Cuban activists, journalists accuse government of dozens of arbitrary arrests
Cuban activists and independent journalists are accusing the government of carrying out dozens of arbitrary arrests and home detentions to block protests against police brutality sparked by the death of Hansel Ernesto Hernández Galiano, a 27-year-old Black man.
Hernández Galiano died at the hands of police June 17 in Guanabacoa, east of Havana. According to the official version, he was caught stealing “parts and accessories from a bus depot,” but fled when police tried to identify him.
His death came at a time of worldwide protests against institutional racism and police abuses.
Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, coordinator of the Citizens’ Committee for Racial Integration, said he was arrested by state security and police Monday night when he left his home to throw out the garbage.
“I am extremely angry, just like many citizens of this country,” Madrazo Luna wrote on Facebook. “Anger and indignation because of the indifference by a predominantly white and racist power.... That anger and indignation hurts me more than the headache, throat ache and high blood pressure I now suffer after a cold night in a police jail cell.”
Several activists had called for a protest Tuesday at 11 a.m. in front of the Yara theater in Havana and other places around Cuba to demand justice for Hernández Galiano. Their demands included a law regulating police procedures and guarantees for the freedom of expression on the island, according to the Web page CiberCuba.
The Havana protest did not take place because the theater was totally surrounded by police, according to the Agence France-Presse.
Under the Twitter hashtag #30JunioCuba, several activists also complained that they received warnings from state security agents and were barred from leaving their homes starting Monday night to keep them from joining the protests. Dozens of arbitrary detentions were reported on social networks.
In the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the opposition Cuban Patriotic Union, was placed under house arrest after he tried to join one of the protests, according to social network posts by his supporters. Ferrer was recently freed after months in prison, accused of attacking one of his supporters. He has denied the charges.
Performance artist Tania Bruguera also was detained Tuesday by “military officers or police, in civilian clothes” when she left her home, according to a post on her Facebook page. Bruguera had denounced Hernández Galiano’s death and promised to participate in one of the protests, according to the Web page CubaNet.
“Tania Bruguera has been taken (we still don’t know if by military or police agents in civilian clothes – kidnapping – ) leaving her home at exactly this time (6:17 a.m. Cuba time) to prevent her participation in the peaceful protest against police violence that will take place today in several places around the country,” the post noted.
Rapper Maykel Osorbo also was detained as he left his home and headed for the protest at the Yara theater, according to CubaNet. Osorno used his cellphone to broadcast the scene as he left the house carrying a Cuban flag, and ended the transmission as police agents approached him.
Several independent journalists also complained that they lost internet service and were being watched at home by police.
CiberCuba reporter Iliana Hernández said she lost internet service hours before the scheduled protests, and journalist Omara Ruiz Urquiola lost data service on her cellphone, according to CiberCuba.
Journalist Mónica Baró posted a photo on her Facebook page of a police patrol car parked in front of her home. “They have not knocked on my door, and I have not tried to go outside. And I will not try to go outside,” she wrote in the post.
The director of the Web page El Estornudo, Abraham Jiménez Enoa, wrote on Twitter that he was under “house arrest.”
“Several State Security agents and a patrol car with 4 police agents are posted at the ground floor of my home to keep me from going to cover the protest march for the death of Hansel Hernández,” he wrote. “The Cuban government is abusive and racist.”
Reports from el Nuevo Herald news agencies were used to supplement this story
