Ecuadorian Police Evict Cubans From Quito Encampment

Ecuadorian Police Evict Cubans From Quito Encampment / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 6 July 2016 – In the early morning hours of Wednesday
the Ecuadorian police intervened to evict Cubans from an encampment in
Arbolito Park in Quito, and about one hundred migrants without proper
documents were loaded into four buses to take them to trial.

Lazaro Ramos, one of the spokesmen for the Cuban National Alliance in
Ecuador, told 14ymedio that the Cubans were arrested for being
undocumented, although all of them were released later on Wednesday
morning, with the exception of Efrain Sanchez Mateos, accused of
assaulting a police officer.

Ramos added that lawyers from Quito and Pichincha in solidarity with the
Cuban cause will represent the migrants during a hearing to be held this
Wednesday.

According to the testimonies of Cubans and their relatives, police
violently broke up the encampment, destroying the tents and belongings
of some of those staying there, amid shouts and protests from the
foreigners.

After a week of camping in front of the Mexican Embassy in Quito to
demand humanitarian visas that would allow them to travel to the United
States, the migrants were evacuated in late June by the Ecuadorian
security forces. The Cubans argue that they then obtained a permit from
the Municipality of Quito to install their encampment in Arbolito Park.

On Monday, hundreds of people demonstrated outside the Cuban embassy in
Quito to "repudiate" President Raul Castro and the recent statements
issued by the embassy in which they were accused of "seeking points" to
reach the United States.

Source: Ecuadorian Police Evict Cubans From Quito Encampment / 14ymedio
– Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/ecuadorian-police-evict-cubans-from-quito-encampment-14ymedio/