UNPACU suffers at least 13 raids on homes in 48 hours, in addition to thefts and arrests

UNPACU suffers at least 13 raids on homes in 48 hours, in addition to
thefts and arrests
DDC | Santiago de Cuba | 23 de Diciembre de 2016 - 09:06 CET.

In the last 48 hours regime forces have carried out raids on the homes
of at least 13 human rights activists, reported the Coordinator of the
National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), José Daniel Ferrer, on his
Twitter account.

The opposition leader indicated that in Palmarito de Cauto, Santiago de
Cuba, activist Luis Enrique Isaac Morales was "arrested after they
stormed his home." In the same Santiago municipality the homes of
Maidolis Oribe, Edilkis León, Moraima Díaz and Belkis Cantillo suffered
the same fate.

The latter two activists were also arrested at a police station in Palma
Soriano, said Ferrer.

The National Coordinator stated that the crackdown against the
organization was ongoing, and that officials were seizing everything
they could get their hands on.

In Santiago de Cuba the political police "arrested dissident José
Antonio López Piña as he was taking ... food supplies to the city." "The
tyranny also stole 8,000 pesos in foodstuffs from entrepreneur David
Fernández Cardoso, a former political prisoner from the UNPACU," he added.

Activist Katherine Mojena Hernández was also detained when leaving a
Western Union agency, he reported. "The tyranny is trying to subjugate
members of #UNPACU by starving them," he wrote.

He stated that several other activists with the organization remained in
custody.

This Wednesday Vladimir Martín Castellanos spent 11 days on a hunger
strike. José Daniel Ferrer informed DIARIO DE CUBA that the activist
did so to denounce the 14 arrests that he has suffered by State Security
forces and the police to prevent him from reaching Puerto Padre, Las Tunas.

Ferrer stated that "a year ago Martín Castellanos went to Puerto Padre,
on UNPACU business, to take charge of coordination in the province,"
replacing the person previously occupying this post, who had been
incarcerated by the regime.

"There he began a romantic relationship with an activist. He considers
Puerto Padre home now, but the Police there impede him from getting
there," he explained.

Mari Carmen Aponte, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Latin
America, expressed her concern in response to the repressive actions
unleashed against the Patriotic Union of Cuba since last Sunday.

"Reports of arrests of #UNPACU members in #Cuba are distressing. We call
for respect for the freedom of expression and association," Aponte wrote
on her Twitter account.

In October the US official headed up the US Government delegation at the
second round of human rights talks with the regime in Havana.

Source: UNPACU suffers at least 13 raids on homes in 48 hours, in
addition to thefts and arrests | Diario de Cuba -
http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1482480399_27633.html