Wednesday, June 10, 2015

More than 70 Ladies in White and Activists Arrested

More than 70 Ladies in White and Activists Arrested / Diario de Cuba
Posted on June 9, 2015

Diario de Cuba, Havana, 7 June 2015 – Over 40 Ladies in White and some
27 activists were arrested this Sunday, the ninth of repressive
operations in Havana, according to dissidents.

Among those arrested were the musician Gorki Aguila, the director of
Estado de Sats, Antonio Rodiles, photographer Claudio Fuentes and artist
Tania Bruguera, who has already been released, according to the activist
Ailer Gonzalez.

Other Ladies in White and opponents were arrested on leaving their
homes, or forced to remain in them, according to the dissident Martha
Beatriz Roque.

Gonzalez, artistic director of State of Sats, said she was able to talk
with Antonio Rodiles when he was led into a State Security "paddy
wagon,", along with nine other men, and taken to the criminal
prosecution center known as "Vivac."

"He told me that his arrest had been violent and that they had put him
in a chokehold," she told Diario de Cuba.

Given the continued repression against the Ladies in White and the
activists who support them when they attend Sunday Mass at Havana's
Santa Rita Church and undertake their walks down Quinta Avenue,
supporters inside and outside the island carried out a campaign on
Twitter using the hashtag #TodosMarchamos (We All March).

The initiative seeks to break the silence on the current repression in
Cuba despite the regime's negotiations with the United States and the
European Union.

"This is a resistance," said Ailer Gonzalez about the activities of the
Ladies in White and dissidents every Sunday. "Many believe it is
exhausting, but it seems to me that it is about the right to
demonstrate, not only for the release of political prisoners," she added.

"With this resistance every Sunday we are demanding the right to
peaceful demonstration in Cuba, which is something that they (the
government) are terrified of. Therefore they are engaged in this
sustained repression, because the day they let us walk more than 10
blocks, they know how many people are going to join in," she said.

Source: More than 70 Ladies in White and Activists Arrested / Diario de
Cuba | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/more-than-70-ladies-in-white-and-activists-arrested-diario-de-cuba/

No comments:

Post a Comment