Professional Background
Léster Luis González Pentón is an independent journalist and political activist. In 2002, he co-founded El Movimiento por la Democracia (the Movement for Democracy) and later the Alfa 3 Movement, of which he served as vice-president. He was also a member of Movimiento pro Derechos Humanos Razón, Verdad y Libertad (the Reason, Truth and Liberty Human Rights Movement) and a delegate in Santa Clara for La Confederación de Trabajadores Democráticos de Cuba (the Cuban Confederation of Democratic Workers).

Current Status
Léster Luis González Pentón, the youngest of the Cuban 75, is being held at the Prisión Penitencial “La Pendiente,” in Santa Clara in the state of Villa Clara, Cuba. He lives in a cell measuring 4 square yards, without running water, which he shares with five other prisoners. A fierce advocate of basic democratic liberties, he ends his letters from jail “LIBERTAD DE EXPRESION” in capital letters. From early on, he antagonized his jailers by refusing to submit to audiovisual re-education programs, and was punished by the suspension of family visits. He is allowed a two-hour visit with his family once every 45 days.

When he was initially arrested in 2003 at the age of 25, he was in perfect health. Now, at the age of 30, he suffers from an array of disturbing and potentially life-threatening problems, including severe chronic diarrhea, poor gastro-intestinal absorption, and an anal fissure. His health problems, caused by the prison diet, seem to have been exacerbated by medical procedures conducted in the prison medical services. He no longer eats in the prison commissariat, but relies entirely on the suitcases full of cold food that his wife brings him on her prison visits. In November 2007, he was operated on for an umbilical hernia at the Arnaldo Milán hospital in Santa Clara. Recently, he requested a medical release, which was denied. His health is a matter of significant concern.

In 2004, 2005 and 2006, he carried out hunger strikes to protest poor prison conditions and harassment against him and his wife, who was reportedly threatened after taking part in a rally with the wives of the 75 imprisoned democracy activists, known as the Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White).

Case History
Léster Luis González Pentón was arrested on March 18, 2003, along with 74 other journalists considered to be dissidents by the Cuban government. Until then he had worked as an independent journalist in central Villa Clara province.

On April 4, 2003, González underwent a trial that lasted from 8.15 am to 6.30 pm. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison under Article 91 of the Cuban Penal Code, which imposes lengthy prison sentences, or death, for those who act against "the independence or the territorial integrity of the state."

He was initially detained at Santa Clara’s Prisión de Jóvenes – formerly known as Pretensado – and later transferred to Prisión Kilo 7, then Prisión Kilo 8, in Camagüey.

González was reportedly harassed before his arrest. On August 5, 2002, State Security officers detained him in his home to prevent his participation in events organized by dissident groups. In July 2001, he was threatened with imprisonment by the police if he did not return to work, without taking into consideration that he had been fired from his job as a baker, reportedly, for his participation in the Cuban Confederation of Democratic Workers.

Pentón's Writing from Prison