Cubanet, Enrique Díaz Rodríguez, Havana, 19 February 2018 – Nearly eight years after the physical disappearance of Orlando Zapata Tamayo, nineteen human rights activists staged a march in Havana streets in remembrance of the Cuban opposition martyr.
The group of activists, made up of women dressed in white and members of the Orlando Zapata Tamayo Civic Action Front (FACOZT), gathered in the early hours of this Sunday, February 18, in a park located in the El Palenque neighborhood of La Lisa municipality.
Carrying posters that read “Freedom for Cuba,” “Freedom for Political Prisoners,” “Zapata Vive,” “Long Live Human Rights,” exclaiming anti-government slogans and remembering the names of Laura Pollán, Pedro Luis Boitel and Orlando Zapata, the activists marched peacefully for several blocks.
In 2012, when the FACOZT was known as the Hard Line and Boycott Front, the movement baptized the aforementioned park with the name of the martyr, placing a metal tag that was later torn off by agents of the State Security.
At the end of the march it was learned that the home of the opposition couple consisting of Hugo Damián Prieto Blanco, leader of the FACOZT, and Lazara Bárbara Sendiña Recalde, was being watched by agents of the State Security and the National Revolutionary Police.