Monday, June 5, 2017

More arrests of Libertarians in Cuba

Castro Regime Arrests Cuban Libertarian Party Members - Being Libertarian - Nicholas Amato:

June 2, 2017 - "All of the present activists at Cuba’s Libertarian Party HQ were arrested late Wednesday evening for 'illicit association.' Cuban law states that “anyone belonging to an unregistered association can be fined or imprisoned for between one and three months'....

"The formation of a Libertarian Party in Cuba immediately caught the eye of Raul Castro’s regime and resulted in forceful actions intended at halting the party’s growth. In a correspondence between our Managing Editor Dillon Eliassen and Libertarian Party of Cuba’s spokesman Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand, Nelson details the recent arrests....
Chartrand: At 11:00am [on Wednesday, May 31st], three members of the State Security Forces arrived at the Benjamin Franklin Libertarian Library, which is also the headquarters for the Cuban Libertarian Party. They threatened and accused us of public disorder, which is untrue from a strict perspective, because we were inside the house, completely quiet, and we were within our own private property. They said we could not leave the house nor let anyone inside. We were surrounded.

45 minutes later, more or less, a group of 15 agents specialized in murder, from the special brigade, entered our headquarters violently and attacked us while they ravished the house. Caridad (President), Heriberto (Vice-President) and Eduardo (party member) were transported to Vivac Detention, and Miguel and I were sent to Cotorro Detention Center. Written warnings were issued to each us for illicit association, which is a crime according to the criminal code. They know we are part of a political party, which is illegal. In Cuba, only the Communist Party is legal.

Caridad, Miguel and I were forced to leave barefoot. After numerous threats, we were released at 2:00 am.... Miguel and I were released 30 kilometers away from the library where we were captured. We had been fasting for four days in a row. We arrived at the party headquarters barefoot and exhausted at around 5:00....

[The government] demands we leave the party, they will not allow it to prosper. Warnings were issued, although they were not signed by any of the libertarians, for them [to] have legal effect.
"UPDATE ... From one of our sources that has direct contact with the Cuban Libertarian Party:

"The team received an indictment last night. Since 2 are on a hunger strike (the ones who were sent back walking), our president and vicepresident are paramedics, so they are being indicted for “abandonment” for not nourishing the hungry…
"They have to go to court today at 11:00am. We hope they don’t get detained. Those on hunger strike, in solidarity with our members illegaly imprisoned, offered to stop the strike tomorrow to avoid legal actions against the party itself…
"You don’t even have the right to fast in Cuba. In Cuba, dissidents can’t work legally, hence they don’t receive money. So they literally starve. The problem arises when you CHOOSE to starve, let alone choose to do it in solidarity with imprisoned dissidents."

Read more: https://beinglibertarian.com/castro-regime-arrests-cuban-libertarian-party-members/

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