Luis Felipe Rojas, Translator: Raul G.
I've spent some nights now trying to talk to the wife of Ariel Arzuaga,
a defender of human rights in the city of Bayamo, in Granma province. He
is currently imprisoned because of the malice of the local military
authorities.
Yakelin Garcia Jaenz worriedly told me that Ariel remains in a very poor
state. He is now confined to "Las Mangas" Provincial Prison, and being
kept in the area of those who have pending trials. He is being accused
of "assault".
Ariel Arzuaga's suffering began on February 23rd of this year, 2011,
when he was on his way to pay tribute to the memory of Orlando Zapata
Tamayo.
"We had a funeral garland in the house, but the political police agents
Julio Cesar and Abel violently barged in. They tore down the door and
told us that we were not allowed to leave our house. That's when Ariel
went out to the street and told them what they were doing was a
violation because there was a child in the house that had to go to
school and they were stripping that right from us".
"I ended up taking my son to school and they took me to prison. Ariel
stayed at home taking care of our 2-year-old daughter and they started
to accuse him. They were saying that he wanted to kill our girl, which
is a huge lie. The Special Brigade entered our home through the bathroom
window and seized Ariel. They twisted his arms in a lock position, they
grabbed his neck, and then dragged him to the MININT Delegation located
on the road to Santiago de Cuba. At midday, they moved him to the
Instructional Police unit where he was kept until March 11th, where he
declared himself on hunger strike from March 9th".
"On March 14th, while he was out on the street again, he tells me that
around 5 pm he was verbally and physically attacked by a paramilitary
officer who had also been present during the February 23rd demonstration
when he was detained. This man really attacked him and screamed at him:
'Worm! Counter-Revolutionary!' and other obscene words. Ariel, according
to what they tell me, simply got off his bicycle and that's all. He was
later detained on March 17th and has been behind the bars to this day,
which is soon going to be a month exactly. He has been kept in the Las
Mangas jail in Detachment 1-2″.
"Today, I got to visit Ariel there. He told me that Major Joel had
informed him that he could no longer use the phone every three days as
is the norm established for common prisoners. They also informed Ariel
that family visits will no longer be held in the salon but somewhere
else and separately".
Ariel Arzuaga Peña lives in 21 Street, No. 12-A, e/12 and 14, in the
Ciro Redondo Housing Complex, Bayamo, Granma. He is the director of the
local "Light and Truth" Human Rights Center and is the President of the
Opposition Municipality. He is also an activist of the Eastern
Democratic Alliance.
April 16 2011
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