25 July 2012
Cuba: Dozens arrested at funeral of prominent rights activist
“Tuesday’s events follow the pattern of short-term detentions and
imprisonments we’ve seen the Cuban authorities carry out time and again
as a form of intimidation against dissidents and human rights activists”
Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International’s Cuba researcher
Wed, 25/07/2012
The Cuban authorities’ arrest and short-term detention of more than 40
activists as they paid their respects at the funeral of human rights
activist Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas is another sign of how entrenched
repression against dissidents on the island remains, Amnesty
International said.
Among those arrested and shoved onto buses immediately following
Tuesday’s funeral mass in the capital Havana were former prisoner of
conscience Félix Navarro Rodríguez and outspoken dissident journalist
Guillermo Fariñas.
Elizardo Sánchez, President of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and
National Reconciliation, told Amnesty International how as many as 200
state security and police officers descended on the street outside the
church in the Havana neighbourhood of El Cerro and began roughing up the
mourners and bundling them into buses.
“The authorities don’t want the public to know how many people were
there and that we’re not afraid of them,” Guillermo Fariñas told Amnesty
International after his release.
The journalist said the police pushed him to the ground outside the
church, before forcing him to board the bus with around 20 other
mourners, the majority of whom were also mistreated by police. Many
shouted chants including “Long live Oswaldo!” and “freedom for Cuba!”
They were then held at different locations in the capital, including
Tarará Police School in East Havana. Most of them, including Guillermo
Fariñas and Félix Navarro Rodríguez were released several hours later
and it appears the last of those held were let go on Wednesday morning.
“Tuesday’s events follow the pattern of short-term detentions and
imprisonments we’ve seen the Cuban authorities carry out time and again
as a form of intimidation against dissidents and human rights
activists,” said Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International’s Cuba researcher.
“Indeed, it was the very kind of repression which Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas
dedicated his life to combating before his tragic death last weekend.”
Payá, whose funeral the activists were attending, fell victim to a road
accident on Sunday in eastern Cuba’s Granma Province.
The longtime activist was leader of the “Liberation” Christian Movement
(Movimiento Cristiano Liberación, MCL) and had spent time in a labour
camp in the 1960s for his beliefs.
In 2005, the European Parliament awarded him the Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought – which has also been awarded to Guillermo Fariñas
and the Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) activism group.
An official investigation has been opened into Payá’s death as his
family members raised questions about the exact circumstances of the car
crash.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/cuba-dozens-arrested-funeral-prominent-rights-activist-2012-07-25
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