Cuban activist Antonio Rodiles was arrested May 24 in Havana.
With American and Cuban presumably getting close to some sort of deal to reopen embassies in each others' capitals, the Castro dictatorship is making clear that an agreement will not depend on it improving its treatment of the Cuban people.
Quite the contrary, the regime seems emboldened in its repression. After all, it's not like the Obama administration has demanded anything in return from Havana, such as political and human rights reforms, in exchange for American diplomatic recognition, the restoration of relations and the goodies that come with it.
The unofficial Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation reported that Cuban police in May made at least 641 political arrests across the island. That's 303 more than it tallied in April; and the highest monthly count since July 2014, when there were at least 652 arrests.
(It's "at least" because of the difficulty of determining an exact county -- it's not like the regime allows itself to be held accountable for how it targets its opposition.)
"The current and palpable uptrend in indiscriminate and often violent political repression against women and men who are only intending to exercise basic civil and political rights in a completely peaceful way continues to be alarming," said the commission's report, according to EFE.
Many of the arrests recorded happened on Sundays, including on May 24, when almost 200 opposition activists were arrested -- including dozens of members of the Cuban Ladies In White as they tried to march to Sunday Mass.
As of May 31, the commission has recorded at least 2,259 arrests in 2015 -- already more than the numbers of arrests for all of 2010, when the commission began its tallies.
For details on each arrest reported by the commission, read this.
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