Political Repression Increase in Cuba Criticized by Opposition Group

Political Repression Increase in Cuba Criticized by Opposition Group
By Alyza Katrina C. Torres (staff@latinpost.com)First Posted: Jan 05,
2016 06:00 AM EST

A known opposition group in Cuba, the Cuban Commission on Human Rights
and National Reconciliation, recently released its latest report on the
increased political repression happening in the communist government.
In light of the recent actions by Washington and Havana diplomatic
reconciliation, according to AFP, which freed five dissidents, the group
urged that the government has sustained the political repression last 2015.
According to the report of the opposition group, which is known to be
outlawed but tolerated in Cuba, they clarified that the five of the 53
listed prisoners, as part of the reestablishment of the Cuban-U.S.
diplomatic relations, were freed but were previously "confined in
high-security prisons in the second half of 2015."
The group also stressed that the five prisoners -- Wilfredo Parada
Milian, Jorge Ramirez Calderon, Carlos Manuel Figueroa, Aracelio Ribeaux
Noa and Vladimir Morera -- were jailed "as a result of rigged trials and
without due process."
Furthermore, Morera was in a hunger strike for the past few months
starting Oct. 9, 2015 and just started eating again on Dec. 31, 2015.
"All I know is that he is eating again, and that he is speaking
incoherently because the doctors say he was very weak," Morera's son
said as quoted by the news agency.
And while the Cuban government remains silent on the matter, the
commission reports that in January 2015, there have been 178 cases of
political arrests. Meanwhile, throughout the past year until December
2015, the commission reported 930 arrests for political reasons, which
is considered the third highest number of the year, EFE reports.
The group further clarified that the repressive acts include "acts of
vandalism and the extrajudicial confiscation of toys for distribution to
poor children, plus the seizing of cash, computers, cell phones and
other legally acquired work devices from detained opposition members."
The commission revealed that the country has encountered an increasing
amount of "poverty and despair" because of such political repressive
actions and that the people have been illegally migrating to other
places away from Cuba to escape the troubled situation.
According to the news agency, the Cuban government has considered the
commission as the most dissident since the U.S. funded mercenaries. The
most current news from the dissident group revealed that "political
repression" continued in 2015 "despite the well-known expectations
awakened by the announcement of the re-establishment of diplomatic
relations" between Havana and Washington, AFP reports.

Source: Political Repression Increase in Cuba Criticized by Opposition
Group : US News : Latin Post -
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/106326/20160105/political-repression-increase-in-cuba-criticized-by-opposition-group.htm