Activist: Cuban government trying to deflate opposition
Security agents and police raided a church and rounded up 18 dissidents
in the eastern city of Santiago, Cuba.
Posted on Thu, Dec. 06, 2007
BY ANITA SNOW
Associated Press
HAVANA --
Recent detentions of dissidents, including a roundup on church grounds
in eastern Cuba, appear aimed at deflating opposition plans for a march
and other activities next week, a veteran human rights activist said.
Elizardo Sánchez of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and
Reconciliation told a news conference he believes ''there is a campaign
of preventive repression to detain any dissident act on Dec. 10,'' which
is International Human Rights Day.
Cuba's government has not commented publicly on the recent detentions,
or opposition plans for Human Rights Day.
A column in the Communist Party newspaper Granma on Tuesday criticized
international journalists in Havana for covering events by dissident
groups, which authorities here dismiss as ''mercenaries'' funded by the
U.S. and other governments to undermine state authority. American
officials and opposition members deny the charge.
Recent detentions include the roundup of an unspecified number of
dissidents on the grounds of a Roman Catholic Church in the eastern city
of Santiago on Tuesday, Sánchez said.
He noted that Darsi Ferrer, who plans a Human Rights Day march in a
Havana park, claims to have received death threats from authorities
warning him not to hold the event.
As part of observance of Human Rights Day, Sánchez invited international
journalists to his home to see a modest display of photographs of
political prisoners, as well as aerial views of some of Cuba's prisons
taken from Internet sites.
Cuban dissidents commonly mark Human Rights Day with small gatherings
and protests. American officials on the island have typically marked the
day in recent years with a reception honoring Cuban opposition members.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/story/333863.html
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