Published December 05, 2011
EFE
The Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission opposition
group on Monday said that at least 257 people were arrested for
political reasons on the Communist-ruled island last month, most of them
for short periods of time.
The figure is "demonstrative of the terrible situation for civil and
political rights that continues to prevail in Cuba," the commission,
which is outlawed but tolerated, said in a report.
Commission spokesman Elizardo Sanchez told Efe that during the first
five days of December "at least 100 arrests" have occurred," most of
them in the eastern provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo.
Still in custody on Monday were 21 of the 52 dissidents who were
arrested last Friday for trying to stage a peaceful march in the town of
Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba province, Sanchez said.
"At this rate of repression, in December (the number of arrests) is
going to be greater than in November," he said, adding that the
situation was linked with Saturday's celebration of International Human
Rights Day.
As a "positive piece of information," the commission report said that so
far during 2011 "the number of (people) imprisoned or sentenced for
political reasons diminished, relatively speaking," given that the Cuban
government released "many prisoners before bringing them to trial."
He said that currently there are some 70 prisoners in Cuban jails who
have been convicted or are on trial for so-called "crimes against the
state."
The Cuban government considers the dissidents and the internal
opposition to be "counterrevolutionaries and U.S.-paid "mercenaries."
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