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FROM
CUBA
Cuba: Repression on the rise
Rafael Ferro Salas, Abdala Press
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba - March (www.cubanet.org)
- Cuban prisons remain packed full of political
prisoners and as if this weren't enough,
repression against dissidents, opponents
of the regime, independent journalists and
correspondents is on the rise.
All this is made clear with the recent
detentions and threats carried out by the
forces of the State Security against members
of the opposition on the threshold of the
third anniversary of the wave of repression
of March 2003.
In the municipality of Consolación
del Sur in this province, the house of Felipe
Gil Sanjudo, the correspondent of this press
agency, was visited by two State Security
agents and by the sector chief of the police
in that territory. They threatened to jail
Sanjudo if he participated in the activity
commemorating the anniversary. They also
told him they wouldn't allow him to travel
to the city of Pinar del Río.
"For obvious reasons, they knew I
was going to participate in an activity
organized by FLAMUR (Federation of Latin
American Rural Women). That activity was
going to be held in Pinar del Río.
They prohibited me from leaving my home
so I wouldn't be at the meeting. I couldn't
go, but the activity happened and that's
enough for me to feel satisfied," Sanjudo
indicated.
In the same city of Pinar del Río,
Abigail Ortega Beltrán, director
of the "Polo Montañez"
independent library, was visited at his
home by an official known as Beune.
"The official went to my house on
the day of the activity and threatened to
jail me if he found out I was at the meeting,"
Ortega said by telephone. "I told him
I would go and that's what I did. Now I
don't know what his reaction will be, what
mattered to me was to be present there.
There's no reason to jail me for doing that,
it's my right as a human being. It's good
that these things happening to us dissidents
in Cuban are made known to the world."
The fact remains that what with detentions
and threats, the majority of the opposition
parties and organizations inside the island
carried out the commemoration meetings.
On March 18, 2003, the political police
of the Cuban regime carried out operations
against dissidents, opponents and independent
journalists. After days of detentions and
searches of the homes of those involved,
summary trials were held where those being
prosecuted were sentenced to long prison
terms.
Every March 18th the opposition parties
and organizations commemorate the date,
facing harassment from the political police.
The police forces have brigades of collaborators
with the system who provide support during
the operations against the dissidents. Some
opponents of the regime have been physically
attacked by these mobs.
In the eastern zone of the island in the
town of San Luis in Santiago de Cuba, Maura
Isset was assaulted in her own home along
with her husband. They also insulted her
verbally for belonging to the dissidents.
Isset is affiliated with the Federation
of Latin American Rural Women (FLAMUR).
Three years after the 18th of March, 2003,
the prisoners continue to be imprisoned
in worse conditions of overcrowding, while
in the street the struggle between adversaries
hasn't stopped: it's the true face of Cuba.
Versión
original en español
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