UPDATED, March 22, 2011 — The Catholic Church announced today that Arnaldo Márquez would be released and expelled to Spain.
The Castro dictatorship has many weapons at its disposal when dealing with its opponents.
It can label them as traitors, like the Group of 75 arrested during the "black spring" of 2003.
It can label them as "pre-criminal social dangers," like the hundreds, if not thousands, in prison who by definition have not committed a crime.
It can label them as thieves, like independent librarian Arnaldo Márquez Gil, who has been in jail since April on charges of petty theft and illegal slaughter of cattle.
Whatever it takes to throw them in jail and silence them. There is no limit to what extent the authorities will corrupt what passes as a "justice" system to deal with those who challenge the system.
Segundo Rey Cabrera González, secretary-general of the Cuban Pro-Human Rights Committee, said Márquez is innocent of the charges. The dictatorship is just trying to silence Márquez because of his opposition to the regime and his human rights work, Cabrera said.
In Cuba, at least in the eyes of the authorities, there perhaps is no greater crime.
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