CUBA
LADIES IN WHITE/ HUMAN
RIGHTS REPORT
October 17-23, 2016
In
attachment, a human rights report (in Spanish) sent from Cuba via
email by BERTA SOLER FERNANDEZ,
the leader of the peaceful civic movement "Ladies in White", that documents
the acts of repression carried out by Cuban authorities against human rights
defenders during the week of OCTOBER 17-23, 2016 when they tried to attend mass and continue
with their ongoing campaign #TODOSMARCHAMOS ("WE ALL MARCH") on
behalf of the freedom of all Cuban political prisoners and the defense of human
rights in Cuba.
According
to this report, a total of 95 human rights defenders became the victims of
systematic acts of repression and arrests that included members of
the Ladies in White and activists of different NGO's in the island.
NOTE: The Cuban government has incremented its
repression to the point that it is succeeding in preventing the
participation of members of the ‘Ladies in White’ as well as of Human
Rights Defenders in Sunday Mass and in the peaceful “Todos Marchamos” campaign.
Repressive forces begin to surround the homes of these activists days prior to
Sunday (when the churches are surrounded as well), in particular, the
headquarters of the Ladies in White in Havana, located at: Calle E, #51 e/
Cumbre y Porvenir, Reparto Lawton, Municipio 10 de Octubre. The activists are
violently arrested as they try to leave their homes to attend Sunday mass in
Havana, as well as in other provinces of the island. A total of 78 Ladies in White were arrested this week before they were able to
attend mass on Sunday and a total of 23 women were able
to attend mass in Cuba Oct. 23, 2016.
SIGNIFICANT CASES OF REGIME REPRESSION:
Oct.19 – In
Havana, the Lady in White Josefina Perez
Montejo was taken to the detention center known as “Vivac” with the
intention of “deporting” her back to Camaguey, her province of residence. Her
whereabouts were unknown when this report was issued. The activist, Ariel Gonzalez Cuevas disappeared on
his way to visit the headquarters of
the Ladies in White in Havana. He had been arrested and was released midday on
Sunday, Oct. 23.
Oct. 22 – In Ciego de Avila, Maria
Lucia López Rondón was arrested, her cellular phone was confiscated by authorities
and she was fined $1000 (national currency). She was released on Monday, Oct.
24.
Oct. 23 – In Havana, Mayelin Peña Bullain was arrested as she
came out of the headquarters of the Ladies in White and taken to the “Vivac” in
Havana with the intention of “deporting” her to another province.Yurleanis Tamayo Martínez was fined. George Ramírez
Rodríguez, a Cuban citizen who visited the headquarters
of the Ladies in White in Havana was arrested when he left this site and taken
to the 11th Police Precinct. His whereabouts were unknown when this report was
issued.
In
the city of Aguada de Pasajeros in the province of Cienfuegos, Dianelis Moreno Soto
almost passed out after being locked up inside a patrol car during more than 4
hours.
The Ladies in White from Matanzas, Mayelin Brave Osorio, Yailin Mondeja
Vázquez, and Yudaimi Fernández Martínez were taken to San Pedro de Mayabobo
near the border of the province of Santa Clara and were left to their fate.
NOTE: Activists who try to reach
the headquarters of the Ladies in White are subject to violent acts of
repudiation organized by the Department of State Security and the Communist
Party. These human rights defenders are verbally offended; eggs and rocks are
thrown at them; they are exposed to acts of vandalism; they are pushed inside
their house when they try to leave; they are arrested as well as threatened to
be taken to prison if they continue going to the headquarters of the Ladies in
White.
NOTE:
Several Cuban State Departments that are complicit with the repressive
apparatus of the Department of State Security (DSE) are: Ministry of Culture,
Public Health, Education, Transportation, Basic Industries
and Electricity.
The following forms
of repression below that include torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment were applied by combined forces of the Department of
State Security (DSE), Rapid Response Brigades sponsored by
the Communist Party, the National Revolutionary Police, and Special
Brigades of the National Revolutionary Police to pro-democracy peaceful
activists and their families:
· Prevented from exercising their right to freedom of worship, of
speech, or of peaceful association.
· Forced to remain as "prisoners" inside their homes
under siege.
· Homes are searched and vandalized (personal possessions that
include furniture, documents, books and supplies used for their pro-democracy
activism, including cell phones, computers, flash drives, CDs, most sent from
abroad, are confiscated or destroyed).
· Personal belongings seized (including money) are never
returned.
· Subjected, alongside their family, to death threats.
· Children of human rights defenders are also exposed and subjected
to cruel and inhumane treatment and even arrested alongside their parents.
· Children
whose mothers remain under arrest during 24 hours or more, are unable to
attend school during the time their mothers are imprisoned.
