Threatened member of the opposition receives solidarity from neighbors

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Threatened member of the opposition receives solidarity from neighbors
By Cuban Democratic Directorate

Antilla, Cuba – On the afternoon of April 26th, four members of the Cuban Communist Party presented themselves at the home of Eliécer Consuegra Rivas with the aim of impeding him from leaving his house to an activity in Camaguey. They threatened him with death if he were to leave his home.

“I was surrounded that day by paramilitaries and members of State Security, headed by a so-called ‘Cristian’ or ‘Josvani’… There was terrible tension in my house. During the three days in which my house was encircled my mother maintained high blood pressure and arrhythmia… On the afternoon of the 27^th, I left my house to walk a distance of tour houses to buy some cigarettes, and these people came running after me. Neighbors came out to their front porches and to the sidewalks to see what was occurring because these people had walkie-talkies and were saying, ‘The subject has gone out to the street, what do we do?’ My mother came out as well thinking that they were going to beat me, and they told me they were going to beat me and kill me; that I could not leave my house,” explained Consuegra Rivas.

Two days after the harassment by State Security had begun, the official retired and in response to the hostility undergone by his family, Eliécer Consuegra Rivas carried out a peaceful march with his wife, mother, and daughter. They dressed in black and walked through the town of Antilla with a white flower as a symbol of reconciliation. They placed the flowers on the Jose Marti Statue on 28 de Enero Avenue, in the center of the town. Many people saw them and supported them as they walked by.

“The solidarity was grand, which is why I send a message of appreciation to the town of Antilla and to my neighbors who said they would not allow anyone to hurt me, and many other people from the town who did the same,” declared the human rights activist, “I will continue in my peaceful struggle for human rights and the democratization of my country. I will not step back even a millimeter. They [Political Police] say that they want to destroy the Eastern Democratic Alliance, and I tell them that the Eastern Democratic Alliance already has roots in various provinces in eastern Cuba, and is stronger than ever, consolidated, and with a perspective toward the future of making progress toward democracy in our country.”

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