Check out the news reports posted at Payo Libre, and you will find a roll call of Cuban heroes:
— Noelia Pedraza Jiménez and Juana Gómez Riego, who were detained for several hours in a Santa Clara police station, after they were caught distributing literature that describes "the truth about the Castro regime. Before they were released, police tried to force them to sign statements admitting that they had done something wrong, but they refused.— Maura Iset González Jurquet, president of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women, who was arrested Feb. 6 while visiting another member of the organization. She was released, but not before officers warned that they were closely watching her activities.
— Carlos Manuel González, Manuel Martínez, Michael Nodal, Marco Antonio Lima, Esteban Sande Suárez and Caridad Caballero Batista, who were arrested Feb. 1 for trying to block the eviction of several vendors from a farmers' market in Holguín. (Lima and Caballero Batista have worked as journalists.) Read more about the protest, here.
— Independent librarian José Agramonte Leiva, who was arrested Feb. 1 in Guaímaro, in Guantanamo province, while traveling from Ciego de Ávila to Las Tunas. He was released after spending 32 hours in a jail cell, but not before officers confiscated a copies of the book, "Voices of Change," the magazine Miscelaneas de Cuba and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; a camera; and 128 convertible pesos. Officers also warned Agramonte he faced possible prosecution for "mercenariasm" and distributing "enemy propaganda."
— Yoandri Beltrán Gamboa of Holguín, a member of the Youth Movement for Democracy, who was threatened with prosecution under the notorious Law 88, if he continued with his political activities.
Every day, everywhere across the island, there are sad moments like this.
And every day, new heroes stand up and fight against repression.
Their example inspires, and despite the odds against them, reassures that one day their struggle will be rewarded with freedom.
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