In first 8 days of March, Cuban police make at least 200 political arrests

Cuban police arrest members of the Damas De Blanco ("Ladies In White") in San Miguel de Padron. (Photo via Hablemos Press)

At least 200 Cuban opposition activists and dissidents were arrested in the first eight days of March, according to the Cuban independent press agency Hablemos Press.

The crackdown started immediately after the conclusion of the latest round of talks in Washington between American and Cuban officials about the Obama-Castro rapprochement.

About 90 of those arrested were members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba, or UNPACU, in Santiago de Cuba, who were picked up Sunday as they tried to attend Mass at Cuba's holiest shrine, the cathedral at El Cobre.

Other arrests were reported from across the island, according to Hablemos Press.

The continuing negotiations between Washington and Havana -- which started, in part, with the release of 53 political prisoners -- has not otherwise tempered the Castro dictatorship's human rights abuses.

After a relative slowing of repression in January -- the Cuban National Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported only 178 political arrests that month -- the Cuban secret police kicked it back into gear in February, with at least 492 arrests.

Throw in the at least 200 arrests so far in March, and that brings to more than 1,300 reported arrests -- the actual number probably is higher -- since right before President Obama announced the re-opening of relations on Dec. 17.

Hope in change, indeed.