Opposition Activist Threatened in Nueva Gerona

HAVANA CubaPress ­ Former political prisoner Antonio Morales Torres, an opposition activist in Nueva Gerona City, Isle of Pines, is the target of on-going harassment by the political police.

Morales contacted CubaPress to report that he had been ordered to present himself to State Security offices last week for an interrogation, which consisted of "three hours of threats by Captain Rafael Garcia" of the SS.

According to Morales, the main reason he has been singled out for intimidation is his work with the José Martí Democratic Block, an opposition group which is calling for a boycott of October "elections" to the Communist Party-controlled National Parliament.

Morales quoted Garcia as saying "If you haven't left the country by October we'll locked you up. If you so much as show your face anywhere we'll rip your head off. We'll arrange for some angry (Communist) Party members to run into you on the street and work you over real good, and nothing'll happen to them. And we can always charge you with 'disrespect to the Commander in Chief (Fidel Castro)". [Disrespect towards authorities is a criminal charge frequently lodged against dissidents ­ Ed.]

Morales recently completed more than two years in prison charged with "enemy propaganda". Over the last year, State Security has filed three warnings against him for "social dangerousness" and he can be formally charged with that political crime at any time.

"They don't leave me alone", said the 39-year-old Morales. "They spray-painted a big sign in front of my house saying 'Maggot!'[a derogatory term used by Fidel against opponents] and 'Viva Fidel!'. Then the local vigilante forces harassed me when I added my own response on the wall, which was a quote from Cuba's founder, José Martí, who said 'I feel as if one of my own children were slain whenever I see even one man being denied his freedom to speak'."

Morales begged CubaPress to relay his cry for help to Amnesty International and to global human rights organizations.