Independent journalists detained

Belinda Salas Tápanes

Belinda Salas Tápanes, a Cuban independent journalist and spokeswoman for a group seeking economic justice on the island, was arrested and briefly detained Friday, according to a report by Lourdes Yen Rodríguez posted at Payo Libre.

Salas, who is known to American diplomats in Havana, was arrested in Havana, as she prepared for a press conference to discuss the results of the “Con la Misma Moneda” ("With the same money") campaign. Sponsored by the Latin American Federation of Rural Women, the campaign seeks an end to Cuba's dual currency system, which leaves most Cubans in poverty.

As has become standard police practice during the temporary dictatorship of Raul Castro, officers warned Salas to abandon her dissident activities. Otherwise, she risked ending up in prison.

Salas told Yen, executive director of the women's group, that officers confiscated her identity card, and before she could get it back, she would have to visit Villa Marista, the headquarters of Cuban State Security.

In apparently related development, the president of the Rural Women, and her husband, were also detained, according to a report posted at Bitacora Cubana.

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Independent journalist and librarian Julio Beltrán Iglesias received similar treatment earlier this month, according to his first-person account posted at Misceláneas de Cuba. He was released after eight hours but not before officers accused him of spreading false stories and threatened to imprison him under the notorious Law 88, if he continues with his journalism.