Police Forces Raid Headquarters of ‘Captain Tondique’ Project in Matanzas

Police Forces Raid Headquarters of 'Captain Tondique' Project in Matanzas

14ymedio, Havana, 21 April 2017 — The headquarters of the Captain
Tondique project in the municipality Matancero de Colón, was raided
Friday by combined Police and State Security forces, according to a
report received by this newspaper from Yelena Marrero Burunate, daughter
of Caridad Burunate, the activist who owns the property.

The house, located at #163 Mesa Street, was raided from the early hours
of dawn until one o'clock in the afternoon, Marrero explained.

"From seven in the morning they undertook a search, they came for the
Tondique equipment and supplies, they took everything. The cauldrons,
our food, everything. They did not explain anything to us, they took the
benches we used. There were more than twenty people in here," said the
activist via telephone.

"We told them that without a search warrant they couldn't come in and
they were looking for it," the woman explained.

Caridad Burunate and Francisco Rangel, the mother and uncle of Marrero
are in custody. "Everything happened in the presence of my grandmother
Raquel Gomez, an 88-year-old woman," she added.

"The search lasted until one o'clock in the afternoon and they took away
our cell phones."

The Captain Tondique community initiative has been working since April
2013 to help those who live on the streets and people who are homeless,
offering them a plate of food every Thursday.

Felix Navarro denounced to 14ymedio that the search warrant alleged the
crime of "illicit enrichment and abetting" and that Francisco Rangel's
home, a few yards from the project headquarters, at #125 Calle Pedro
Betancourt, was also raided "at the same time."

Navarro explains that the operation was carried out at a provincial
level and included his home in Perico, which in the afternoon hours was
still "surrounded by members of the State Security."

According to the government opponent, when he tried to leave his house
he was told by Officer Darío Torres Barrios that if he "went out" he
would be arrested.

"Other activists of the province remain in their homes in the same
situation of being under surveillance," denounced Navarro.

The organization reported that on other occasions the political police
have placed loudspeakers in the vicinity of the headquarters or closed
the surrounding streets to prevent their work and intimidate the activists.

Source: Police Forces Raid Headquarters of 'Captain Tondique' Project in
Matanzas – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/police-forces-raid-headquarters-of-captain-tondique-project-in-matanzas/