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Tuesday, July 07, 2015

Cuban dissidents report being attacked by government security forces

Cuban dissidents report being attacked by government security forces
BY NORA GAMES TORRES
El Nuevo Herald

MIAMI
Cuban security forces beat up opposition activist Antonio G. Rodiles and
detained nearly 100 other dissidents on Sunday, just a few days before
the scheduled opening of U.S. and Cuban embassies in Havana and Washington.

News of the beatings come as the archdiocese of Havana denies that
Cardinal Jaime Ortega used harsh words, such as "worms," to criticize
the Florida news media during a confrontation with dissidents at a July
4 reception at the home of the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba.

Former political prisoners Egberto Escobedo and Jose Diaz Silva claim
that they and other activists approached Ortega at a reception at the
home of the head of the U.S. Interests Section to hand him a list of
political prisoners, in anticipation of a possible pardon during Pope
Francis' upcoming visit. Ortega declared last month that there are no
political prisoners in Cuba.

Escobedo and Diaz have alleged in news reports that Ortega refused to
accept the list, saying it contained information from "the worm media"
or the "counterrevolutionary media" in Florida. "Worm" is a derogatory
Cuban government term for anti-Castro exiles.

In the Sunday incident, Rodiles, well known for his work on human rights
and leader of civic projects, such as Estado de SATS and the Forum for
Rights and Freedoms, suffered a broken nose from a punch to the face and
underwent surgery at the Calixto Garcia Hospital in Havana.

Speaking with difficulty by phone, Rodiles said he was punched on the
nose by a State Security agent in a vehicle after he had been arrested
and handcuffed but had continued to shout "Long Live Freedom" and "Long
Live Human Rights." He also had been punched earlier by agents who
refused to identify themselves, he added.

The agents were trying to block Rodiles from participating in the
protest march that members of the dissident Ladies in White stage after
Mass every Sunday in front of the Santa Rita church in the Miramar
neighborhood to request the release of all political prisoners.

Rodiles, who has proposed a general amnesty law, said he hopes that with
the law, "beyond the release of one or two political prisoners, there is
an amnesty and a decriminalization of activities involving political
opinions." The crimes mentioned in the proposed amnesty include acts
"against the Revolution, the Security of the State and the construction
of a Socialist political-economic system."

Ladies in White leader Berta Soler said members of her organization and
other dissidents have been detained and harassed by State Security
agents and police during 12 consecutive Sundays. She said Monday that
she was still trying to put together the list of all the people arrested
on Sunday, which she estimated at about 100.

Soler added that a Cuban-American woman was arrested along with the
Ladies in White, but that she did not know the visitor's name.

On Friday, dissidents, among them Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, also known as
Antunez, had announced that they would join the Sunday marches of the
Ladies in White to show their support for the women.

The Ladies in White had been carrying out their marches after Sunday
Mass largely without significant repression from government security
forces since 2010 – the only regular public protests allowed in the
Communist-ruled island. But security agents have cracked down when the
women tried to march away from the Santa Rita church and when other
women tried to march in other parts of the country.

"Since Dec. 17, when the U.S. Government announced that it would
re-establish (diplomatic) relations with the Cuban government, the Cuban
government has been brutally attacking human rights activists," Soler
said by phone from Havana. Neither the U.S. government, the European
Union nor Pope Francis "have raised their voices to ask for a halt in
the political violence against dissidents and human rights activists,"
Soler said.

During his Thursday declaration from the White House Rose Garden
confirming the restoration of diplomatic relations, President Barack
Obama cautioned that he did not expect "Cuba to be transformed
overnight," but added that he believed "American engagement – through
our embassy, our businesses, and most of all, through our people – is
the best way to advance our interests and support for democracy and
human rights."

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., condemned the attack on Rodiles and
added that it was "predictable" that human rights abuses would continue
in Cuba after Obama announced the "unconditional" opening of the embassies.

"There is no other way to see this but as silence from the president,"
said Frank Calzon, executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba.
"Obama is giving strength to the hardest elements within the regime, who
understand that this is the moment to destroy the opposition."

Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Center at Florida
International University, said the increase in the repression against
dissidents was "contradictory" to the expectations created by the
rapprochement between the two countries.

"It appears that there is a public face, for the people abroad, and
another one, the domestic strategy for containing the dissidence," he said.

Duany added that Cuban ruler Raul Castro himself "has insisted that …
the improving relations with the U.S. does not signal political
concessions."

The incident where Ortega reportedly referred to "the worm media" in
South Florida was held at the home of Jeffrey DeLaurentis, head of the
U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana.

Silva told the blog Cubanet that "when we asked him (Ortega) why 12
former political prisoners from the spring of 2003 still cannot leave
the island, he got mad. He told us, 'you're listening to news reports
from the counterrevolution in Miami.' "

The confrontation turned sharper and Ortega warned that he would call
the security guards at the reception, according to the former political
prisoners.

Rodiles, who also attended the receptions, said he had to "insist" for
Ortega to receive a copy of his amnesty proposal, and described the
cardinal's comments as "very lamentable."

A statement from the archdiocese of Havana on Monday, however, flatly
denied the cardinal had used harsh language "because those terms have no
place in his language," and added that Ortega had suggested to Escobedo
that he hand in the list at the archdiocesan office.

"Upset by Cardinal Ortega's suggestion to hand in the document in the
right place, Mr. Escobedo began to criticize the cardinal in a loud
voice for his recent declarations, as well as his role during the
process of releasing political prisoners in 2010-2011," added the
statement, signed by Orlando Marquez, spokesman for the archdiocese.
"The cardinal in fact responded that he should not be guided by what
some news media have reported, because there's a lot of church work on
behalf of the prisoners that is not known and is done in silence."

When Escobedo continued his "strong criticisms," another priest at the
receptions urged him to "show respect and behave appropriately" or
"otherwise a security guard from the U.S. Interests Section would have
to be called to put an end to the disagreeable encounter," the statement
said.

The reception, with about 300 guests, brought together dissidents,
well-known artists, U.S. politicians and Cuban officials. Several of the
opposition activists had their photos taken with popular Cuban actors
and actresses.

Source: Cuban dissidents report being attacked by government security
forces | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article26627185.html

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