· Prevented from traveling from their province of residence to
attend mass and join the peaceful march of the Ladies in White in Havana
· “Deported” from Havana to their province of residence or are taken
by force to
a distant province where they do not reside.
· Subjected to violent "acts of repudiation" (gov't
sponsored mob attacks) that last for hours when they are verbally
humiliated, insulted, dragged by the hair, scratched, kicked, punched, pinched,
shoved, bitten and even injected with unknown substances with a needle and
syringe. Their clothes and shoes are torn off, and they are often left exposed
or in their underwear.
· Cuban Department of State Security (DSE) is using minors in
organized “acts of repudiation” to verbally and physically attack peaceful
human rights defenders.
· Subjected to brutal beatings with cables, pieces of water hoses
and sticks as well as to Judo choking techniques that result in injuries
such as fractures, cuts, dislocated joints, concussions, lacerations,
bruises, swelling, etc. that require medical assistance.
Arrested with violence and taken to Centers of Detention &
Torture in Havana by members of the Dept. of State Security (DSE) who wear
uniforms & drive patrol cars of the National Revolutionary
Police (PNR) as a diversionary tactic and thus be able to
transfer the activists to these detention centers where they beat them with
impunity.
· Subjected to repeated arrests within a 24-hour period.
· Under arbitrary arrest and detention that last for more than 24
hours
· Arrested and taken to undisclosed locations; their
whereabouts unknown to their families and friends.
· Guarded and handcuffed for hours. As a form of cruel
& degrading treatment, their hands are forced behind their
backs with metal handcuffs or plastic strips placed tight around their
wrists to cause serious injury, swelling, cramps, and fatigue.
· Pepper
sprayed during arrest.
· Subjected to hours of verbal and psychological torture as well as
blackmail by the political police who humiliate them while under arrest.
· Forced to remain hours
locked up inside a sun exposed enclosed patrol car under high heat
temperatures.
· Detained in prison cells
in unsanitary, inhumane conditions where rats and roaches abound.
· Abandoned in the late evening hours far from their towns and
cities of residence in deserted and dangerous areas where they could
be assaulted and/or raped.
· Are filmed by State
Security agents.
· Issued “warning reports” (actas de advertencia) that accuse them
of delinquent behavior such as “resistance”, “disorderly conduct”, assault
(“atentado”) or “disobedience” ("desacato").
· Arbitrarily accused of committing delinquent
criminal acts such as “resistance”, “disorderly conduct”, “assault”,
“dangerousness” or “disobedience” and imprisoned indefinitly without
trial.
· Fined after being accused of committing criminal offenses.
· Threatened to be taken to prison if they do not stop their
activism.
· Activists and their families are promised monies
and privileges if they stop being part of the human rights movement in Cuba.
· Robbed and beaten after they pick up money at Western Union sites,
that is sent to them from abroad by Cuban exiles who support their human rights
struggle.
· Forced to remain seated, denied access to a bathroom, and to their
own medication, food and water while in detention
· The Cuban flag is taken away from them as
they go out to march and protest peacefully onto the street.
The following 4 Ladies in White were arbitrarily arrested
and transferred to Cuban prisons for peacefully exercising their civil
rights in the island: Xiomara de las Mercedes Cruz Miranda,
Yaquelin Heredia Morales, Aimara Nieto Muñoz and Martha
Sánchez González.
The following 20 activists were arrested and remain
in prison without a trial: Miguel Borroto Vazquez, Mario Alberto Hernandez
Leyva, Leudis Reyes Cuza, David Fernandez Cardoso, Lazaro Mendosa Garcia,
Yuneth Cairo Reigada, Marietta Martinez Aguilera, Aurelio Andres Gonzalez
Blanco, Henry Rey Rodríguez, Jose Antonio Pompa López, Luis Andrés Domínguez
Sardiñas, Emir González Janero, Ibrahim
Alemán Urrutia, Alberto Valles Pérez, Pablo
Enrique Camero, Ismael Boris Reñí, Yosvani Lemus Martínez,
Yeusandro Ochoa Leiva, Felix Juan Cabrera Cabrera y Armando Peraza
Hernandez.
The
Coalition of Cuban-American
Women
make the Cuban government responsible for the physical and mental well-being of
all members of the peaceful human rights movement who struggle
on behalf of freedom and justice for the Cuban people.
The lives of these human rights defenders and their families in Cuba are in
danger. We urgently ask ongoing solidarity for these brave men and
women in the island of Cuba from the international community: dignitaries,
journalists, NGO's and all men and women of good will in the world.
Sincerely,
Laida
A. Carro
Human
Rights Defender
Coalition of Cuban-American Women
