US, rights groups condemn Cuban dissident detentions

Posted on Tuesday, 01.28.14

US, rights groups condemn Cuban dissident detentions
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

The U.S. State Department, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch
joined Tuesday in condemning the Cuban government's detentions of dozens
of dissidents to keep them away from a Havana summit of hemispheric leaders.

Human rights activists in Havana said an estimated 100 pro-democracy
activists had been briefly detained or put under house arrest for the
two-day Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States
(CELAC), which ends Wednesday.

About 30 of them were detained when they gathered in the eastern city of
Santiago de Cuba just as Cuban ruler Raúl Castro was giving his opening
address to the summit, according to the dissident Cuban Patriotic Union.

"We condemn such actions and urge the government of Cuba to allow Cuban
citizens to express their opinions freely, and allow them to assemble
peacefully in the exercise of that right," said a State Department
spokesperson.

"We encourage leaders, including those of international organizations,
to take the opportunity to meet with average Cubans and members of civil
society to demonstrate clearly their support for peaceful assembly and
freedom of speech on the island," the spokesperson added.

None of the heads of state, foreign ministers and other senior officials
attending the summit have announced plans to meet with dissidents,
branded by the Cuban government as "mercenaries" paid by the U.S.
government.

The secretary general of the Washington-based Organization of American
States, Jose Miguel Insulza, in Havana as an observer, told reporters he
would not meet with the dissidents because he did not want to "provoke
problems or discomforts."

CELAC is supposed to work toward the economic integration of its 33
member states in the Western Hemisphere, excluding the United States and
Canada.

Amnesty International, a London-based human rights group, said it was
"outrageous" that dissidents in Cuba "are not allowed to express
themselves in a public and collective manner."

The heads of state and other high officials at the summit, "such as U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, should not ignore the fact that as they
arrive in Havana … Cuban activists are being repressed by their
government," Amnesty said in a statement.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of he human Rights Watch advocacy group, said
that while the Cuban government took some steps to ease restrictions on
travel abroad in 2013, "its abusive practices remain largely unchanged."

"It's hard to imagine another government in the region preemptively
detaining dissenters to prevent them from voicing their opinions during
a regional conference," he said in an email to El Nuevo Herald.

Cuban authorities, meanwhile, deported an Argentine activist, Gabriel
Salvia, who had arrived in Havana to join dissidents planning two
"parallel summits" this week to discuss human rights and other issues.

A pro-government blogger alleged that Silva's Center for the Opening and
Development of Latin America (CADAL), had carried out "anti-Cuban
activities" and was reported to be financed by sources linked to the CIA.

Salvia reported by Twitter that Cuban immigration authorities had told
him he was "inadmissible" and would deport him on a flight to El Salvador.

"What is inadmissible is not to be able to do in Cuba what can be done
in any other country that belongs to CELAC," he wrote in one Tweet from
the Havana airport.

Source: US, rights groups condemn Cuban dissident detentions - Americas
- MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/28/3898911/us-rights-groups-condemn-cuban.html