Two Cuban Activists From Otro18 Arrested

Two Cuban Activists From Otro18 Arrested

14ymedio, Havana, 26 April 2017 — Activists Arturo Rojas Rodríguez and
Aida Valdés Santana were arrested at noon on Tuesday as they tried to
reach the Justice Ministry in Havana. The dissidents planned to enter
into the associations register the Citizens Observers of Electoral
Processes (Cope) initiative, one of the branches of the #Otro18 (Another
2018) platform, which pushes for multi-party and democratic elections in
Cuba in 2018.

Rojas, 51, was taken to the Santiago de las Vegas police station and
Valdés, 78, was taken to the Zapata and C Station and then to Aguilera,
where police threatened to prosecute her legally.

The woman was released on Tuesday at about 10 at night, but there is
still no information on the whereabouts of Rojas Rodriguez whose
telephone continues to be out of service.

Manuel Cuesta Morúa, speaking on behalf of #Otro 18, told 14ymedio that
"actions of this nature make clear the government's intention to prevent
the free participation of citizens in the next electoral process, thus
opening the way to delegitimizing it."

"The narrative of the government consists in classifying what we do as
counterrevolutionary activities, but we have to assume that the law is
not only for revolutionaries, but for all citizens and precisely because
of this we are within the law," he added.

The #Other18 initiative collects citizen proposals for new electoral
laws, associations and political parties. In addition, at the moment it
is focused on obtaining the nomination of independent candidates for the
next elections for the People's Power.

Source: Two Cuban Activists From #Otro18 Arrested – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/two-cuban-activists-from-otro18-arrested/