Persecution in Cuba: activists report at least 537 detainees, including 11 minors, since protests began

Cuban activists have documented more than 500 inmates Since the protests began on July 11 on the island, including several minors, while religious organizations help relatives of those arrested and Harsh testimonies from people released in recent days are revealed.

During and after the September 11 protests, which ranged from peaceful protests to clashes with police and looting in some towns, There has been a wave of arrests of participants, including anonymous citizens, artists, opposition activists and politicians. independent journalists.

Castro’s regime did not provide data on detainees, whose official figures are unknown, although dissident organizations have prepared their own studies which place them in more than a hundred up to thousands across the country.

The activists circulated an interactive list in a calculation document that allows users to enter not only the personal data of those arrested, but also useful information such as the date and time of the arrest, the last report or the place where they were last seen.

The cast already includes 537 names in cities across the country, including 11 minors, including a 15-year-old.

As usual They are charged with “contempt” or “crimes against state security”. Cuban Prisoners Defenders have denounced that many of those arrested are subject to summary trials, without the possibility of accessing adequate legal representation.

Some of them have been released in recent days, some without charges and others in house arrest awaiting judgment.

Among these, the testimony of a university student, Leonardo Romero Negrín, who claimed to have suffered beatings and harassment during several days of detention for participating in a peaceful march in Havana.

The gate The young Cuba, a media of left-wing intellectuals in the country, revealed his entire testimony and asked for atruth commission“investigate alleged abuse authorities in relation to the 11-J protests, the largest in 60 years in Cuba.

Another young man released in recent days told the agency EFE the anonymity that he was not beaten or humiliated in prison – only during the demonstration – and was treated “Ordinary“, Except for annoying and verbally aggressive interrogations, sometimes at dawn.

The catholic community, For its part, he also travels to help those arrested.

The Cuban Conference of Religious, which brings together all the congregations in Cuba, began to provide not only spiritual but also legal counseling to the families of detainees.

Most importantly, they help them file the habeas corpus order so they know which prison their loved ones are in and follow the process, although “Cuban law does not give many possibilities”, according to the Jesuit priest Eduardo Llorens, one of the leaders of this initiative.

“We mobilized because the number of people is large. They are calculated in several hundreds and be careful not to be in the thousands. It is an impact on society. These are people who do not have the profile of common criminals and who they had never had any problems with the law before“, He explained.

Also began broadcasting a call, signed by the recently created “Mothers Movement”, to take to the streets on Wednesday across the country “All mothers, aunts, sisters, girlfriends and grandmothers” whose relatives “are dead, injured or missing since July 11”.

This group refers to ladies in white, the wives and relatives of the 75 dissidents imprisoned during the 2003 repression wave known as “Black spring», Who for years demonstrated peacefully to demand his release.

The mass arrests drew criticism from the international community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, this week called for the urgent release of those arrested, in addition to an investigation to sanction those responsible if abuses are confirmed.

The protests on Sunday 11 took place with the country plunged into a severe economic and health crisis, with the pandemic out of control and a severe shortage of food, medicine and other basic commodities, in addition to the long cuts of electricity, which prompted Cubans to take to the streets to criticize the Castro dictatorship.

The authorities, for their part, they insist on blaming the United States both protests and extreme shortages plaguing the country.

(With information from EFE)

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