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URGENT: Activist Sit-In to Support Jailed Journalist’s Hunger Strike Violently Broken Up; 22 Arrested
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Miami. July 31, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Twenty-two Cuban human rights activists were violently arrested this morning at 11:30am as they conducted a sit-in in front of Holguin Provincial Prison.

 

The activists were demanding a clear response to the demands made by political prisoners engaged in a hunger strike who are being held at the prison. The four political prisoners on hunger strike are Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, Alfredo Rodolfo Domínguez Batista, Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Luis Mariano Delís Utria.

 

According to independent journalist Caridad Caballero Batista, who was among the detained, the arrests occurred at 11:30 a.m.

 

"We were surrounded by police, women from the Rapid Response Brigades, the Special Brigade … [T] hey dragged us out by force, violently dragging us all out from there with different maneuvers, manhandling us, twisting arms and everything. We were all taken to Pedernales, to State Security headquarters. They stuck us in there,” stated Caballero Batista.

 

The abuse continued even after the activists were under arrest.

 

"Many of us were shouting 'murderers,' 'abusers' and that they were allowing a man to die. They covered our mouths ...Each one of us was placed in separate interrogation rooms where they searched everything. Many were forced to take off their clothes, to strip naked," stated Caballero Batista.

 

Caballero Batista, who had been abandoned on the outskirts of the city of Holguin, concluded the interview saying that the other activists were placed on buses to unknown destinations.

 

According to the information received so far, those arrested the morning of July 31, 2008 in front of the Holguin Provincial Prison are Melba Santana Ariz, Caridad Caballero Batista, Idania Yánez Contreras, Yesmi Elena Mena Zurbano, Blas Fortún Martínez, Jorge Luis García P’erez “Antúnez,” Iris Pérez Aguilera, Donaida Pérez Paceiro, Arturo Conde Zamora, Loreto Hernández García, Ernesto Mederos Arocerena, José Ramón Herrera Hernández, Franklin Pelegrino Del Toro, Marco Antonio Lima and his wife, José Ramón Pupo Nieves and other activists still to be identified.

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