Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez released by police

Posted on Wednesday, 06.13.12

Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez released by police

An opposition leader in Cuba who had been arrested and beaten was let go.
BY JUAN CARLOS CHAVEZ
jcchavez@ElNuevoHerald.com

Cuban opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez, known as Antúnez, was
released by police on Wednesday after being detained last Saturday in a
violent incident at his city of birth, Placetas, in Villa Clara province.

"My first words are to express my thanks to all those persons of good
will who, somehow or other, decidedly contributed to my release," said
Antúnez in a statement made available by the Miami-based Directorio
Democrático Cubano (Cuban Democratic Board).

On Saturday, Antúnez was arrested, beaten and sprayed with pepper gas in
a police jail cell.

The domestic opposition movement and human rights activists had
consistently denounced his detention.

Last Thursday, Antúnez participated in a teleconference before a
subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee dealing with
the domestic situation in Cuba and the recent acts of harassment against
the peaceful opposition.

The U.S. government had demanded Antúnez's immediate and unconditional
release. At a recent press conference in Washington, U.S. State
Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland deplored the oppositionist's arrest.

Criticism has become strongest because Raúl Castro's government seems to
have activated a campaign to block the opposition's plans to honor
political prisoners on the occasion of Fathers' Day, next Sunday.

In the past 48 hours, the cell phones of several dissidents in Villa
Clara and Santiago appeared to have been blocked by the authorities so
they could not speak with supporters or journalists.

"These actions highlight once again the repressive nature of the Cuban
government, particularly with regard to citizens who peacefully express
opposite points of view," Nuland said. "We shall continue to support the
Cuban people in its desire to determine their own future."

Joining the chorus of figures and personalities in U.S. politics who
demanded Antúnez's release was Senator Bill Nelson. In a letter to the
chief of the Cuban Mission in Washington, Jorge Bolaños, the senator
asked for an explanation.

"I beg you to determine at once all the facts surrounding this affair
and notify my office about Antúnez's whereabouts and well-being," Nelson
said in his letter.

Antúnez, 46, was released from prison in April 2007 after serving a
17-year sentence for allegedly engaging in enemy propaganda, attempts at
sabotage and other crimes punishable by the Cuban penal code.

Two weeks ago in Miami, groups of Cuban exiles showed a documentary that
contains testimony from former political prisoners about the coercive
methods used by the island's prisons, and the consistent violation of
the immates' basic rights.

The documentary, titled "Cuba's Prisons: A Sequence of Terror," was
filmed and edited surreptitiously by members of the Oriental Democratic
Alliance (ADO), a coalition of opposition groups in Cuba's eastern
provinces. The documentary included a testimony by Antúnez.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/13/2848371/cuban-opposition-leader-jorge.html