Human rights group in Cuba reports record number of detentions

Posted on Monday, 05.05.14

Human rights group in Cuba reports record number of detentions
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

A record 3,821 short-term arrests of Cuban dissidents were reported in
the first four months of this year, continuing a surprisingly sharp
increase in detentions under ruler Raúl Castro, the island's top human
rights group reported Monday.

The number more than doubled the 1,588 detentions reported in the first
quarter of last year and outstripped the previous high of 2,795 for the
same period in 2012, which included 1,158 detentions during the month
that Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba.

The growing detentions "reflect the popular discontent that is growing
sharply" on the communist-ruled island of 11 million people, said
Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz, head of Cuban Commission for Human Rights
and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN).

"These people have entered their 56th year in government, and governing
badly, so it's natural that the discontent is increasing day by day,"
Sanchez said by phone from Havana.

"What does surprise me is that this is happening at a time when the
government is trying to get close to the European Union, and they (Cuban
officials) are showing a truly unacceptable face," Sanchez said.

Cuban and EU officials began talks April 29 on warming up their
political and economic relations. The EU's "common position" ties its
policies to Cuba's human rights record, although many European nations
maintain good bilateral relations with Havana.

Sanchez cautioned, however, that while the Cubans' discontent and
outright opposition to the government continue to rise, they lack
"articulation" because of the government's ability to crack down on its
critics.

Cuban police and State Security agents use what the CCDHRN calls
"short-term detentions for political motives" to harass and intimidate
government opponents and block planned gatherings or street marches.
Dissidents are usually held for several hours in police stations, or are
driven to remote locations and are then freed.

Sanchez, whose organization is not recognized by the government, said
the tactic began in 2004 under former ruler Fidel Castro as an attempt
to avoid repeating the long prison sentences — and mountains of negative
publicity — of a 2003 crackdown on dissent.

The sentences of up to 28 years handed down after one-day trials of 75
dissidents in what became known as Cuba's Black Spring sparked a deep
cooling of relations with the European Union and several Western nations.

Raúl Castro has launched a string of reforms to move the island away
from its Soviet-style economy and toward a more productive model that
allows more private enterprise. But many Cubans complain the changes are
too few and are moving too slowly.

The CCDHRN report for the month of April, issued Monday, showed steady
increases in short-term detentions, with 697 reported in the first four
months of 2010, compared to 1,166 in the same period in 2011, 2,795 in
2012 and 1,588 in 2013.

Authorities carried out 1,158 short-term detentions in March 2012 to
keep them away from Pope Benedict's masses, and shut down the cell
phones of hundreds of dissidents to try to keep the news of the
detentions from filtering out of the country.

The organization's tally also showed 2,074 such arrests in all of 2010,
compared to 4,123 in all of 2011, 6,602 in all of 2012 and 6,424 last year.

Source: Human rights group in Cuba reports record number of detentions -
Cuba - MiamiHerald.com -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/05/4099719/human-rights-group-in-cuba-reports.html