RIGHTS-CUBA: Dissident Group Reports Uptick in Arrests

• by Patricia Grogg (havana)
• Thursday, September 08, 2011
• Inter Press Service

The CCDHRN, a dissident group, said that in August 'the level of police violence against peaceful dissidents was the highest seen in recent years' and 'the main victims were women trying to defend the right of association, assembly and expression' through peaceful actions, mostly in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba.

The report specifically mentions the provincial capital of the same name, located 860 km east of Havana, and Palma Soriano and Palmarito de Cauto. In late August, CCDHRN spokesman Elizardo Sánchez said police in those cities used violence against dissidents, including members of the Ladies in White group.

It was not possible to obtain independent statements about the incidents. Sánchez told IPS by telephone that in Santiago and other eastern provinces, difficulties with food, transport and housing have gotten worse, fuelling discontent.

In his report, sent to accredited foreign news agencies, the activist said the civil rights and political situation in Cuba had worsened, a 'tendency that apparently will persist, in the short or medium term, due to the regime's refusal to introduce the real reforms for modernisation that the country needs.'

According to the report, last month the commission documented 'at least 243 short-term arrests (some for more than a week) and new acts of repudiation organised by the numerous and ubiquitous secret police.' Sánchez described the arrests to IPS as 'low-intensity repression.'

In his opinion, 'a metamorphosis of the political repression model' has occurred, and the idea is to keep the prisons from 'filling up again.' The report says about 50 people are still in prison for political reasons, after a mass release of political prisoners last year thanks to efforts by Cardinal Jaime Ortega and mediation by Spain.

Sánchez admitted that at this time, there are no 'prisoners of conscience' adopted by London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International — which had given that category to the 75 dissidents sentenced in 2003 to up to 28 years in prison on charges of conspiring with Washington to destabilise the Cuban state.

The last two prisoners from that group were released in March. Most of the prisoners released via the mediation of the Catholic Church agreed to go into exile in Spain.

In April, President Raúl Castro said the humanitarian work of the Catholic Church helped bring about a harmonious conclusion to the release of more than 100 inmates.

But the Ladies in White — wives and daughters of the 75 dissidents, who wear white in their protests — have continued holding marches and attending Sunday mass at Havana's Santa Rita church, and organising activities in other parts of the country, with greater participation by women who call themselves the Ladies of Support.

At least two different events led by women in two busy spots in Havana were described in media reports outside of Cuba as demonstrations of political discontent. IPS failed to obtain impartial testimony about the two protests.

On Saturday, Sept. 3, the official website Cubadebate accused the Ladies in White of being 'mercenaries of the empire' whose 'provocative plans' sponsored by 'terrorist groups' were part of the 'White House strategy seeking a pretext to condemn Cuba in international bodies.'

'The timing is no coincidence; they have chosen a particularly convulsive moment in Europe and in the Arab world, especially due to developments in Libya and Syria,' Cubadebate said.

Regarding the situation in Libya, where long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was deposed after rebel fighters were backed by a NATO bombing campaign, the web site stated that 'it is an alternative that the Revolution's enemies dream of for Cuba.'

According to Cubadebate, the activities of the Ladies in White 'usually take place after a visit to the United States Interests Section in Havana, where they are systematically received with preferential status for training, instructions and supplies.'

'With the support of the U.S. government and its special services,' provocations are mounting, and false reports are being echoed by the media. 'These actions are part of the operations of the so-called psychological warfare used by the CIA,' it added.

On that, Sánchez commented to IPS that it was common to blame 'the external enemy.'

Analysts note that the March-April 2003 arrest and sentencing of the 75 dissidents occurred amid serious tension in Cuba, coinciding with a wave of boat hijackings by people who wanted to leave the country, and the 'preemptive war' doctrine of former U.S. President George W. Bush (2001-2009).

During that period, the Castro government accused the U.S. Interests Section in Havana of promoting subversion and using the dissidents to create a situation that could justify military action against Cuba along the lines of the invasion of Iraq.

© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights ReservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service

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