A Cuban dissident has died after a hunger strike lasting 86 days. Orlando Zapata had been imprisoned since the so-called Black Spring of March 2003 when over 75 dissidents were rounded up and given lengthy sentences under summary trials. Raul Castro called the death lamentable and uttered some unintelligible accusations against the US while his security forces surrounded the home of the fallen activist threatening to arrest anyone attempting to visit the family. Government officials who transported the body to his hometown of Banes insisted that he be buried immediately but his family refused. His funeral will occur on Thursday.Particularly galling was the response from pro-government lackey, Enrique Ubieta, who wrote on Cubadebate that Zapata was a, "common prisoner-with a long rap sheet not at all connected to politics," and that Zapata's cadaver is "now cynically exhibited as a trophy."
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