Dozens of UNPACU Activists Detained Attending a Funeral / 14ymedio
14ymedio, Havana – Dozens of activists from the Patriotic Union of Cuba
(UNPACU) in Santiago de Cuba were arrested this Tuesday and on Wednesday
morning when they tried to go to the funeral of one of their members.
The detentions coincided with the burial of Maximilliano Sanchez Pereda,
72 years of age, who died Tuesday morning at the Juan Ambrosio Grillo
Hospital.
"They set up several police cordons in order to prevent brothers from
arriving to show their sympathy to the family of the deceased," said
opponent Ovidio Martin to 14ymedio via telephone. The visitation was
held on Tuesday night at Sanchez's house, "because that was his will,"
he added.
Martin explained that during the day in the area of Palma Soriano "they
arrested about 30 activists" and "more than 20 in the area of Santiago
de Cuba." They were all set free that same night, and the police warned
them that they could not attend the funeral.
At dawn on Wednesday, near Palmarito de Cauto, another 35 members of the
organization were arrested and "kept in an enclosed truck for hours in
sub-human conditions, completely closed and without a bathroom," said
Martin. The same source says that on Wednesday afternoon, "they were all
set free" although "they suffered arbitrary and in some cases violent
arrests."
The burial of the deceased took place Wednesday morning, and the
activist says that at the moment of the burial there arrived at the
cemetery "a truck full of paramilitary forces dressed as civilians
pretending that they were community services."
Martin thinks that the purpose was to prevent a cross from being left at
the grave on behalf of the family members and activists on which
appeared the deceased's day of birth, the burial date, and the acronym
UNPACU. "Right there a dispute broke out because the paramilitary forces
pulled the cross from the grave saying that the abbreviation could not
go there."
Eventually the opponents returned "to put the cross in place."
Translated by Mary Lou Keel
Source: Dozens of UNPACU Activists Detained Attending a Funeral /
14ymedio – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/dozens-of-unpacu-activists-detained-attending-a-funeral-14ymedio/
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