Ladies in White are brutally attacked once more
- News on the Net Monday, August 15, 2011
This is the fourth Sunday in Eastern Cuba since July 24, 2011, that
numerous "Ladies in White" accompanied by female supporters in white
attire are arrested after suffering violent physical and verbal assaults
by forces of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior. Government sponsored
mobs besieged the homes of human rights defenders in different towns of
the province of Santiago de Cuba to curtail any acts of solidarity with
the Cuban women.
According to Belkis Cantillo, wife of Cuban ex-political prisoner of
conscience, Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, she and all the women traveling
with her to attend mass at the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba were forced
down with punches from a truck in the city of "El Cristo" where
authorities had set up a control point. More than 50 women dressed in
military uniforms beat and pushed them into police cars where Cantillo
says she was beaten once more and her hair was pulled.
Around twenty women were arrested. Advocates of the Ladies in White:
Maria Elena Matos, Annia Alegre and Adriana Nunez were threatened with
German shepherd dogs during their detention. Ms. Nunez had to be
hospitalized due to the ill treatment she suffered. The police cars
eventually abandoned the women in the outskirts of their home towns.
Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia informed that the home of Rene Hierrezuelo
Arafe in the town of 'El Caney' was attacked while 'Palma Soriano' and
'Palmarito de Cauto' were militarized by Rapid Response Brigades. Some
of the activists besieged in El Caney were: Agustin Magdariaga, Reinier
Arocha Tellez, Eliecer Consuegra Velazquez, Pavel Arcias Cespedes,
Guillermo Cobas Reyes, Yimmy Eduardo Arocha Montoya, Henry Perales Elias.
In 'Palma Soriano' the home of Marino Antomarchy was surrounded by mobs
with sticks, stones, and metal rods. Rolando Reyes and Miguel R. Cabrera
were arrested and Jose Antonio Zulueta was injured when authorities
slammed him against a wall.
As the Ladies in White in Cuba vow to continue their peaceful struggle
on behalf of the freedom of all Cuban political prisoners, and as long
as the human rights activists continue to defend fundamental rights in
the island, the Coalition of Cuban-American Women will persist in
demanding international solidarity for the leaders of the civil
resistance in Cuba. We make an urgent call to women in positions of
leadership in religious, political, educational, social, and cultural
institutions, in NGO's, and in the press to denounce the increase of
these cruel and degrading acts committed by the Cuban government against
their own people.
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