Angel Moya Acosta

Angel Moya Acosta (born 20 September 1964) is a Cuban construction worker and the founder of the Alternative Option Movement.[1][2]

Angel Moya Acosta
Born (1964-09-20) September 20, 1964
Havana, Cuba
NationalityCuban
Occupationconstruction worker
OrganizationAlternative Option Movement
Known forimprisonment, democracy activism
Spouse(s)Berta Soler
ChildrenLuis Angel and Lienys

Moya fought for one-and-a-half years in the Cuban intervention in Angola in the late 1980s.[3] In the following decade, Moya was arrested several times for his activism. In December 1997, he was arrested on his way to join a public memorial, and in November 1999 he was arrested for participating in a prayer session for dissident Oscar Biscet. On 15 December 1999, he was arrested and imprisoned after a demonstration along with fellow Alternative Option Movement members Guido and Ariel Sigler Amaya; the latter arrest caused Amnesty International to designate him a prisoner of conscience.[4] In 2000, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year for "disrespect" after commemorating the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[5]

He was again imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003, and sentenced to 20 years in jail.[1] His wife Berta Soler, now leader of the Ladies in White movement,[6] campaigned on his behalf.[7]

When Moya suffered a herniated disc in October 2004, Soler began a campaign to urge the government to give him an operation, submitting a letter to President Fidel Castro on his behalf and staging a rare protest in Havana's Plaza de la Revolución with the Ladies in White.[7][8] She described the protest as "my right and duty as a wife". After two days of protest, Moya was given surgery.[9]

After Moya's early release from prison in 2011, he and Soler chose to remain in Cuba and continue their calls for the release of political prisoners, despite being offered emigration to Spain.[10]

In March 2012, Soler and Moya were detained along with three dozen other demonstrators when they staged their weekly protest ahead of a visit of Pope Benedict XVI. Soler told reporters that authorities had warned the Ladies to avoid Benedict's public appearances, including masses.[6]

Family

Soler is a microbiology technician at a Havana hospital.[11] Moya and Soler have two sons, Luis Angel and Lienys.[3]

References
  1. Marc R. Masferrer (13 February 2011). "Angel Moya Acosta, Political Prisoner of the Week". Retrieved 2 August 2012.
  2. "Angel Moya Acosta" (in Spanish). payolibre.com. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  3. Berta Soler Fernandez (13 March 2005). "Standing up to a dictator". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on 5 May 2014. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  4. "Eleven remain in detention following government crackdown on dissent during the Ibero-American Summit in Havana". Amnesty International. 31 January 2000. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  5. "Cuba: New wave of political oppression". Amnesty International. 16 January 2001. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  6. Andrea Rodriguez (19 March 2012). "Berta Soler And Ladies In White Cuba Dissidents Freed From Detention For Pope Visit Protest". The Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  7. "World Briefings". The New York Times. 8 October 2008. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  8. "Wife's campaign succeeds in Cuba". BBC News. 8 October 2004. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  9. "World Briefing Americas: Cuba: Dissident Transferred To Hospital". The New York Times. 9 October 2004. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  10. Michael Voss (23 March 2011). "Dissidents' release draws line under Cuba crackdown". BBC News. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
  11. "'El régimen castrista es una fiera herida que vive sus últimos momentos'". Hoy (in Spanish). 21 March 2010. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
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