(Washington, DC, December 11, 2008) – The Cuban government should immediately and unconditionally free the dissidents who have been arbitrarily detained in recent days, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Cuban government arrested more than 30 people in the days leading up to International Human Rights Day, according to press accounts and Cuban human rights groups. Many were reportedly arrested as they tried to travel to Havana to participate in marches and other activities planned for December 10, the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“This latest crackdown is further evidence that, despite the handoff of power from Fidel to Raul Castro, the Cuban government still refuses to tolerate even the most basic assertion of human rights,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.
Belinda Salas, president of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (FLAMUR) – a Cuban organization – said she was with three other dissidents on December 9 when eight security officers assaulted them, with no warning. Her husband, Lazaro Alonso, a former political prisoner, was hit repeatedly in the groin and beaten in the face and head until he was unconscious. Officers tore Salas’s shirt from her body and fractured her hand in the assault. Salas was not arrested, but her husband and two others were detained by security forces.
Other dissidents were reportedly visited by state security agents and given verbal warnings in advance of International Human Rights Day that they would suffer beatings, imprisonment, or other punishments if they took part in any of the planned activities. Some of the detainees have since been released, though the current number of those arrested in the last few days and where they are being held remain unknown.
The Cuban government continues to restrict nearly all avenues of political dissent, strictly limiting freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and the press. Cuba’s laws and state-controlled institutions provide the foundation for these violations of basic rights, and criminal prosecutions, detentions, harassment, and surveillance are commonly used to repress opposition. In addition to dissidents arrested in the last several days, more than 200 people are incarcerated in Cuba for political reasons.
Over the past several years, the government has cracked down on the activities of rights activists and independent journalists marking anniversaries of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“This has become a pattern: the government of Cuba commemorates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by violating its fundamental principles,” said Vivanco.
