Renewed Police violence against followers of the Cuban Democratic Movement
ISHR: Small concessions by Raul Castro cannot hide the facts of continuing repression and violence against dissidents.
Placetas-Frankfurt am Main (May 27, 2008): Over this past weekend, Cuban police forcibly disbanded a meeting of Cuban civil rights activists. The International Society for Human Rights declares that at least two people were injured by the police. This deployment of police is the most severe show of force in the past month. The ISHR calls on the government of General Raul Castro to promptly cease using force against civil rights activists and followers of the Cuban democratic movement.
The meeting took place in the town of Placetas in the home of the well known human rights activist and previous political prisoner Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, often called “Atunez”. The Afro-Cuban member of the ISHR in Frankfurt am Main continues to be one of the most prominent non-violent civil rights activists against the communist dictator in Cuba. Although he sat 19 years in prison for publicly criticizing Fidel Castro he still fights for human rights in Cuba, explains the ISHR. He protests with sit-ins, hunger strikes and silent vigils.
The civil rights activist Martha Beatriz Roque explained that at least 30 people were temporarily apprehended. Two of them were mistreated by the police and required medical attention. Roque is the speaker for the “Asamblea para Promover la Sociedad Civil en Cuba”, which despite being declared illegal by the Castro regime is one of the leading opposition groups against the dictator.
