Protestors in Havana Demand Release of New Political Prisoners

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Protestors in Havana Demand Release of New Political Prisoners
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Three members of the Cuban Resistance arrested before the Provincial Tribunal in Havana for protesting against detainments at the University of Havana and Baracoa

Havana. 26 August 2010. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Three activists from the Cuban Resistance movement carried out a peaceful demonstration before the Provincial Tribunal of Havana to demand freedom for eight Cuban pro democracy activists who face false charges and unjust sentences for participating in important public protests in Havana and Baracoa.

The activists who took part in the protest at the Tribunal on the morning of Thursday, August 26, were Eriberto Liranza Romero, Ermógenes Guerrero Gómez, and Sarah Martha Fonseca Quevedo. After the protest, the activists were arrested by the regime’s repressive forces and their whereabouts are unknown at the time of this release.

“This protest's demands are the immediate release of these eight young people who are being charged with public disorder and contempt,” stated Yaimí Alfonso, Eriberto Liranza Romero’s wife, by telephone to the Cuban Democratic Directorate.

In Havana, activists Michel Irois Rodríguez, Luis Enrique Labrador Díaz, and Eduardo Pérez Flores have been on hunger strike since their arrest on August 16^th, demanding their immediate release. On that same date, these activists, along with additional members of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience National Front, demonstrated on the steps of the University of Havana in defense of the Cuban people's basic rights, and against the tyranny of the current Communist regime.

Sarah Martha Fonseca Quevedo, who was detained on August 26, also participated in the August 16^th protest and was detained on that occasion for several days along with Rodriguez Ruiz, Labrador Diaz, and Perez Flores.

In Guantánamo, activists Néstor and Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina, Enyor Diaz Allen, Roberto Gonzalez Pelegrin, and Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz are being held at the State Security Operations Center on spurious charges of “public disorder” after leading a powerful protest in the city of Baracoa on August 11^th and 12^th against the arbitrary arrests of Yordis Garcia Fournier and Eriberto Liranza Romero.

The five activists are currently on hunger strike demanding their release. Enyor Diaz Allen, Roberto Gonzalez Pelegrin, Francisco Luis Manzanet Ortiz began the hunger strike on August 12^th and the Rodriguez Lobaina brothers began theirs on August 20^th.

According to reprots from independent journalist Jorge Corrales Ceballos, Gozalez Pelegrin is at the Dr. Agostino Neto Hospital’s prison ward while Manzanet Ortiz is in the intensive care unit due to the effects of his protest.

“I hold the Cuban government responsible for the physical and psychological…integrity of [these]… peaceful human rights defenders, who struggle for peace and democracy in Cuba,” declared Yaimí Alfonso.

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