frank Artola, whose children were transferred to prison this week.
Artola’s children, Hillary Gutiérrez and Frank Artola, 26 and 17 years old respectively, had been in instruction cells since last October 2, the day they were arrested with violence for demonstrating peacefully in Havana.
“I was amazed and happy to see about 7,000 people writing to me for honoring a great artist, Corito. I am even more amazed to see no more than 200 people react when I come out in defense of the children of a Friend, Frank Artola, who at this time needs the support of all his colleagues and friends. Only 200 people, and maybe ten colleagues and co-workers”, lament actor based in the United States.
“How far have we come? Could it be that the word friendship is just that, a word? We are here to support each other through the good times and the bad, not just the good times. (…) Fear is powerful, I know, but offering support, and chest so that friends cry is not a crime, it is Decorum, Empathy, it is Honor, and that is what Friendship is about, “Fernández expressed through a Facebook post.
After these considerations, Erdwin Fernández asked everyone to behave “as Human Beings, as Friends, as Men” and “offer their shoulders, that is not a crime, and does not break any Law.”
At the beginning of last October, after the arrest of Frank Artola’s children, Fernández denounced the beating given to young people by the regime’s repressors.
According to Fernández, one of the repressors of the youth was the same man in a red sweater who has appeared in various images from news agencies beating protesters.
“That same night, between him and many other guys, they beat Frank Artola’s children. They were brutally beaten and now Frank’s two children, a 17-year-old girl and a boy, are imprisoned at 100 and Aldabó and badly beaten.” wrote the actor.
In a video posted on Facebook, Erdwin Fernández said he had received information about what happened to Artola’s children from “very close sources.” He also called on Cubans not to allow more repression or arbitrariness against the island’s authorities.
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