CCDHRN’s Report on Cuba: 1,051 arbitrary detentions for political reasons in February 2014

CUBAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION

CUBA:  SOME ACTS OF POLITICAL REPRESSION IN THE MONTH  OF FEBRUARY  2014

(SD: Detentions)  (AR: Acts of repudiation)   (AV: Acts of vandalism)  (AF: Physical Aggressions)  (H: Harassment acts)

• At least 1,051 arbitrary detentions for political reasons took place in Cuba during the last month, similar to the numbers of the two previous months (between 1,000 and 1,200 arrests) and close to double the monthly average arrests in the previous two years.
• This high number of arrests linked to the high numbers of victims of the so-called “acts of repudiation” (137), the physical assaults (221), harassment (57) and vandalism (14) attributable, in all cases, to the secret political police and vigilante structures, are objective indicators of the persistent tendency towards the deterioration of the situation of civil and political rights which prevails in Cuba under a Government that has been more than 55 years exercising the power in a dictatorial manner. Only two months of the present year 2014 count more arbitrary detentions for political reasons that the posted throughout the whole year 2010.
• In February took place detentions and other acts of political repression all throughout the country, mainly in the provinces of Villa Clara and Santiago de Cuba, Havana.
• Extremely alarming were the three vandalism and confiscatory raids suffered by the pacific opponent Jorge Luis García Pérez (Antúnez), who was the subject of arbitrary detentions in such occasions, and the brutal aggression committed against Guillermo Fariñas, Andrei Sakharov Prize Winner of the European Parliament, who was beaten with a metal object on the left side of the chest causing him an injury so severe that it prevented him from attending a Conference on Cuba which took place in Madrid on February 26, 2014.
• Please read in the following page (page 2) four of the first points of consensus identified by the group of dissidents who attended the Conference.

Documented cases of temporarily detainees or processed, on political means, from January 2010:

Havana,  March 3, 2014

We include the official report on February 3, 2014, by CCDHRN, the only Cuban organization member of the International Ferderation for Human Rights (FIDH):

https://www.unpacu.org/wp-content/uploads/OVERVIEW-CUBA-FEBRERO-2014.pdf

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Madrid, February 26th, 2014

For the recognition of the legitimacy of the Cuban independent civil society 

On ratification of our commitment to peaceful methods to achieve the rule of law, we demand from the Government of Cuba and to the international community:

1. Unconditional release of all prisoners for political reasons, including those that are in an Extra-penal License situation.
2. End of the political repression, often violent, against the peaceful human rights and pro-democracy movement.
3. Respect for the international commitments already ratified by the Government of Cuba, ratification -without reservations- of the international covenants of Human Rights and compliance with conventions of the ILO on labor and trade union rights.
4. Recognition of the legitimacy of independent Cuban civil society.

Sign by

Yoani Sánchez – Blogger

Berta Soler – Portavoz de las Damas de Blanco

Elizardo Sánchez – Presidente de la Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y  Reconciliación Nacional

Juan Felipe Medina Díaz – Movimiento Cristiano de Liberación (MCL)

Guillermo Fariñas – UNPACU

Manuel Cuesta Morua – Arco Progresista

Reinaldo Escobar – Periodista

Antonio Guedes – Presidente de la Asociación de Iberoamericanos por la Libertad AIL

Guillermo Gortázar – Presidente de la Fundación Hispano Cubana

Javier Larrondo – Representante de la UNPACU en España y UE

Virgilio Toledo – Presidente de Convivencia España

Frisia Batista – Presidenta de Raíces de Esperanza España

Elena Larrinaga – FECU

Alejandro González Raga – Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos

Blanca Reyes – Damas de Blanco

Eduardo Pérez Bengochea – Coordinador de la Plataforma Internacional Derechos Humanos de Cuba

Tomás Muñoz y Oribe – Unión Liberal Cubana

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For more information, please contact:

CUBAN COMMISSION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION (CCDHRN):

Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz-Pacheco, President:

Telephone until 2/23/2014: (+34) 692 834 918
Mobile telephone in Havana (after February 23rd): (+53) 52 45 8060
Email: 

Central Offices of the CCDHRN in Havana:

Telephone (+53) 7 203 85 84

PATRIOTIC UNION OF CUBA (UNPACU):

Telephones: (+53) 53 14 6740 / (+53) 58 14 6606

Felix Navarro, General Coordinator 

Telephone: (+53) 53 68 8745

Guillermo Fariñas, Spokesperson

Telephone: (+53) 52 41 5709

Luis Enrique Ferrer, EEUU, International Representative

Telephone: (+1) 786 553 1666

Email: unpacu@gmail.com / luisenriqueferrer@gmail.com

Javier Larrondo, Madrid, European Union Representative

Telephone: (+34) 647 564 741

Email: info@unpacu.org

Website of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU):

www.unpacu.org

Tweeter of José Daniel Ferrer:

@jdanielferrer

http://twitter.com/#!/jdanielferrer

Videos direct from Cuba (YouTube Channel):

http://www.youtube.com/user/unpacu