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FROM
CUBA
Police repress independent librarian
PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba - April 25 (Rafael
Ferro, Abdala Press / www.cubanet.org) -
Abigail Ortega Beltrán was detained
by forces of the Cuban political police
on the main street of this city and was
taken to the provincial police's station
for interrogation.
Ortega, who runs the Polo Montañez
library, said after he was freed two hours
later: "They interrogated me for two
hours and threatened me for my status as
an independent librarian. They told me that
if I went back and meet with people who
oppose the government, they would put me
on trial and I could go to prison. I told
them I wasn't committing any crime by meeting
with whomever I wanted to inside my home.
They paid no attention to my protest and
drew up a warning certificate as well. It's
a document they create against people to
threaten them."
Previously, Ortega's home had been surrounded
by members of the "rapid response brigades."
"I was meeting with a group of librarians
in my house, that's where I have my library,"
Beltrán, the independent library
director, indicated. "We heard people
shouting in my doorstep and decided to go
out to see what was going on. They were
verbally assaulting us, they called us 'worms'
and 'counterrevolutionaries.' They had no
right to say those things to us, we're peaceful
and don't bother anyone. The Independent
Libraries Project is healthy."
In the same way, Ortega Beltrán's
house was visited by two police officers
who identified themselves as Lázaro
and Beune. The house was searched and books
and documents belonging to the independent
librarian were seized.
"They told me as a justification for
the search that the books I had were subversive
propaganda and they were going to close
the library. That means that without any
kind of order or law they threatened to
throw me out of my house, since the library
is my own house, it's something absurd,"
Ortega declared.
The Independent Libraries Project is considered
illegal in Cuba and its members are threatened
and persecuted by the authorities on the
island.
Versión
original en español
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