More than 700 short-term detentions of dissidents in September

Posted on Thursday, 10.03.13

Report: More than 700 short-term detentions of dissidents in September
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

A Cuban human rights group Wednesday reported more than 700 short-term
detentions of dissidents in September, the third highest monthly total
in four years and one without a specific explanation, such as the
crackdown during a papal visit last year.

The spike was accompanied by increases in beatings, mob "acts of
repudiation" and other forms of harassments of dissidents, according to
the report by the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation (CCHRNR).

Short-term detentions for political motives had been declining this
year, after complaints by Cuban, U.N. and other international human
rights organizations that the numbers had hit record levels under ruler
Raúl Castro.

They had tripled from 2,074 in 2010 to 6,602 in 2012, and then dropped
to 2,376 in the first seven months of this year compared to 4,051 during
the same period last year, according to the CCHRNR, headed by Elizardo
Sánchez Santa Cruz.

Sanchez reported in August that instead of jailing dissidents for short
periods — usually to harass or intimidate them or keep them from
attending opposition gatherings — security agents were increasingly
hauling them to remote spots and dumping them there.

But the September total of 708 short-term arrests was the third highest
since the beginning of 2010. CCHRNR reported 1,158 in March 2012, during
Pope Benedict XVI's visit, and 796 in December 2011, during a crackdown
tied to international human rights day on Dec.10.

The CCHRNR report also highlighted "a proportional increase" in the
number of physical aggressions (196), "acts of repudiation" by
government-organized mobs (165), acts of vandalism against homes (160)
and other type of harassments by the security services.

Cuban dissidents have alleged for the past few months that security
agents are using more physical violence during arrests in what they say
is proof that their activism is gaining ground on the communist-ruled
nation.

The rise in aggressions "is in line with the visible hardening of the
government's attitude toward international standards of human rights,"
the CCHRNR reported, evident in Cuba's rejection of 20 sections of a
recent U.N. report on the country's human rights abuses.

"At the same time when Cuba continues to refuse to ratify two major U.N.
agreements on human rights, it is notorious that the government lacks
almost any disposition … to improve the horrible situation with
fundamental rights that prevails in Cuba," it added.

London-based Amnesty International has five Cubans on its list of
"prisoners of conscience, although the CCHRNR says the true number of
people imprisoned for political activism stands at about 90.

Source: "Report: More than 700 short-term detentions of dissidents in
September - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com" -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/10/03/3665630/report-more-than-700-short-term.html#storylink=misearch