Photo taken during Farinas’ first, seven month-long hunger strike in 2006.

Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas, who has been on a hunger strike for 15 days in protest against the totalitarian regime in Havana, has asked Walesa to lay flowers on his grave.

Farinas, who has been hospitalized in Santa Clara, talked to the former president and leader of Solidarity on the phone. He told Walesa that he will not stop the protest until his demands are met.

“It’s my way to fight against the totalitarian regime, to fight for freedom in Cuba and I need to be consistent. If I die, please lay flowers on my grave when Cuba is already a free country,” said Farinas and added that Cuba needs martyrs like Orlando Zapata in order to wake up international public opinion and make people interested in the Cuba’s fate.

Lech Walesa tried to convince the opposition activist that he has already moved the world and thanks to him people have found out about political prisoners in Cuba and the tough life Cubans live. The Solidarity leader said that Cuba needs people, living people, in order rebuild the country.

The 48-year-old journalist Guillermo Farinas wants the Castro government to release 26 political prisoners who are all ill, he says. He went on a hunger strike after the death of Orlando Zapata, who had himself been on hunger strike for two and a half months.

The European Parliament has condemned the death of Zapata and expressed concern about Farinas’ health. MEPs also asked the Cuban authorities to release political prisoners, whose number is estimated to be around 200.

In turn, Cuba has condemned the EP’s declaration, saying that it is one-sided and harmful for the Cuban nation. Raul Castro’s government denies that there are any political prisoners in Cuba.