February 24 - Merceneries: Agents of Mercy

Cuban political prisoner who died after 85 days on a hunger strike. Internet photo

By Magdalena I. García

Orlando Zapata Tamayo. A very common Spanish name. A complete unknown outside of his family and closest friends. But this week he became a household name, as news of his untimely death on February 23, at the age of 42, spread across the world. From the various news reports we learned that this jailed Cuban dissident had been on a hunger strike since December 3 to protest his detention, dating back to a mass roundup of dissidents in 2003.

As was to be expected, the death of this Cuban political prisoner has provoked mixed reactions. On the one hand, there has been international condemnation by human rights organizations, like Freedom House, which has consistently ranked Cuba as “not free” in its annual study of political rights and civil liberties worldwide, and Amnesty International, which had labeled Zapata a “prisoner of conscience.”

On the other hand, the Cuban government places the blame on the United States. A Reuters.com news release states that “Cuban leaders consider dissidents to be U.S. mercenaries working to overthrow the government,” and they blame Washington for encouraging illegal activities against the Cuban state. The Communist Party newspaper Granma, in response to international criticism over the death of Zapata, said that “this case is a direct consequence of the murderous policy against Cuba that encourages illegal immigration, disobedience and violation of laws and established order.”

Those of us who left the island as political refugees, fleeing a totalitarian regime, for decades have been labeled gusanos (earthworms) and escoria (scum) by the Cuban government. These have been the favored insults that revolutionary mobs have yelled at anyone leaving the country. Occasionally, in more formal settings, like news reports, we are called dissidents. But mercenaries?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word means “one that serves merely for wages.” It comes from the Latin root “merced,” which means “price paid” or “wages.” Interestingly enough, from this same root we get the words “merchandise” and “mercy.” I guess I don’t mind thinking of myself as an agent of mercy. If denouncing abuses and demanding human rights earns us the title of mercenaries, so be it. After all, wasn’t this precisely what Jesus did, and what resulted in him also being labeled a “mercenary” by the Roman Empire?