UNPACU Activists Denounce Raid On Their Homes

UNPACU Activists Denounce Raid On Their Homes / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 28 May 2016 – This week has been one of surprises for
several activists from the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) who denounce
that they have been victims of a raid on their homes and the
confiscation of their belongings. The dissidents detailed that the
political police raided three houses in the city of Santiago de Cuba on
Saturday morning and a fourth in Havana on Wednesday.

Ermito Morán Sánchez, an UNPACU activist, confirmed to14ymedio that they
"raided the homes of Carlos Oliva Torres, Yusmila Reyna and Karel Reyes
where they seized printed materials, a camera, and other items in
response to our activities to disseminate the reality of this country
among the people."

In a telephone conversation with 14ymedio, Yusmila Reyna said that at
six in the morning, while her family was sleeping, there was a "knock on
the door." It was the police with "a search warrant for subversive
activities." An officer showed her a paper, but did not allow her to
read it carefully or to take it in her hands. The incident occurred on
12th Street in the Mariana de la Torre neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba.

Reyna managed to read that the order specified that they came to "seize
methods of communication, money, and any other means of
counterrevolution." A total of ten uniformed officers plus two in plain
clothes, who supposedly came to witness the search (Cuban law requires
two civilians to witness such a search), participated in the operation.

The raid lasted over an hour and ultimately they seized working notes,
two laptops, an electronic tablet, two hard drives, a printer, a camera,
"and even receipts for items acquired abroad," according to Reyna.

The activist circulated a text where she says that "acts like these do
not prevent us from continuing our work in defense of human rights and
accelerating the process of democratization of our island."

During the search of her house they also seized a number of issues of
the magazine Coexistence, documents relating to the initiative Otro 18
(Another 2018)—in support of free multiparty elections—and documents
relating to the Roundtable for United Democratic Action (MUAD).

"They took two staplers and the boxes of staples, and a hole-punch. They
didn't leave any document I was working on and warned me that any demand
[for the return of the seized items] would have go to the 'Confrontation
Offices' but that they were not going to return anything."

Meanwhile the dissident Arcelio Rafael "Chely" Molina Leyva said that
Wednesday morning the police arrived to search his home, which serves as
the UNPACU headquarters in Havana.

"They came with several gentlemen in plainclothes and after a thorough
search took three laptops, a battery to recharge cell phones, two mobile
phones, office supplies, news from international agencies, printed civic
material and digital backups," Chely enumerated.

This is the fourth search of this nature by the political police on
UNPACU's Havana headquarters. As a part of the operation they arrested
Carlos Amel Oliva Torres, who despite having a temporary residence
permit for Havana was taken to the third station of the National
Revolutionary Police (PNR) in Santiago de Cuba, where he is still under
arrest.

Source: UNPACU Activists Denounce Raid On Their Homes / 14ymedio –
Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/unpacu-activists-denounce-raid-on-their-homes-14ymedio/