Women in Cuba’s opposition threatened by Castro dictatorship

Last week, several women in Cuba’s opposition were arrested by the Castro regime’s political police for holding up a homemade banner in a public square calling for the respect of human rights on the island. The harassment, however, has not ended with their illegal detention. The regime is exerting extreme pressure on these women to force them into submission, threatening to file criminal charges against them if they do not give up name of the opposition leader who organized the protest.

Via Ivan Garcia in ELMUNDO.ES (my translation):

Cuban opposition member Sonia Garro and six other women threatened with criminal case
Las opositoras cubanas Mercedes Fresneda (i) y Sonia Garro (d).
Mercedes Fresneda and Sonia Garro

According to opposition member Sonia Garro, intelligence officials have informed her that a criminal case may be opened against her and the six other women who repeatedly organize peaceful protest marches on the streets of Havana.

Garro said that one of the interrogators, who are agents of State Security, told her that “President Raul Castro himself wants to know who is the woman who is organizing these street protests. Perhaps we will not imprison all seven, but for certain the leader or leaders will go to prison.”

Just like the rest of the group, Sonia is a member of the Ladies of Support for the Ladies in White. In addition, she is part of an independent Afro-Cuban organization led by Mercedes Fresneda, another person threatened by the authorities with criminal charges for continuing their anti-government protests.

[…]

“I feel harassed by State Security. In front of my home there are continuous acts of repudiation by mobs incited by the authorities. I have received brutal beatings and I have a contusion on my right knee. On Thursday, June 9th, in a protest at the Anti-Imperialist Square in homage to Orlando Zapata Tamayo, we were pummeled and beaten.”

“I was detained for two days at the police station in Aguilera, in the 10th of October municipality. The other six women were also arrested in different police stations. They filed charges for instulting patriotic symbols, disrespect, and public disorder,” Garro said sitting on a shabby sofa.

H/T Liú Santiesteban

1 thought on “Women in Cuba’s opposition threatened by Castro dictatorship”

  1. It’s amazing how despite the fact that Cuba’s dissidents are largely [or at least substantially] black, they are still ignored by the mainstream media that is so incredibly race conscious. We’re talking about the race-baiting media that is always looking for signs of minority disenfranchisement, discrimination and persecution.

    Yet, it seems that an ossified tyranny [if it’s nominally “leftist”] supersedes the rights of blacks.

Comments are closed.