Obama Left, Trump Arrived, the Repression Continues / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar

The political police detained more than 60 members of the Ladies in White Movement in Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Ciego de Avila. (EFE / Archive)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 23 January 2017 — Within 48 hours of Donald Trump being declared President of the United States, the political police maintained their repression against opponents unchanged. The hard hand of State Security begins to contradict the claim that “Barack Obama’s concessions” to the Plaza of the Revolution fueled the repressive character of Raúl Castro’s government.

According to partial reports issued on Sunday, the political police detained more than 60 members of the Ladies in White Movement in Havana, Matanzas, Santa Clara and Ciego de Ávila. Berta Soler and her husband, the former Black Spring prisoner Angel Moya, were arrested along with 23 women as they prepared to leave the organization’s headquarters in the Lawton neighborhood of Havana.

The repressors did not shake their hands in the face of the scenario of a new tenant in the White House. They were not even frightened by the warning issued by the mogul weeks before in his Twitter account, when he clarified that “if Cuba is not willing to offer a better agreement for Cubans, Cuban Americans and the American people in general,” he would liquidate the diplomatic normalization.

With the thaw or without the thaw, the repressive nature of the Cuban system remains unchanged

Despite the hopes of some and the threats of others, the repression continues and on this Sunday morning more than 30 Ladies in White in Matanzas were prevented from attending Mass. Some were taken to police stations, while others were driven to the outskirts of the city and put out of the cars to find their own way home, and other were driven home. Two arrests were reported in the city of Santa Clara and another in Ciego de Ávila.

If there really is any relationship between what the new president says and does and how the Cuban government decides to treat its opponents, the next few weeks will have to prove it.

With the thaw or without the thaw, the repressive nature of the Cuban system remains unchanged. Obama does not seem to be responsible for the twist in the oppression experienced in the past two years, as perhaps Trump also fails to alleviate the rigors of a regime that could not exist where liberties flourish.