January 31, 2006

Life in Cuba?

Here are three brief glimpses:

Telephone company refuses service to independent journalist

HAVANA, January 30 ( Roberto Pérez, Agencia Patria / www.cubanet.org) - Independent journalist Antonio Femenías Hechemendia thought he'd finally obtain a telephone when the ETECSA, the national telephone company, assigned numbers to those living in the historical center of the city of Ciego de Ávila.

However, when his wife, Irsy Adelina Rodríguez Pérez, went to the company to sign a contract for the telephone, she was told that service could not be connected and she would get an explanation from the government's Popular Power organization.

There she was told that "the benefits of the Revolution" were not available to dissidents. Then, officers of the political police visited Antonio Femenías Hechemendia and accused him of trying to enlist people to become independent journalists.

Finally, employees of the telephone went to the Femenías Hechemendia home and removed the telephone cable that had been installed.

Popular Power advised the block committee in the historic center that a telephone had mistakenly been assigned to Femenías Hechemendia.

*

Some 400 books seized from independent library

HAVANA, January 30 (Roberto Santana Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) - Caridad González López, director of the Frank País independent library, said a State Security agent seized some 400 books from the library last week.

González López said the agent, named Rolando, was accompanied by a member of the Communist party. She said they arrived at the library at 7 a.m. with a search warrant.

"The warrant had as its objective to scare me into not continuing to work at the library and in the dissidency," she said, "but I will redouble my efforts. "

*

Dissident sentenced to year for failing to pay fine

HAVANA, January 30 (Roberto Santana Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) - Rolando Aguirre Patterson, a member of the Cuban Liberal Movement, has been sentenced to a year in jail for failing to pay 10 fines for illegally operating a pedicab.

Aguirre Patterson, 26, had been operating a pedicab for four years, mainly in the historic tourist area.

"I didn't have a lawyer to defend me," Aguirre Patterson said. "There were two judges and the prosecutor in the courtroom. They only let my wife in."

Aguirre Patterson was accused of not possessing a government license and fined 4,580 pesos, the equivalent of two years' wages for an average worker.

Posted by Val Prieto at January 31, 2006 05:59 AM



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Comments

Val - Where did you see the library article? I'm getting a File not found message when I click the link on CubaNet.

Posted by: Scott at January 31, 2006 09:02 AM

I sure hope that people such as "Victor" ALLCAPS and "Carlitos" the fool *tiranosaurius stooge* are paying close attention to these posts, so they can start to educate themselves on the reality of life in Cuba... whether they are in that unfortunate island-hellhole or elsewhere.
JulioZ

Posted by: Julio C. Zangroniz at January 31, 2006 05:46 PM