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NUEVA GERONA, June 13 (Carlos Serpa Maceira, UPECI / www.cubanet.org) -
Political police, aided by members of the paramilitary Rapid Response Brigades,
beat and arrested nine activists and this reporter Wednesday evening as they
staged a public demonstration for the liberation of political prisoners, in
Nueva Gerona, the capital of the Isle of Youth, south of Havana.
The demonstrators marched under the rain to General Lacret park, where they
unfurled a Cuban flag and displayed signs along the lines of "Liberty
without exile for Cuban political prisoners," and "Fidel, give the
people food, not marches." Other signs listed the names of dozens of
political prisoners.
It was at the park that police and paramilitaries beat up the activists,
tearing up their signs. They then rounded the activists up and took them to
several jails throughout the city.
Most were fined 30 pesos, except for this reporter, who was fined 1,200
pesos, and released a few hours later. Two of them, however, Lázaro Pérez
and Rolando Jiménez, the presidents of the organizations that called for
the demonstration, are still being held.
Since the campaign for the liberation of political prisoners began about a
year ago, local activists have staged similar demonstrations, but all have been
quashed by political police.
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