Lilvio Fernández Luís
Every day, Cuban secret police somewhere on the island knock on a door and take one of the Castro dictatorship's opponents to jail. Many times, they are released after a few hours, but many times, they are not.
On Friday morning, this is what happened to Lilvio Fernández Luis, president of the United Active Youth of Cuba, and as of later in the day, he was still in custody, held at some unknown location, according to a posting by independent journalist Iván Sañudo Pupo on his blog.
Police officers arrived at his home in Havana, leaving with Fernández, as well as his computer, camera, flash drives, books and other materials, according to his wife Tatiana Rodríguez Reina.
"Lilvio is gone, I'm desperate, I greatly fear for his life," Rodríguez said.
The secret police has traditionally relied on secrecy to carry out such barbarity, but increasingly in Cuba there are those, like journalists Sañudo and his wife Ainí Martín Valero, with the courage and capacity to tell these stories.
Hopefully, their attention will force the police to release Fernández — or at least inform his wife on his whereabout — and to prevent more of this type of nonsense.
UPDATED, 8:30 p.m. EDT — Ainí Martín Valero reports that Fernández was released earlier today, but he was given a document ordering him not to leave Havana. He refused to sign it. Apparently, his arrest was part of a crackdown on his organization.
And just learned this: Fernández's group has a blog.
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