Several activists arrested outside Vivac Prison on outskirts of Havana / 14ymedio

Police arresting activist Eliezer Ávila on Tuesday, since released. (14ymedio)
Police arresting activist Eliezer Ávila on Tuesday, since released. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 1 January 2015 (Developing news) — Speaking to 14ymedio , blogger Agustín López Canino confirmed his arrest and that of some fifteen activists at 3:52 PM outside Vivac Prison in Calabazar, on the outskirts of Havana. On the list of those arrested is Tania Bruguera, who had solicited an interview with the detention center authorities to ask for explanations regarding those arrested on 30 December.

The activists Ada María López, Antonio González Rodiles, Margarita Rodríguez Díaz, Adnaloy Rodríguez and Ailer González are also among those arrested, according to what some family members told this newspaper. Meanwhile, Eva Baquero, seized just outside Vivac Prison was taken to the Cotorro Police Station and later released.

On Thursday morning, there were fifteen activists still being held of the fifty arrested to prevent them from participating in the performance of Tatlin’s Whisper #6, called by the artist Tania Bruguera to take place in the Plaza of the Revolution. Some of the prisoners had been transferred to the prison known as Vivac of Calabazar, a processing center where inmates await trial or the setting of bail. Over the course of the day at least three of them were released: Claudio Fuentes, Delio Rodriguez Diaz and Miguel Daniel Borroto.

The blogger Agustín López Canino, while heading to Vivac, had said that he would demand, “The release as soon as possible of people who had only tried to exercise their right to expression.” The group also included relatives of detainees who claimed not to have been able to spend the New Year’s celebrations with their loved ones.

Tania Bruguera had declared this morning that, “We will be outside Vivac until the last of those arrested is released.” At the exact moment this newspaper was speaking with her, the photographer Claudio Fuentes was released.

This newspaper has been able to confirm that among those detained in Vivac de Calabazar are the historian and filmmaker Boris Gonzalez, and UNPACU (Patriotic Union of Cuba) member Omar Fayut. Also on the list of those incarcerated are two activists from Independent and Democratic Cuba (CID), and Camilo José Olivera from the Estado de Sats team. Also in the same detention center, from days earlier, is the graffiti artist El Sexto (Danilo Maldonado), also for attempting to stage a performance.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) reported a partial estimate of detainees, which amounted to fifty arrested, along with those who suffered house arrest, forced transfer to Santiago de Cuba, or threats to discourage them from participating in the artistic performance.