Following a year of revolutions and popular uprisings in the Middle East, could Cuba be the next to rebel?

 

This past Thursday, in a Cuban prison, Wilmar Villar, a political prisoner, died while protesting his arrest.  Mr. Villar, who had been on a 50 hunger strike, was sentenced to four years on charges of contempt, a catch-all charge for resisting the Cuban government.

 

The U.S., Spain, and human-rights organizations have already condemned Cuba for the death and have called on Cuba to release all political prisoners.  The U.S. has also called for greater international scrutiny of the regime’s prisons.

 

In a time when oppressed citizens are beginning to rise up against tyrannic dictators, will Mr. Villar’s death provide the spark that ignites Cuba’s smoldering discontent?