October 30, 2007

70 young people arrested in Havana (UPDATED)

As many as 70 young people were arrested Monday in Havana, for carrying signs wearing wristbands with the word "Cambio," or change, according to Cuban Encuentro. They were taken to the police station at Zanja and Dragones, and as of Tuesday only about 10 had been released.

Among those arrested was the nephew of political prisoner Fabio Prieto.

Ricardo Rodríguez Borrero, vice president of the College of Independent Teachers, said none of those arrested had formally been charged with a crime.

"I am very concerned about what is happening, and fear (the dictatorship) is preparing a new wave of repression," said human rights activist Juan Carlos González Leyva.

UPDATE

Thanks to the commenter who noted that my translation of the word "manilla" was incorrect.

Posted by Marc at October 30, 2007 09:59 PM

Comments

This must be one of those new fangled reforms from raul that the MSM is all abuzz about.

Posted by: Henry "Conductor" Gomez [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 30, 2007 11:21 PM

And surprise! Nothing in Google News about it. Let's see if they report this tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath.

But this is important, I think we should spread the word.

Posted by: Dave Sandoval [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 31, 2007 12:05 AM

FYI: According to the story at Cuba Encuentro, they weren't holding signs. Rather, they were wearing "CAMBIO" wristbands. If you run a google search for "manilla, cambio, cuba" you'll see this isn't the first time someone's been arrested for wearing this (although certainly the first time I know of that so many at one time have been arrested for wearing it)

Posted by: elMizzoubanazo [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 31, 2007 01:50 AM

We can only hope and pray that more Cubans start to 'push the envelope' in this way. The decrepid dictator is close to croaking and that's when the fun will start. We have to keep encouraging them and providing whatever help we can. The Cubans on the island are the tip of the spear and it's refreshing to hear that more of them appear to be demanding change. Unfortunately, as Henry stated, you'll rarely hear it from our liberal dominated media - it's not on their agenda.

Posted by: Mambi [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 31, 2007 08:04 AM

It looks like the tree of dissent is bearing fruit.

Posted by: LittleGator [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 31, 2007 10:30 AM

My band Guajiro will wear these bands at gigs from now until further notice...

Posted by: wiljiro [TypeKey Profile Page] at November 23, 2007 04:35 PM


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