Despite the apparent calm in Nuevitas, Camagüey, where three weeks ago the largest demonstrations on the island since 11J took place, the Cuban regime continues with the arrests. The Justice 11J organization reported on Wednesday the arbitrary arrest of five people in recent days.
The legal platform notified this Tuesday the arrest of Jimmy Johnson Agosto, 26, when he returned from an electroencephalogram after an epilepsy episode.
In a facebook post, the organization explains that Johnson Agosto was arrested without shoes and still in poor health. He remained in these conditions confined in a Nuevitas Police unit, where he was neither offered food nor carbamazepine, the medicine to stabilize epileptic patients during a crisis.
The young man was transferred to Villa María Luisa, the State Security prison in Camagüey, and the authorities have not reported the type of crime for which he is accused. “There is only one alleged complaint of having damaged the glass of a store” during the protests, says Justice 11J, taking as the only evidence that the young man had “pellets and slingshots that he has used for years to hunt pigeons.”
The organization also reported that the Police searched his home, but it is unknown if they had a court order to support this procedure. “We demand the immediate release of Jimmy, who remains in detention at imminent risk of deterioration of his health,” the movement insisted.
Likewise, Justice 11J confirmed to 14ymedio the arrest of four more people, in similar circumstances, carried out in the Camagüey town of La Gloria, whom it has not yet been able to identify.
The young man was transferred to Villa María Luisa, in Camagüey, and the authorities have not reported the type of crime for which he is accused
During the early hours of August 19, hundreds of people in Nuevitas took to the streets banging their pots, not only to demand the restoration of electricity, but also to shout freedom. The protesters were immediately repressed by the police and military, and there were even complaints about two girls who were beaten by the soldiers.
Recently Roberto Morales Ojeda, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba, said that the government understands the “annoyances and disagreements” caused by the continuous blackouts, which, he asserted, do not “justify” the demonstrations.
“It will never be a justification for those who try to generate vandalism, destabilizing acts or promote violent demonstrations in the country. Each of these provocations will have an energetic response within the framework of the law,” he said. at an event for the 65th anniversary of the Popular Uprising of September 5 in Cienfuegos.
The organization Prisoners Defenders (PD) pointed out this Thursday that there are 1,016 political prisoners in Cuba, of which 43 were detained this month alone and 904 correspond to the 11J demonstrations.
In a statement, the organization points out that hundreds of arrests have been made after the Nuevitas demonstrations, including adults and children beaten “savagely” by the security forces. “Specifically, 43 defendants, as the most conservative figure possible since many families are terrified and do not dare to speak yet.”
“Specifically, 43 defendants, as the most conservative figure possible since many families are terrified and do not yet dare to speak”
He pointed out that the repression occurs at the hands of a new unit of the Counterintelligence Services, created by people who study from Havana any possible protest and coordinate the deployment of the security forces. Prisoners Defenders adds that this commission is “ordered to use violence without limits to stop the demonstrations and take them to prison, without consequences for any of the agents, officials or civilians who participate in these operations, even in the event of deaths.” .
The Cuban Human Rights Observatory (OCDH) also alluded to the Nuevitas protests, which, in a report made public this Tuesday, indicated that at least 327 repressive actions were recorded in August; 90 correspond to some type of detention and 237 for unspecified abuses.
The Observatory warned that the exact number of repressions during the protests in both Nuevitas and Artemisa – where the police foiled the attempt to flee a group of Cubans – is unknown, but assured that judging by the images one could speak of more than a hundred people retaliated against.
The images show abuses in homes, harassment, police citations, threats, fines, physical attacks, as well as impediments to travel abroad and forced exile. The institution also recalls that five independent journalists were forced to give up their professional activities due to threats from State Security.
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