14ymedio, Havana, December 9, 2021 — Minutes before he was to give a telephone interview to Actualidad Radio on Thursday, Cuban State Security detained Guillermo Fariñas, coordinator of the United Antitotalitarian Forum. “People from State Security came dressed as nurses,” denounced the activist’s mother, Alicia Hernández, before that same media outlet.
Fariñas’s detention occurred right after he and Berta Soler, both recognized with the European Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, delivered letters to the European Union’s (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, and to the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli. In these, they accused the EU of abandonment over the situation in Cuba and, furthermore, threatened to return their awards.
“The Sakharov Prize should be a commitment of all parties to never use diplomatic silence in the face of human rights violations and, even less so, in the face of crimes against humanity,” they detailed in their missives.
Thursday, after several hours without knowing the Cuban activist’s whereabouts, his daughter Haisa Fariñas located him at the “Pulmonology unit, bed 1 of Arnaldo Milián Hospital.” A place where, she stated, “he is being held against his will.”
The young lady used her social media to denounce that Fariñas has been “kidnapped” by State Security for “opposing the Castro regime.” The dissident was complying with bed rest as recommended by doctors following his release from the hospital arrest to which he was subjected ahead of the march on 15N — organized by the online platform Archipiélago — which was thwarted.
Regarding Fariñas’s detention, the Cuban business owner and activist Manuel Milanés alerted that this method of detention is the same was used by the regime “on 15N, anticipating that tomorrow is December 10th, Human Rights Day.” He stated that the dissident ” is not sick.” The detention, he because, is because “it is no longer sufficient to have him under surveillance 24/7. They must kidnap him to prevent him from demonstrating.”
Translated by: Silvia Suárez
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