INTIMIDATION AND HARASSMENT OF DISSIDENTS ON THE INCREASE
In its report, 'Short term detention and harassment of
dissidents,' Amnesty International details these and
other punitive measures against the exercise of
fundamental freedoms, including orchestrated acts of
intimidation, loss of employment, travel restrictions,
interrogations, house arrests, house searches and even
telephone bugging.
Physician Doctor Oscar ElÃas Biscet Gonz…lez was among
some 260 dissidents detained around the time of the
Ibero-American Summit in Havana last year. He has
reportedly been detained over two dozen times since
1998. Most recently he was charged with 'insult to the
symbols of the homeland' for hanging the Cuban flag
sideways in his home. For this and two similar
offences he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment
on 25 February this year.
In December 1999 Nestor RodrÃguez Lobaina was reportedly
detained in the early hours by State Security agents in
Santiago de Cuba and taken to a mountainous area where
the agents held their guns as if to shoot him, shouting
'Get down, we're going to do away with you.' He was
then abandoned in a remote area and told not to return
to Santiago.
Mark Lattimer, Director of Communications of Amnesty
International UK, said:
'The Cuban Government clearly believes that the
repression of peaceful dissent through systematic
intimidation and harassment will be seen as more
acceptable to the international community than
long-term imprisonment. We urge the UK Government to
tell Cuba that any suppression of the freedom of
expression and assembly is unacceptable.'
Amnesty International is calling on the Cuban
Government to guarantee all Cuban citizens - including
journalists, human rights defenders and political
activists - full freedom of expression, association
and assembly, and to immediately release all prisoners
of conscience.