Iván García, Translator: S.Solá
According to Mercedes Fresneda Castillo, fighter for Afrocuban rights
and member of the Ladies in White support group, the community activist
and dissident Sonia Garro Alfonso, 35, was detained by the police on
Thursday, July 14 at 7 PM.
"I was with her until 6 PM. Hours later, a neighbor telephoned me and
told me the police had taken Garro away to an unknown location, along
with her husband, Ramón Alejandro Muñoz, also a dissident. Then I asked
around and found out that Sonia is under arrest in the 7th police
station in the Havana neighborhood of La Lisa," said Fresneda.
Previously, Garro had been advised by the intelligence services that
they were not going to allow her to carry out the public protests that,
along with six other women, she frequently carries out in various Havana
locations and plazas.
This past May her husband, Ramón Alejandro Muñoz, played a leading part
in a famous incident when he chained himself, machete in hand, on the
roof of his house while demanding freedom for Sonia, who was under
arrest at the time. This indignant Cuban still keeps up his rebellious
attitude: he goes out in public with one arm in chains.
Garro has been particularly active in the past few months, but without
neglecting her community project to help the poor children of her
neighborhood, no matter what the political beliefs of their parents may be.
These women's street protests are considered a serious threat by the
State Security forces. They have been threatened with arrest and trial,
particularly Sonia. In the month of June she complained that the number
of the case they have opened against her is 2801/2011.
Sonia Garro as well as Mercedes Fresneda and other women have been
reminded by the authorities of what Fidel Castro said in his day, and
which has been firmly reiterated by his brother: that in Cuba the street
belongs to the revolutionaries.
Photo: Laritza Diversent. Sona Garro with some of the children from the
independent cultural center that operates in her home, on Avenida 47 No.
11638, between 116 and 118, Los Quemados, Marianao.
Translated by S. Solá
July 17 2011
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