“Only” 724 Dissident Arrests in May in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — During May at least 724 “arbitrary arrests for political reasons”, took place in Cuba, a figure which means a decrease compared to previous months which exceeded a thousand, according to the dissident Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), reported dpa news.

The “relative decline” is due to a “change of tactics” of some groups that reduced the number of their demonstrations “that attract invariably political repression,” said the report of the organization.

Instead, the opposition is “choosing to work more with civic communities,” according to CCDHRN.

The grouping recorded during the month of May at least 37 physical assaults, 228 acts of harassment and three acts against property, “executed or instigated by the secret political police and vigilantes.”

During 2016, the CCDHRN has posted more than 6,000 arrests for political reasons. The totals were 1,441 in January, in February, 1,141 in March, 1416, and 1,380 in April.

The spokesman of the banned but tolerated CCDHRN, Elizardo Sanchez, also reported raids in different homes acting as headquarters of the opposition group Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), in which “half a dozen computers and cell phones, cameras and documents” were seized.

The figures cannot be contrasted with data from the Cuban government, which does not acknowledge any political prisoners or short term detentions.