URGENT: Violent Arrests of Cuban Opposition Activists in Revolution Square Protest

Press Releases

From Cuba

Articles

Human Rights

Media Coverage

» Press Releases

URGENT: Violent Arrests of Cuban Opposition Activists in Revolution Square Protest
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Hunger-Striker Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera among the Detained

Live audio recording of the arrests. Video illustrated with file photos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO8dAdrMJhs

Havana. August 15, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. At least ten Cuban opposition activists were detained this morning, Friday August 15, as they demonstrated at Havana’s Revolution Square, formerly the Civic Square. The opposition activists were demanding freedom for all political prisoners and respect for human rights, as well as the lifting of a fine unjustly leveled against activist Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera for interceding during a brutal police beating on behalf of the young victim.

Pérez Aguilera, arrested along with the other activists, is in a precarious state of health due to her hunger strike begun on August 6 over the 500 Cuban peso fine. The last known location of the arrested activists is the police station on Zapata and C street in Havana.

The human rights defenders, members of the Central Opposition Coalition, called upon Cuban opposition activists and citizens to join their demonstration for freedom and “to save the life of activist Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, who is about to faint, and urinating blood,” according to former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”.

The names of the activists at the protest that have been confirmed so far are: Idania Yanes Contreras, Yuniesky Garcia López, Yesmi Elena Mena Zurbano, Ernesto Mederos Arocerena, Alcides Rivera Rodríguez, Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, Frank Reyes López, Ana Margarita Perdigón Brito, Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez” and Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, who defiantly protested despite an intimidating show of force by the regime’s repressive forces.

The human rights defenders took their demands to the highest authorities of the regime when municipal authorities did not respond to Pérez Aguilera’s hunger strike, seemingly willing to let her die.

“We have exhausted efforts through all the appropriate legal channels, we have turned to all the government authorities like the Ministry of the Interior, the Prosecutor General of the Republic, the Ministry of the Interior, the Tribunal, and State Security”, explained Antúnez by telephone from the site of the protest.

On August 6, Pérez Aguilera interceded to defend the human rights of young Cuban Melquíades Hernández who was enduring a brutal beating at the hands of police on the streets of Placetas in Villa Clara province. Officers flung her against a police vehicle calling her a “f------ black,” a “black monkey” and later telling her that what they needed was “an order to kill all these f------ blacks who stick their noses into everything,” according to an earlier telephone statement by Antúnez to Directorio.

On August 12, 15 human rights activists submitted a letter to the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Cuba explaining that Perez Aguilera’s defense of Hernandez’s human rights did not constitute “contempt for the proper authorities,” the spurious crime with which she had been charged, and that accordingly she would not pay the fine of 500 Cuban pesos leveled against her.

The signers of this letter were: José Alain Benítez Fleites, Arturo Conde de Zamora, Ignacio Estrada Cepero, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, Blas Augusto Fortún Martínez, Yuniesky García López, Juana Gómez Riego, Loreto Hernández García, Yesmi Elena Mena Zurbano, Ernesto Mederos Arocerena, Luis Enrique Monzón Rivero, José Alberto Ocaña Zarciles, Donaida Pérez Paceiro, Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, Frank Reyes López, Alcides Rivera Rodríguez, Amado Ruiz Moreno, Idania Yanes Contreras and Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez.”

Send by E-mail | Printable Version

About the author