Antonio G. Rodiles of Estado de Sats Arrested and Beaten / Hablemos Press, Arian Guerra Perez

Hablemos Press, Arian Guerra Pérez, Havana, 6 July, 2015 – Political activist Antonio G. Rodiles, director of Estado de SATS, was beaten this Sunday by Cuban State Security agents, according to activist sources.

Rodiles had to have surgery at General Calixto García University Hospital in Havana because of the fracture, said Ailer María González Mena, his wife.

More than 80 government opponents were arrested this Sunday in Havana, before and after attending mass at St. Rita of Casia Church in the Miramar neighborhood of Playa municipality, where members of the Ladies in White Movement and government opponents gather every Sunday to demand the release of political prisoners.

Rodiles had left his residence to meet with activists and the Ladies in White at Gandhi Park, which is adjacent to the church, but was intercepted by the agents, who beat and arrested him.

Some 45 Ladies in White were violently arrested after mass at St. Rita. There were also reported arrests of 15 opponents, among them: Ángel Moya, Egberto Ángel Escobedo, Rolando Reyes Rabanal, José Díaz Silva, Pavel Herrera, Ángel Figueredo, Heriberto Pons, the photographer Claudio Fuentes, and others.

The political activist Raúl Borges Álvarez, president of the Party for the Christian Unity of Cuba (PUDC), informed HABLEMOS PRESS that he was arrested on Saturday and released on Sunday. “They freed me this afternoon after having held me under torture for more than 24 hours,” said Borges.

Other arrests of Ladies in White and activists occurred in Cárdenas, Matanzas, Aguada de Pasajero in Cienfuegos, Holguín, Bayamo, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Mayabeque.

Translated by: Alicia Barraqué Ellison