Repression on the rise

Cuba: Repression on the rise
Rafael Ferro Salas, Abdala Press

PINAR DEL RIO, Cuba - March (www.cubanet.org) - Cuban prisons remain
packed full of political prisoners and as if this weren't enough,
repression against dissidents, opponents of the regime, independent
journalists and correspondents is on the rise.

All this is made clear with the recent detentions and threats carried
out by the forces of the State Security against members of the
opposition on the threshold of the third anniversary of the wave of
repression of March 2003.

In the municipality of Consolación del Sur in this province, the house
of Felipe Gil Sanjudo, the correspondent of this press agency, was
visited by two State Security agents and by the sector chief of the
police in that territory. They threatened to jail Sanjudo if he
participated in the activity commemorating the anniversary. They also
told him they wouldn't allow him to travel to the city of Pinar del Río.

"For obvious reasons, they knew I was going to participate in an
activity organized by FLAMUR (Federation of Latin American Rural Women).
That activity was going to be held in Pinar del Río. They prohibited me
from leaving my home so I wouldn't be at the meeting. I couldn't go, but
the activity happened and that's enough for me to feel satisfied,"
Sanjudo indicated.

In the same city of Pinar del Río, Abigail Ortega Beltrán, director of
the "Polo Montañez" independent library, was visited at his home by an
official known as Beune.

"The official went to my house on the day of the activity and threatened
to jail me if he found out I was at the meeting," Ortega said by
telephone. "I told him I would go and that's what I did. Now I don't
know what his reaction will be, what mattered to me was to be present
there. There's no reason to jail me for doing that, it's my right as a
human being. It's good that these things happening to us dissidents in
Cuban are made known to the world."

The fact remains that what with detentions and threats, the majority of
the opposition parties and organizations inside the island carried out
the commemoration meetings.

On March 18, 2003, the political police of the Cuban regime carried out
operations against dissidents, opponents and independent journalists.
After days of detentions and searches of the homes of those involved,
summary trials were held where those being prosecuted were sentenced to
long prison terms.

Every March 18th the opposition parties and organizations commemorate
the date, facing harassment from the political police.

The police forces have brigades of collaborators with the system who
provide support during the operations against the dissidents. Some
opponents of the regime have been physically attacked by these mobs.

In the eastern zone of the island in the town of San Luis in Santiago de
Cuba, Maura Isset was assaulted in her own home along with her husband.
They also insulted her verbally for belonging to the dissidents. Isset
is affiliated with the Federation of Latin American Rural Women (FLAMUR).

Three years after the 18th of March, 2003, the prisoners continue to be
imprisoned in worse conditions of overcrowding, while in the street the
struggle between adversaries hasn't stopped: it's the true face of Cuba.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/apr06/14e7.htm