14ymedio, Havana, 29 January 2016 — The houses of Alexeis Martínez and Carlos Oliva Rivery, both members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), were raided by police this morning, according to the opposition organization. The two houses, located in the Mariana de la Torre neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba, were searched just after six o’clock in the morning by uniformed personnel and the two activists were taken to the second unit of the PNR (People’s Revolutionary Police) in Santiago de Cuba.
Some witnesses commented to 14ymedio that participating in the operation were Special Troops of the Ministry of Interior along with the police. The 20 uniformed personnel presented a search warrant, but failed to summon two witnesses from the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution to be present during the search, as required by regulations, and instead took advantage of two “unknown passersby” to play that role.
According Alianne Pérez, the wife of Alexeis Martínez, at the conclusion of what she considered “an assault,” a computer, several disks and documents, two mobile phones, all the food in the house and two paintings hanging on the wall were seized.
In Oliva’s house, the dining room serves the organization’s members from other places who pass through the city to take courses, as well as other activists who work full time for UNPACU.
Between last 22 November and today, the organization has already reported 15 raids.
