Mother of late Cuban dissident asks US to “double” the embargo.

Reina Luisa Tamayo, mother of a Cuban dissident who died last year on hunger strike, called Tuesday on the US Congress to strengthen policies against the communist government of Cuban President Raul Castro.

‘The embargo can never be lifted,’ she told Cuban-American legislators and reporters in Washington. ‘Rather, it should be doubled.’

She said tough policies were a way to make the ‘murderous’ regime disappear.

‘We have to close every lock (to the Castros), so they give up power, because they are stepping on and humiliating a people, and they are the only ones who are living. They don’t care about the people anymore,’ Tamayo said.

Her son, Orlando Zapata, was arrested during Havana’s so-called ‘Black Spring’ crackdown in 2003, classified as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. The Cuban government insists there are no political prisoners on the communist island.

Zapata died in detention in February 2010, after an 83-day hunger strike.

His death spurred a wave of international criticism of the Cuban government and was believed to have been key to a round of talks between Cuban authorities and Roman Catholic Church officials on the island, leading to this year’s release of around 50 imprisoned dissidents.

Tamayo repeatedly denounced harassment by Cuban authorities and arrived in Miami in early June, along with her husband and several other family members.

REINA LUISA TAMAYO ON CAPITOL HILL –  McClatchy Newspapers

Mother of Cuban dissident tells US lawmakers about son’s death

The mother of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata Tamayo, who died after an 85-day hunger strike, gave emotional accounts Tuesday of her son’s death in captivity to dismayed lawmakers.

A sober-faced Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the son of Cuban immigrants, led Reina Luisa Tamayo to meetings with senators and House members who listened in rapt attention as she described Zapata’s ordeal at notorious Kilo 7 prison in Camaguey province.

“I would go to every corner of the world to ask for justice for the cause of my son who was assassinated,” Tamayo told reporters in Rubio’s Capitol Hill office. “The Castro brothers (Fidel and Raul) are murderers and every door should be closed to them. We have to fight for liberty and justice for all Cubans. Our people are suffering.” Her hands shaking, Tamayo held up a blood-stained white T-shirt she said her son gave her shortly before his death at 42 in February 2010.

Tamayo, 62, said the blood came from vicious beatings Zapata endured while refusing to eat during his 15-month imprisonment. She said his captors denied him water for 18 days toward the end of his life.

“They murdered Orlando Zapata in premeditated fashion,” Tamayo said, her voice rising. “This mother would be incapable of making such a strong allegation against the government unless I held proof in my own hands.” Tamayo read from writings her son had inscribed on the shirt.

“My blood is in service to liberty for all 11 million Cubans who don’t express themselves because they fear joining the many who are already in prison,” Tamayo read. “Long live the shirt of the prisoner of conscience!”

Rubio, elected to his first Senate term last November in an upset victory over then-Gov. Charlie Crist and former Rep. Kendrick Meek, held up what he said was incriminating evidence of a different sort.

Displaying a recent newspaper article about increased U.S. tourism opportunities in Cuba, Rubio criticized President Barack Obama for loosening the decades-old travel ban on the communist-led island nation 90 miles off the Florida coast.

The Obama administration earlier this year started allowing students and church groups to travel to Cuba, and it expanded the number of airports that can offer charter service there beyond three in Miami, New York and Los Angeles.

Rubio, a West Miami Republican, was joined at a news conference with Tamayo by Democratic Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida and Bob Menendez – whose parents also emigrated from Cuba – of New Jersey.

“We’re honored to be in the presence of a hero who has witnessed firsthand the brutality of the Castro regime and the reality of Cuba today,” Rubio said. “It is the brutal reality of a brutal dictatorship that oppresses its people and violates human rights on a consistent basis.”

Nelson noted that he and Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, sponsored a resolution honoring the life of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, which the Senate passed unanimously in March 2010 shortly after his death.

The measure called on the United States “to continue policies that focus on respect for the fundamental tenets of freedom, democracy and human rights in Cuba and encourage peaceful democratic change consistent with the aspirations of the people of Cuba.”

Source: Capitol Hill Cubans