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FROM
CUBA
Cuban
government accuses dissidents of common crimes
HAVANA, October 3 (www.cubanet.org) - In what
appears to be a concerted campaign to discredit
yet more government opponents, the Cuban government
is accusing them of such common crimes as theft,
robbery, and car theft.
The most recent instances of the practice:
o José Manuel Caraballo, the director
of a cooperative of independent journalists in
Camagüey, was accused of counterfeiting.
o The director of an independent press agency
in Artemisa, near Havana, Portales, accused of
"illicit economic activity."
o Human rights activist José A. Molas,
of Camagüey, was accused of robbery by his
neighbor, Lieutenant Julio César Álvarez.
o The president of the Democratic Solidarity
party, Fernando Sánchez, is under investigation
for the theft of a car in Matanzas province.
Sánchez' case is typical. October 1, he
was called to the police station at Zanja and
Dragones Streets, in central Havana, where a man
who identified himself only as Camilo, and said
he is a captain, told him he was under investigation
for the theft of a Soviet-era blue Moscovich with
Matanzas license plate. The captain told him they
had witnesses that said he had leaned against
the car and that moments later the car had disappeared
from its parking space at the local bus terminal.
Sánchez said he indeed went to Matanzas
on September 24 to participate in a party event.
"But," he said, "I never leaned
on any car, and I have as witnesses two brothers
who were with me that day."
Sánchez pointed out that he had been wondering
why he hadn't been reprimanded by the government
security apparatus for having signed on to a coalition
of several groups of government opponents. "They
have tried to coerce or threaten all the leaders
in some way," he said.
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