Wilmar Villar Mendoza (also written as Wilman) was a

Cuban dissident The Cuban dissident movement is a political movement in Cuba whose aim is to replace the current government with a liberal democracy. According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government represses nearly all forms of political dissent. Backgrou ...

. He was born around 1980. He married Maritza Pelegrino Cabrales and had two children. He lived in the Contramaestre area of Santiago de Cuba.

Biography

He was arrested in July 2011 after his mother in law alerted neighbors and police about a marital dispute involving domestic violence and charged for assault, disrespecting authority and resisting arrest. At some time between August and September 2011, he joined the

Cuban Patriotic Union Cuban may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean * Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent ** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof * Cuban citizen, a pers ...

and worked on dissident activity. He participated in a public protest against the government. In November of the year he was sentenced to four years in prison. He was sent to Aguaderas prison in Santiago de Cuba. His wife Maritza Pelegrino attributed her husband's political activism to anger over his father's death in custody five years earlier, though she could not explain why he joined the movement only last year. According to the ''Wall Street Journal'' and other news organizations, Villar started a hunger strike soon after arriving at the prison. He was put in solitary confinement. He was sent to Juan Bruno Zayas Hospital in January 2012 after suffering health problems. The Ladies in White and the CPU both had a

vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...

to support him. In January 2012 he died. The government claimed he had multiple organ failure, pneumonia, and

septic shock Septic shock is a potentially fatal medical condition that occurs when sepsis, which is organ injury or damage in response to infection, leads to dangerously low blood pressure and abnormalities in cellular metabolism. The Third International Con ...

. The hunger strike had lasted over 50 days.

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 ...

designated Villar a prisoner of conscience, the announcement coming one day after his death. Representatives from the European Union and the governments of the United States and Spain made statements about his death, criticizing the Cuban government. The government also stated he was not a dissident, but that he had been arrested for violence and injuring his wife at the 2011 protest. The government also stated he had not been on hunger strike.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villar, Wilman Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba Cuban people who died in prison custody Cuban dissidents Prisoners who died in Cuban detention

Biography

See also

References