May 23, 1997

Activists Detained at Gun Point

HAVANA, 16 May (APIC).- Four human rights activists from the September Eighth Movement were aggressively detained by government police agents just outside Havana recently.

The four dissidents, Joel de Jesus Rodriguez Vazquez, Jose Ariel Mano Fernandez, Hector Jorge Sanchez and Vladimir Rodriguez, were stopped as they drove out of the city along Ocho Vias highway soon after visiting the U.S. Interests Section office.

Two police officers on motorcycles pulled their vehicle over, brandished their guns and ordered the activists out of the car. The driver of the vehicle was forced onto his knees, handcuffed, and threatened with a gun to his head. The passengers, ordered to stand against the side of the vehicle with their hands on their heads, were body searched. The agents then searched the vehicle.

The activists were arrested and taken to the Guines police station where they were interrogated harshly by agents and a Major of the notorious State Security.

At midnight the detainees were transferred to a State Security center in the same town, where they were formally charged with belonging to human rights groups. They were released thirteen hours later.

Before their release the political police seized a hundred brochures the activists had in their possession which contained the text of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

APIC Reporter: Lucas Garve

CubaNet translator: Miguel Casuso