Leading Activists Arrested on Eve of Major Award to Cuban Democratic Resistance
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera of the Rosa Parks Women’s Movement for Civil Rights, and Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners. March 2009.

Placetas, Villa Clara. June 23, 2009. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Five Cuban pro-democracy activists were unjustly detained by totalitarian Cuba’s repressive apparatus this afternoon. The arrests came on the eve of the official ceremony for the National Endowment for Democracy’s prestigious Democracy Award, which will recognize five activists of Cuba’s democratic resistance. Two of the honorees are among the detained: Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners and Iris Tamara Pérez Aguilera of the Rosa Parks Women’s Movement for Civil Rights.

According to a telephone statement given to Directorio by Loreto Hernández García, a member of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners and Antúnez’s brother, the other detained activists are Donaida Pérez Paseiro, Aramilda Contreras and Yaité Cruz Sosa, all three members of the Rosa Parks Women’s Movement for Civil Rights. The arrests occurred after the Rosa Parks Movement held a peaceful meeting at a public park in Placetas.

“State Security arrives at the house and takes away opposition activist Donaida Pérez, detained. Idel González, Agent in Charge of Confrontation, tells her she bothers him, that he was going to stick her in jail and that he was going to sentence her to two years imprisonment. They arrest the rest near the park. I go to the police unit and they tell me they will be detained for 48 or 72 hours for counterrevolutionary actions, and that they’re going to bring charges against Pérez Paseiro,” stated Hernández García.

The activists were released on the morning of Wednesday June 24, 2009.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate condemns the constant harassment of Cuba’s independent civil society and peaceful pro-democracy activists.

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Directorio Democrático Cubano
P.O. Box 110235
Hialeah, Florida 33011
Tel. 305-220-2713
info@directorio.org

In Memory of Mario Manuel de la Peña