Prisoners Defenders denounces the arrests of peaceful protesters during the October blackout
14ymedio, Havana, 14 November 2024 — From the appearance before the cameras of Canal Habana that Lisnay Mederos, head of the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office, made this Friday, two points were clear: “respect for authority is important” and Cubans have “rights, but there are limits.” Her intervention occurred as a result of “recent criminal acts” that occurred in the capital after the passage of Hurricane Rafael, but she did not offer numbers or names.
The Prosecutor’s Office has charged defendants with the crimes of “public disorder, attack, contempt and injuries,” inadmissible, Mederos stressed, in a population that is considered “disciplined.”
“You may have some dissatisfaction, some concern, something that you consider affects you,” Mederos said, “but you cannot transgress the law, because no one is above the law.” Regarding the crime of attack, although she did not give details, she said that she considered it an aggravating circumstance that occurred after the passage of the hurricane.
She announced condemnations of the utmost severity against those who attacked “goods that are of special importance for the country’s economy”
Mederos gave some clues about the crimes that the Prosecutor’s Office attributes to the defendants. She announced condemnations of the utmost severity against those who attacked “goods that are of special importance for the country’s economy,” specifically the National Electro-Energy System. She also alluded to thefts of “cables, brackets, transformers, components and internal accessories [of electrical installations], public telephone equipment and property crimes, including home robberies.”
She said that during the evacuation of homes, robberies were committed, and the authorities had to “protect” the empty houses. The Havana Channel reported that the defendants have been tried in “different proceedings.”
Mederos, a prosecutor totally trusted by the regime – she is married to former spy Fernando González – ended up insisting that she has the “constitutional duty” to face “with all rigor and severity” those who attack the Revolution.
The recent natural events that have shaken the country – two hurricanes and two earthquakes – added to the energy crisis, the shortages and the deterioration of every sphere of life — are testing the patience of Cubans, who have protested against the Government, although not massively. Neither the police nor the leaders have lost the opportunity to assert their authority, by force and by arrests.
[[Prisoners Defenders states that the last few weeks have been hellish for Cubans]]
This is demonstrated by the most recent report of the organization Prisoners Defenders (PD), which places the number of political prisoners in Cuba at 1,117 and records the new imprisonments after the peaceful protests in October. PD says that the last few weeks have been hellish for Cubans. On October 17, a nationwide “total blackout” was announced that lasted four days, with serious consequences for food, water supply, transportation and daily routine. Despite this situation, the Ministry of the Interior and the Army warned that “revolutionary surveillance” was maintained and that demonstrations of discontent would not be tolerated.
Several groups went into the streets, despite the threats, in Santiago de Cuba, Granma, Villa Clara and Camagüey. In Santiago, on October 18, Luis Adrián Pupo protested and was arrested by the police for “disrespect” and “disobedience.” Pupo, says PD, did not resist when the agents captured him or when they moved him. However, he was beaten. The man was the one who questioned Miguel Díaz-Canel during a public meeting last March during the president’s tour of Santiago de Cuba. Since then, as he reported several times, he has been harassed and monitored by the police.
For his part, in Villa Clara, Professor Osvaldo Agüero – who protested on October 19 in front of the Municipal Assembly of Manicaragua – was arrested without a warrant, after being recognized by State Security in one of the videos of the protest. Nabriel Torres, who also demonstrated in Manicaragua, is in the Santa Clara State Security Crimes Unit.
In that same province, in the municipality of Encrucijada, at least eight people were arrested between November 8 and 9, during a protest in the streets that reached the headquarters of the Assembly of People’s Power. One of those detainees is José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, whose family has not heard from him according to the legal organization Cubalex. The independent journalist, a collaborator of 14ymedio, has been subject to harassment and persecution by the regime since 2019, which has “regulated” him, preventing him from leaving the country.
Nelson Caballero, father of two children in Camagüey, was arrested on October 19, after being attacked by police officers in Jimaguayú. “After the attack, the detainee received health care and obtained a medical certificate accrediting the injuries suffered, evidencing the physical abuse of the authorities. However, after this document was made public, in retaliation he has been kept incommunicado, without allowing visits from his wife or other family members,” says PD.
In Granma, Pastor Domínguez took to the streets on September 28 with a poster against Díaz-Canel. He was arrested the next day. In the same municipality, activist Yumaris Castillo, a member of the Union Party for a Free Cuba, was also arrested. “The State does not provide basic services but is very active in repression,” summarizes PD.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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