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Dear Friends, As we celebrate the holidays with our families and friends, prisoners of conscience in Latin America and the world prepare to spend yet another holiday season in humid and cold prison cells, with little food and health care. A memory, a word from outside to remind them that they are not alone, that someone, somewhere, is thinking of them, will help give them the hope and the strength they need to endure. We ask you to send a holiday card to one or more of the prisoners of conscience here listed. A simple word of hope is all it takes, and it can do miracles. ARGENTINA 
FRAY ANTONIO PUIGJANE Frailes Menores Capuchinos Parroquia Santa María de los Angeles Rómulo S. Naón 3250 1430 Buenos Aires Argentina Fray Antonio is a Franciscan Friar who was unjustly accused of "having known" about an attack on an army base in Argentina in 1989. After a unfair trial, from which he was not allowed to appeal, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison - even though there was no evidence he had known about the attack, much less participated in it. After 9 years in prison, due to his age (70 years old) he's been transferred to home arrest. However, his movements are much restricted. He needs your support and your words of hope. MEXICO RICARDO VELAZQUEZ Ricardo was participating in the peace accords between two feuding Mexican villages when he was arrested and accussed of having participated in the death of three people two years earlier. Though multiple witnesses testified that he was at work the day of the killings, and could not have participated in them, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Mexican human rights groups believe this was on account of his work on the peace discussions. While in prison he got sick with TB and has seen his taste for life slowly disappear. Please let him know he's not been forgotten. PERU Hundreds of prisoner of concience remain in jails throughout Peru. They've been tried on terrorism charges by faceless tribunals that failed to follow even a semblance of due process. Please send individual cards to some of the prisoners in this list. María Elena Montero Vargas You can write to them at Penal de Máxima Seguridad de Mujeres Florencio Hurtado Luna They cannot receive mail at the Castro Castro Prison where they are, so please write to them in care of: Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) |
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