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UA 221/97 Arbitrary arrest/Legal concern/ prisoner of conscience
(POC)
18 July 1997 CUBA Vladimiro ROCA ANTUNES Maria Beatriz ROQUE CABELLO Rene
GOMEZ
MANZANO Felix A. BONNE CARCASES Luis LOPEZ PRENDES, journalist.
Amnesty International is seeking the immediate and unconditional
release of
prisoners of conscience Vladimiro Roca Antunes, Maria Beatriz Roque
Cabello,
Rene Gomez Manzano and Felix A. Bonne Carcases - all members of the Grupo
de
Trabajo de la Disidencia Interna para el Analisis de la Situacion
Socio-Economica Cubana, the Internal Dissidents' Working Group for the
Analysis
of the Cuban Socio-Economic Situation - and of Luis Lopez Prendes, a
journalist
working for the independent press agency, Buro de Prensa Independiente de
Cuba
(BPIC), Cuban Independent Press Bureau.
According to reports, in the early hours of 16 July 1997 State
Security
officials went to the home in Havana of Working Group member Vladimiro
Roca
Antunes, who is also a member of the unofficial Partido Social Democrata
Cubano,
Cuban Social Democratic Party. They searched his home for several hours
and
confiscated a large number of documents and a computer. Roca himself was
taken
to the State Security headquarters at Villa Marista. Previously, on 3 July
1997,
he had reported that State Security officials had thrown stones at his
home
during the previous night and broken two windows.
The other three members of the Working Group were detained in similar
circumstances on the same day and are also said to be in Villa Marista. A
spokesperson for the Cuban Foreign Ministry reportedly stated yesterday
that the
four Working Group members were being held under investigation for
'counter-revolutionary activities'.
On 27 June 1997 the detainees had held a press conference for foreign
journalists during which they criticized an official discussion document
entitled El Partido de la Unidad, la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos que
Defendemos, 'The Party of Unity, Democracy and the Human Rights We
Defend',
which is being circulated within the country as a prelude to the Communist
Party
Congress, to be held later this year. They also presented the journalists
with
their own analysis of the document entitled La Patria es de Todos, 'The
Homeland
is for Everyone'. Immediately afterwards some 40 members of several
unofficial
groups who have formed a support committee for the Internal Dissidents'
Working
Group were reportedly detained but all were released within hours or
days.
As well as belonging to the Working Group, Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello
is
also a member of the unofficial Instituto Cubano de Economistas
Independientes,
Cuban Institute of Independent Economists; Rene Gomez Manzano is a lawyer
belonging to an unofficial lawyers' group called the Corriente
Agramontista,
Agramontist Current; and Felix A. Bonne Carcases is a member of the
unofficial
Corriente Civica Cubana, Cuban Civic Current.
Journalist Luis Lopez Prendes, of the independent press agency, Buro
de
Prensa Independiente de Cuba (BPIC), Cuban Independent Press Bureau, was
also
reportedly detained on the morning of 16 July 1997 in Havana though no
further
details are so far available and it is not yet clear whether his detention
is
connected to those of the Working Group members.
Amnesty International believes that all the above-mentioned detainees
have
been detained simply for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of
expression and association, and as such are prisoners of conscience.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
All media in Cuba are state-controlled and freedom of expression,
association and assembly are severely limited. Over the past few years, a
number
of non-governmental organizations, involving political and human rights
activists, independent journalists and trade unionists, economists,
lawyers and
others, have been formed. However, none has been granted official
permission to
operate even when they have made the appropriate application to the
Ministry of
Justice for recognition (their requests usually go unanswered).
In 1995 the Cuban Government began a major crackdown on dissidents,
following the formation of Concilio Cubano, Cuban Concilium, a forum of
over 100
unofficial groups, including human rights groups, independent professional
associations and political parties. Since then members of Concilio Cubano
and
journalists working for independent organization have been subjected to
persistent harassment and frequent short-term detention. They have also
been
threatened with long-term imprisonment and occasionally physical violence
if
they do not cease their activities or leave the country. A few have been
brought
to trial and imprisoned as prisoners of conscience.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail
letters:
urging that Vladimiro Roca Antunes, Maria Beatriz Roque Cabello, Rene
Gomez
Manzano, Felix A. Bonne Carcases and Jose Lopez Prendes be immediately and
unconditionally released, on the grounds that they are prisoners of
conscience,
detained solely for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of
expression
and association; - urging that as long as they are in detention, they be
provided with full judicial guarantees, including immediate access to a
lawyer
of their choice.
APPEALS TO:
1) Attorney-General:
Dr Juan Escalona Reguera
Fiscal General de
la
Republica
Fiscalia General de la Republic
San Rafael 3
La Habana,
Cuba
Dear Attorney General:
[Telegrams: Fiscal General, Havana, Cuba]
[Telex: 307 511456 fisge]
2) Minister of Foreign Affairs:
Sr Roberto Robaina Gonzalez
Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores
Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores
Calzada No. 360
Vedado
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Minister:
[Telegrams: Ministro Relaciones Exteriores, Havana, Cuba]
[Telex: 307 511122 / 307 511464 / 307 512950]
[Fax: 011 53 7 333085 / 011 53 7 335261]
3) Minister of the Interior:
General Abelardo Colome Ibarra
Ministro de Interior
Ministerio del Interior
Plaza de la Revolucion
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Minister:
[Telegrams: Ministro Interior, Havana, Cuba]
4) Department of State Security:
Sr Director
Departamento de Seguridad del Estado
Villa Marista
La Vibora
La Habana, Cuba
Dear Sir:
[Telegrams: Director, Villa Marista, Havana, Cuba]
COPIES TO:
Cuban Journalists Union (official body):
Union de Periodistas de Cuba
Calle 23 No. 452
Apartado 6646
Vedado
Havana, Cuba
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