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Cuban Human Rights Activists Arrested Mere Hours after European Sanctions Lifted
Live phone recordings (Statement launching sit-in from 0:10 to 2:48. Arrest begins at 2:52): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmCWnqXCzkE
Matanzas, Cuba. June 20, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. On the morning of Friday, June 20, former political prisoner and opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez,” his wife, human rights activist Iris Pérez Aguilera, and other opposition activists from various regions of Antúnez and Pérez Aguilera issued a statement on June 19 expressing their intention to conduct a sit-in before the Provincial Delgation for State Security in “We call on public opinion, both nationally and internationally, to heed the just cry of this human rights defender […] We hold the Havana regime responsible for the consequences entailed in this act of self-sacrifice,” stated the document read by Antúnez from Placetas on the afternoon of June 19. One demand being made by Mario Pérez Aguilera is to be transferred to a prison in Sancti Spiritus, his province of residence. Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”, his wife Iris Pérez Aguilera, and human rights activists Idania Yánez Contreras, Yesmi Elena Mena Urbano, Blas Fortún Martínez, and Benito Suárez Ortega were violently arrested at about 10:00 AM on June 20. At the time of this writing, their whereabouts are unknown. The Cuban Democratic Directorate calls on international public opinion, especially on the European Union’s member states who mere hours ago eliminated diplomatic sanctions against the Raúl Castro regime, to condemn this human rights violation committed against Cuban citizens peacefully demanding respect for their rights.
----- Cuban Democratic Directorate position on the European Union Sanctions decision: http://www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=2046 Send by E-mail | Printable Version
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