Angel Moya Acosta (born 20 September 1964) is a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

n construction worker and the founder of the Alternative Option Movement. Moya fought for one-and-a-half years in the

Cuban intervention in Angola The Cuban intervention in Angola (codenamed Operation Carlota) began on 5 November 1975, when Cuba sent combat troops in support of the communist-aligned People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the pro-western National Unio ...

in the late 1980s. 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 Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

to designate him a prisoner of conscience. In 2000, he was arrested and imprisoned for a year for "disrespect" after commemorating the anniversary of the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

. He was again imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003, and sentenced to 20 years in jail. His wife

Berta Soler Berta de los Angeles Soler Fernandez (born July 31, 1963 in Matanzas, Cuba) is a Cuban dissident. She is the current leader of Ladies in White, a group originally composed of wives and female relatives of political prisoners who protested on the ...

, now leader of the

Ladies in White Ladies in White ( es, italics=no, Damas de Blanco) is an opposition movement in Cuba founded in 2003 by wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents and those who have been made to disappear by the government. The women protest the impri ...

movement, campaigned on his behalf. 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 Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

on his behalf and staging a rare protest in

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Plaza de la Revolución Plaza de la Revolución (), "Revolution Square", is a municipality (or borough) and a square in Havana, Cuba. The municipality, one of the 15 forming the city, stretches from the square down to the sea at the Malecón and includes the Vedado d ...

with the

. She described the protest as "my right and duty as a wife". After two days of protest, Moya was given surgery. 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. 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 Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

. Soler told reporters that authorities had warned the Ladies to avoid Benedict's public appearances, including masses.

Family

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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moya Acosta, Angel Living people Cuban dissidents Cuban democracy activists 1964 births Cuban prisoners and detainees Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba