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Cuban Human Rights Activists Arrested Mere Hours after European Sanctions Lifted

22.06.2008

Matanzas, Cuba. June 20, 2008. Cuban Democratic Directorate. On the morning of Friday, June 20, former political prisoner and opposition leader Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez,” his wife, human rights activist Iris Pérez Aguilera, and other opposition activists from various regions of Cuba were violently arrested by political police forces in the Versailles neighborhood in the city of Matanzas.

Antúnez and Pérez Aguilera issued a statement on June 19 expressing their intention to conduct a sit-in before the Provincial Delgation for State Security in Matanzas in support of demands for an improvement in conditions made by prisoner Mario Pérez Aguilera, a founder of the Pedro Luis Boitel Political Prisoners Movement. Mario Pérez Aguilera, who is Iris’s brother, is unjustly imprisoned in Agüica Prison on a false common charge and was beaten on May 29 by prison guards. He has been on hunger strike since that abuse occurred, demanding respect for his rights in prison.

“We call on public opinion, both nationally and internationally, to heed the just cry of this human rights defender […] We hold the Havana regime responsible for the consequences entailed in this act of self-sacrifice,” stated the document read by Antúnez from Placetas on the afternoon of June 19.

One demand being made by Mario Pérez Aguilera is to be transferred to a prison in Sancti Spiritus, his province of residence.

Jorge Luis García Pérez “Antúnez”, his wife Iris Pérez Aguilera, and human rights activists Idania Yánez Contreras, Yesmi Elena Mena Urbano, Blas Fortún Martínez, and Benito Suárez Ortega were violently arrested at about 10:00 AM on June 20. At the time of this writing, their whereabouts are unknown.

The Cuban Democratic Directorate calls on international public opinion, especially on the European Union’s member states who mere hours ago eliminated diplomatic sanctions against the Raúl Castro regime, to condemn this human rights violation committed against Cuban citizens peacefully demanding respect for their rights.

Source: http://www.directorio.org/pressreleases/note.php?note_id=2045

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