By ANDREA RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press
HAVANA (AP) — One of Cuba's leading dissidents said Monday that she was
released hours after being detained ahead of a weekly protest, but her
husband was apparently still being held.
Bertha Soler, leader of the Ladies in White opposition group, said
authorities have also warned her not to spoil Pope Benedict XVI's visit
next week.
She said she and three dozen supporters were taken into custody early
Sunday when they tried to reach a Havana church to protest. About 30
more who arrived at the church were detained when they tried to march
down streets where they don't normally demonstrate.
Soler said most of the demonstrators were freed by late Sunday, but
others were held overnight. She said she had not heard from her husband,
Angel Moya, another anti-government activist who was arrested Sunday.
The detentions capped a tense week in which little-known government
opponents occupied another Havana church for two days in an attempt to
shine the spotlight on human rights ahead of the pope's March 26-28 trip.
The Ladies in White walk through a western Havana neighborhood each
Sunday after Mass to press the government to free prisoners jailed for
politically motivated crimes. They also demand political change on the
island ruled for 53 years by Fidel and Raul Castro.
The Cuban government considers all dissidents to be common criminals and
troublemakers financed by Washington to harm the communist-run
government. Authorities have been quiet about the weekend arrests, and
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last spring, Cuba released the last of 75 government opponents
imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on dissent. Amnesty International no
longer recognizes any inmates in Cuba as "prisoners of conscience,"
though some are behind bars for politically inspired crimes that were
violent in nature.
Soler said authorities warned the Ladies to stay away from Benedict's
public events in Havana and the eastern city of Santiago.
"Even if we are unable to meet with the Holy Father ... we will go to
his Mass in Santiago de Cuba as well as the one here in Havana, whatever
the cost," Soler said. Cuban dissidents have asked for an audience with
the pontiff, but the Vatican has said Benedict has no plans to alter his
schedule, which is limited due to his advanced age.
The Roman Catholic Church has usually mediated for Cuban dissidents, but
tensions have risen since last week's occupation of the church in
central Havana. The protesters demanded the pope raise their concerns
with Cuban officials.
Police raided the church Thursday at the request of Havana Cardinal
Jaime Ortega. The protesters were not jailed, but received a stern warning.
More than 100 government opponents were briefly detained across the
country over the weekend, according to Elizardo Sanchez, who monitors
the human rights situation in Cuba and acts as a de facto spokesman for
the opposition.
"The government is creating a climate not at all favorable for the visit
by Benedict," Sanchez said. "I think it is having an impact. Vatican
diplomacy will take note."
A church spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In Washington, the State Department called the detentions a
"reprehensible" violation of democratic principles and urged Benedict to
address human rights in conversations with Cuban authorities.
"One would hope and expect that this would be the kind of thing that
would be raised in the context of such a visit," spokeswoman Victoria
Nuland told reporters.
On Monday morning, Soler appeared at the home of the late Ladies in
White co-founder Laura Pollan, which the group uses as a base of
operations. She said the protesters were told the wide Havana
thoroughfare where they hold their weekly post-Mass demonstrations would
be off-limits. It was not clear, however, whether such a restriction
would stretch past the pope's visit.
"They warned us that the space they had given us on Quinta Avenida was
going to end, that we were not going to be able to go to (the church)
any more," Soler said. "That is something we are not going to respect,
because it is our right ... nobody can take that away."
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