Yndamiro Restano Díaz

Restano began his career as a radio journalist, but an interview he gave to a US journalist saw him spend a short time in prison and then lose his job in 1985.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/026/1992/en/ |title=Cuba:Silencing the Voices of Dissent |date=1 December 1992 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=26 January 2012}}

In 1990, he was a founder of the Movimiento de Armonía (MAR; English: "Harmony Movement"),{{cite book|author1=Enrique Antonio Baloyra|author2=James Alvin Morris|title=Conflict and Change in Cuba|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HQ2mC6ZkE_wC&pg=PA327|access-date=8 March 2013|year=1993|publisher=UNM Press|isbn=978-0-8263-1465-9|pages=327–}} an unofficial political group which sought "to help through our ideas with the transition from state socialism to democratic socialism in our country". He also acted as the group's president.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/001/1992/en/ |title=Document: UA 02/91: Cuba: Prisoners of Conscience: Legal Concern: Yndamiro Restano Díaz and three other members of the Movimento de Armonia (MAR) |date=3 January 1992 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=26 January 2012}}

On 20 December 1991, Restano was approached and handcuffed in Vedado, Havana outside of his parents' home. His detainers, who arrived in a private vehicle, took him to the headquarters of the Department of State Security. Six days later, MAR members Berenice Morales, Jorge Egaña and Iraida Montalvo Miranda were also arrested. Amnesty International declared the four prisoners of conscience, "detained solely on account of their peaceful political activities", and called for their immediate release.

Restano's trial began on 20 May 1992.{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ior41/008/1993/en/ |title=Our World; Our Rights: UN Conference on Human Rights: Cases for Appeals |date=14 June 1993 |publisher=Amnesty International |access-date=26 January 2012}} Standing trial with him was María Elena Aparicio, a museum employee and fellow MAR member who was said to be MAR's coordinator for Havana. The pair was charged with rebellion; the prosecutor alleged that they had violated Cuban law by forming a political organization without government permission, that they had planned to form clandestine cells for the violent overthrow of the government, and that they had produced and distributed anti-government propaganda materials.{{citation |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/28/world/cuban-dissidents-get-long-prison-sentences.html |title=Cuban Dissidents Get Long Prison Sentences |newspaper=The New York Times|date=28 May 1992 }} Both were convicted, with sentences of ten years of imprisonment for Restano and seven for Aparicio. Restano was then sent to Guanajay Prison, Havana Province, to serve his term.

During a 1995 trip to France by Fidel Castro, Danielle Mitterrand, wife of former French President François Mitterrand, requested his release along with that of five other prisoners. Restano was released on 2 June of that year, having completed four years of his ten-year sentence, and France-Libertes, the organization headed by Danielle Mitterrand, was credited by Reuters and other news organizations with having secured his release.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/02/world/world-news-briefs-havana-releases-a-second-dissident.html |title=World News Briefs;Havana Releases A Second Dissident |date=2 June 1995 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=26 January 2012}} Following his release, he stated that he intended to continue working for "democracy and human rights" in Cuba.{{cite news |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1995/06/02/cuban-dissident-released-vows-to-continue-campaign/ |title=Cuban Dissident Released, Vows To Continue Campaign |date=2 June 1990 |newspaper=The Orlando Sentinel |access-date=26 January 2012}}

On 15 September 1995, Restano founded the Independent Press Bureau of Cuba with the support of the France-based press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders. According to Restano, the following day, two colonels from Cuba's Ministry of the Interior met with him for more than six hours, at one point stating, "Someone could kill you, Indamiro. This is the most sensitive area where you are attempting to tread".

In 1994, while still incarcerated, Restano won an International Press Freedom Award of the committee to Protect Journalists,{{cite web |url=http://www.cpj.org/attacks96/frontmatter/ipfa.html |title=Journalists Receive 1996 Press Freedom Awards |year=1996 |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |access-date=28 May 2011 |archive-date=5 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205211715/https://cpj.org/attacks96/frontmatter/ipfa.html |url-status=dead }} "an annual recognition of courageous journalism".{{cite web |url=http://cpj.org/awards/ |title=CPJ International Press Freedom Awards 2011 |year=2011 |publisher=Committee to Protect Journalists |access-date=17 January 2012}}

Along with Burmese novelist San San Nwe, he was also given the 1995 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, which recognizes writers "who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression".{{cite web |url=http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/448 |title=PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award |year=1995 |publisher=PEN American Center |access-date=26 January 2012 |archive-date=21 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021131500/http://pen.org/page.php/prmID/448 |url-status=dead }}

Following his release, Restano was awarded the 1996 World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom, which recognizes "the outstanding action, in writing or deed, of an individual, a group or an institution in the cause of press freedom".{{cite web |url=http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/2011/03/24/about-the-golden-pen-of-freedom |title=About the Golden Pen of Freedom |author=Andrew Heslop |date=24 March 2011 |publisher=World Association of Newspapers |access-date=26 January 2012 |archive-date=21 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190421215108/http://www.wan-ifra.org/articles/2011/03/24/about-the-golden-pen-of-freedom |url-status=dead }}

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Category:Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Cuba

Category:Cuban dissidents

Category:Cuban journalists

Category:Cuban male journalists

Category:Living people

Category:Cuban prisoners and detainees

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)