Eriberto Liranza Romero
Don't be fooled by the release — the subsequent forced exile — of more than 40 Cuban political prisoners earlier this year: Cubans who oppose the regime still risk arrest, and worse, because of their activism. It's just that the repression is more subtle, albeit just as nefarious and revealing of the regime's hatred, and fear, of its own people.
Instead of imposing lengthy prison sentences, like those being served by the recent parolees before they were released, the dictatorship is more likely to grab an opponent off the street, take them to jail, threaten them with worse if they continue with their obstinancy and opposition and then after a few hours or a few days, release them from custody.
That's what happened this week in Havana to Eriberto Liranza Romero, an independent journalist and political organizer.
Cuban Democratic Directorate reports:
A group of activists from the Orlando Zapata Tamayo National Civic Resistance and Civil Disobedience Front held a meeting in the Párraga Municipality of the City of Havana to restructure the organization, which coordinates nonviolent resistance actions on a national level. Upon walking out to the street, they noticed officers from the Castro regime's political police and Rapid Response Brigades surrounding the household, in preparation for a repudiation rally. The activists then began to shout anti-dictatorship and pro-freedom slogans, and sang the national anthem.
“Agent Juan had the audacity to enter the household and we began to shout anti-Castro slogans, and he ran off due to our shouts for freedom and democracy. At that time, a group of opposition activists from different organizations were meeting in Havana,” stated Eriberto Liranza Romero, from the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, and one of the coordinators of the Front in the City of Havana.
According to a later statement made his wife Yaimí Alfonso Lirea during a telephone conversation with the Cuban Democratic Directorate, the activists were attacked by political police around 5:30 PM, and Liranza was violently arrested.
As the Castroite goons learned, however, Liranza and his cohorts were not alone:
The activists stated that they were supported by the residents of Párraga while the police attacked the household, placing themselves between activist Eriberto Liranza Romero and an aggressor from the Rapid Response Brigade known as Michel who was holding a machete, in order to protect the activist. According to Yaimí Alfonso, the neighbors also helped to remove the children who were inside the household to protect them from the attacks.
Via Twitter, Cuban Democratic Directorate reported this evening that Lirianza was released, but not before State Security threatened him with prison if he continued his reporting and activism.
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