Stop coddling Cuban dictatorship

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was a simple man. A plumber and bricklayer, he was arrested by the Cuban regime in 2003 -- part of a sweep of 75 human rights activists, independent journalists and librarians pushing Cuba to follow the international declaration of human rights.

Mr. Zapata, a member of the Alternative Republican Movement, died Tuesday after 83 days of a hunger strike to protest prison conditions. His mother said he was beaten repeatedly. Prison officials didn't send him to a hospital until Feb. 17, too late to save the emaciated 42-year-old prisoner of conscience.

In what may be a new low in cynicism, even for him, Raúl Castro issued an unprecedented -- and totally phony -- statement of regret over Mr. Zapata's death, blaming it on the United States for reasons that no sane person could possibly fathom. In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the U.S. government was ``deeply distressed'' at his death.

Sentenced initially in March 2003 to three years in prison for contempt, public disorder and disobedience for protesting Cuba's incarceration of political prisoners, Mr. Zapata's sentence was extended later to 36 years for his protests in prison.

His case is not that rare. During the dictatorship's 51 years in power, other political prisoners have been sent home ill from beatings to die shortly afterward.

Will the world take notice of Cuban authorities' appalling disregard for human life this time? Will sanctions be imposed? Will the regime be put on notice?

We won't hold our breath.

Mr. Zapata died the same week that leaders from Latin American countries were meeting in Mexico with Raúl Castro to gush over having him join the fraternity. Those leaders ignore that Cuba is harassing and beating bloggers who question the regime, that it has at least 200 political prisoners in jails for ``crimes'' that violate Cuba's own claims of being a paradise for human rights, that the island gulag won't allow the Red Cross or international human rights organizations to inspect prison conditions. And so much more.

The United Nations, European Union and the Organization for American States should be speaking up and taking action. Surely, when suicides occurred at the U.S. prison in Guantánamo, they did, as did this editorial board.

But on Cuba, the U.N., EU and OAS prefer silence -- or mealy-mouthed statements about sovereignty that excuse Cuba's 51 years of grave human rights violations.

On Wednesday, for instance, the Cuban dictatorship was rounding up dozens of the regime's opponents in various cities to stop them from attending Mr. Zapata's funeral.

What are they afraid of? These are unarmed men and women.

Race may be a crucial factor in the regime's fears. More and more of the Castro brothers' opponents are Afro-Cubans, like Mr. Zapata.

After decades of being told that the U.S. government only wants to impose racism in Cuba, many black Cubans have come to realize that it is their own government that discriminates against blacks and Cubans of mixed race. Young Afro-Cuban rappers have been voicing their concerns for a decade.

Mr. Zapata stood up for freedom for all Cubans in the face of the hemisphere's worst oppressor. Any civilized country would have made sure that he received intravenous feedings -- not beatings. He did not have to die, but with too many democratic leaders' silent nods to the regime, he did.