Ray Sanchez | Direct from Havana
7:36 AM EDT, April 22, 2008
Havana, Cuba
A peaceful sit-in by women demanding the release of their jailed
husbands was broken up by government suporters Monday. The outnumbered
demonstrators were forced onto a bus near the offices of Cuban President
Raul Castro and driven home.
The outcome of the quiet protest by 10 women, half of them members of
the dissident group Women in White, underscored the Castro government's
willingness to lift some restrictions on the lives of Cubans while
refusing to tolerate even the slightest dissent.
"The message is clear: zero political tolerance," said dissident
Elizardo Sanchez, president of the Cuban Commision for Human Rights and
National Reconciliation, which is illegal but tolerated by the state.
"At least in the area of human rigths, there is no significant change in
Cuba."
A government statement read on the state media Monday night called the
demonstration a "crude and shameful provocation" by mercenaries carrying
out orders of anti-Castro forces in Miami. The statement was published
in the state press Tuesday.
The statement said the demonstrators on Friday received a 22-minute
phone call of encouragement from Florida congresswoman Ileana
Ros-Lehtinen, a Castro foe and proponent of U.S. funds intended to
undermine the island's government.
The 10 demonstrators gathered early Monday at a park that is part of
Havana's vast Revolution Square. The women intended to deliver a letter
addressed to Raul Castro and other officials, according to organizers
and human rights observers. After waiting at the park a little more than
two hours, their protest was broken up by 20 female police officers who
arrived by bus.
The protesters, surrounded by angry government supporters shouting
obcenities, locked arms and refused to leave, organizers and observers
said. The women, wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with the faces and
names of their jailed loved ones, were dragged onto a bus and driven
home. No serious injuries were reported.
"We cannot allow them to even come close to Revoultion Plaza," one
government supporter told Cuban television. "Everyone knows the
historical significance of the plaza."
Earlier this year, Cuba announced that it had signed international
agreements adopted by the United Nations on civil and political rights.
Since officially becoming the communist island's first new president in
nearly 50 years in February, Raul Castro has taken over for his ailing
brother Fidel by introducing modest changes in daily life. For instance,
restrictions on the ownership of computers and cell phones and stays at
tourist hotels were lifted recently. But many Cubans doubt that more
profound change is in store.
"It is clear that the government will continue to repress the peaceful
demands of defenseless women," said Miriam Leyva, a member of the Women
in White who did not participate in Monday's demonstration. She called
the recent reforms "cosmetic."
Every Sunday, the Women in White hold a silent march along Havana's
Fifth Avenue, calling for the release of relatives jailed during a March
2003 roundup of 75 government critics.
Since the Black Spring crackdown five years ago, 16 of the original 75
dissidents have been released on medical parole. Four more were freed
into forced exile in Spain last month.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/cuba/sfl-0422havanadaily,0,31312.column
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