Member of Movimiento Alternativa Republicana ( Republican Alternative Movement) and Consejo National de Resistancia Civil (National Civil Resistance Committee),

Arrested Dec.6th 2002 on charges of contempt and imprisoned for 3 months; freed and arrested on March 20th 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents and sent to prison charged with contempt, public disorder and disobedience and sentenced to 36 years.

Amnesty International recognised him as a Prisoner of Conscience.

December 2009  he went on  hunger strike in protest at prison conditions. In February 2010 his condition worsened and he died on February 23rd 2010.

GUILLERMO FARIÑAS   Age 54  (featured in the painting)

Not currently in prison hence not one of The Black Portraits

Fariñas went on hunger strike in February 2010 to protest the death of fellow dissident Orlando Zaparta.

In 2006 Fariñas was awarded its Cyber Freedom Prize by Reporters without Borders,

In 2010 Fariñas was awarded the Sakarov Prize by the European Parliament.

May 2013. Due to a change in the law Guillermo Fariñas was able to leave Cuba for the first time. He went to Brussels to receive the Sakharov Prize.

Las Damas De Blanco were also able to receive the Sakharov Prize.

Guillermo sat for his portrait in Cuba in 2015.

20th July 2016 Guillermo Fariñas goes on hunger stike to protest at violent treatment of dissidents in Cuba by the Castro regime............... please see The Black Portraits Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.

 

LAS DAMAS DE BLANCO

THE LADIES IN WHITE are a group of wives and relatives of both current and past prisoners of conscience . The group was awarded the Sakharov Prize in 2005