Sakharov Prize On 20 October 2010, Fariñas was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament. In presenting the award the parliament commended Fariñas saying that he was a "symbol of the fight for freedom of speech". This marks the third time that the award has been made to Cuban dissidents. In December 2010, the Cuban government denied Fariñas an exit visa necessary to travel to Strasbourg to accept the award. In response the European Parliament said that it would have an empty chair to represent him at the ceremony. Fariñas said, "I believe that the Cuban government has shown over the years that it is behaving in an arrogant manner." In 2013, the travel ban was lifted and Fariñas finally received his Prize. 2011 hunger strike On 3 June 2011, Fariñas declared his hunger strike to protest the Cuban authorities' response to fellow dissident Juan Wilfredo Soto García's death. Fariñas called for those responsible for the reported police beating three days before Soto died in a Santa Clara hospital to be brought to justice. He also demanded for the Cuban government to stop using violent means in its approach to non-violent opposition. 2012 detention On 24 July 2012, he was one of dozens of activists arrested in Havana at the funeral of dissident Oswaldo Payá. Amnesty International and the U.S. criticized the arrests, with the White House describing them as "a stark demonstration of the climate of repression in Cuba." The dissidents were freed the following day. 2016 hunger strike In 2016, Fariñas and other members of the opposition organization Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) protested against the increasingly violent repression of dissidents and activists. Personal life Fariñas has a wife, Clara, and a daughter. References External links Biography by CIDOB (in Spanish) 1962 births Living people Cuban democracy activists Cuban dissidents Cuban human rights activists Cuban journalists Cuban military personnel of the Angolan Civil War Cuban psychologists Hunger strikers Male journalists Nonviolence advocates Opposition to Fidel Castro People from Santa Clara, Cuba Sakharov Prize laureates