“Me and other activists… between the police, State Security and those who call them ‘black cocks’… those who have black berets… they beat us. They gave us tremendous beatings. Even recording us... they forced us to shout 'Viva Fidel' and all these things. There is Luis Enrique and others from there, a few from Santa Clara who are witnesses of all this. But I knew that none of us, even if they killed us, we are not going to yell this crap. For us he will always be the dictator, and now that he is dead an ashtray. We never got to say any of these 'vivas', although sometimes many of us get to urinate. In my case it was also like that. We urinated from the severe beatings they gave us. (…) They have broken my head twice, I even have stitches, I have stitches. There are also videos on the internet that my head has been fractured, that I have bled. In the last one there were seven stitches…”
“Well, after the act of repudiation on August 5, 2013, I practically… I was there for a while, practically almost a year, even in one month I had up to six arrests… the frequency was so great. In each arrest, well, I have always planted myself on a hunger strike. Since I started, when they made my first arrest, I always did it under a hunger strike. In practically all the arrests he suffered beatings, harassment by the system, offenses. This dirty way they strip people naked and humiliate them.”
“When we arrive at the hospital, we see the amount of lack of supplies that there is to attend to the people who go there trusting in your knowledge for their improvement. And when you arrive you are missing a scalpel, you are missing a swab, you are missing a tape… everything was missing. (...) The same system even imposes on you the means to work... I said you had to flame it, because they were already in use and they didn't give you a new one. In other words, they were things that were detrimental to the patient and that makes you begin to create discontent, to stop believing in what perhaps at first the regime itself was instilling in you, as they have done to the generality of Cubans. (...) And so, this type of aberration is seen to the point that one understands that the human being does not matter for the system, but rather saves to maintain a policy that is sold to the world as good.”
Ramón Zamora Rodríguez was born on March 24, 1972 in Holguín. His father worked as a thanatologist and his mother was a housewife. Ramón studied in the schools in Holguín. Once he finished his nursing studies, he began to work as an orthopedic technician and later, when he was almost forty years old, he graduated in Traumatology from the University of Holguín. He is married for the second time and has three children, of which two with the current wife. Ramón worked in several hospitals in the province, in which he witnessed a terrible lack of medical supplies. To this was added the poor conditions in which the doctors worked, who often did not even eat during the work day and did not earn enough to be able to live a decent life. His enthusiasm was also fading quickly when he saw how the system works to choose doctors for the international missions that have given the Cuban regime so much fame. Ramón did not receive any type of assistance from the State when he was trying to solve the difficult situation regarding housing for his family and he decided to join the ranks of the Cuban opposition. He served as the deputy delegate of the party of Independent and Democratic Cuba and was also active in the National Civic Resistance Front, which brought together various opposition organizations on the island. When he held an opposition meeting in his house, the authorities responded with an act of repudiation in front of his house and the other day he was discharged from the hospital. Since then, Ramón has worked in various opposition organizations and as an independent journalist he reports on human rights violations in Cuba. Because of his activities, he has been the victim of abuse and harassment by state authorities. He suffered beatings and serious injuries on several occasions. He was also imprisoned many times, always responding with a hunger strike. On July 11, he participated as one of the organizers in the popular marches against the government that took place in Holguín.
