HAVANA’S CRITICS GET CLOSELY WATCHED SINCE FIDEL’S DEATH
“We haven’t kept quiet and we won’t keep quiet. We will continue doing our work.” Dissident Antonio Rodiles
One of Cuba’s leading dissident HAVANA groups won’t conduct its usual march through this capital city on Sunday, the day of Fidel Castro’s funeral.
Berta Soler, the leader of the Ladies in White, doesn’t want anybody to construe that decision as a sign of respect for the longtime communist leader, who died last week at age 90.
Instead, she simply doesn’t want to give the Cuban government an excuse to beat down her fellow dissidents.
Soler said Tuesday that she’d rather be dancing in the streets like the Cubanamericans 90miles away in Florida who have been celebrating Castro’s death.
“I don’t celebrate the death of any human being, but the death of a dictator? Of a tyrant? Of course I would,” said Soler, who became an activist after her husband was rounded up with 74 others during a 2003 crackdown dubbed the “Black Spring.”
Dissidents say Cuban police have been watching them closely this week, as the government conducts a weeklong series of tributes to Castro, including a procession carrying his ashes to the eastern city of Santiago, where they will be interred.
One prominent dissident remained in jail Tuesday after he spray- painted “He’s gone” on the Habana Libre Hotel, where Castro briefly stayed after entering Havana with his victorious revolution in 1959.
Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as “El Sexto,” once spent 10 months in prison when he was caught with two pigs he had painted with the names of the Castro brothers “Fidel” and “Raúl.” On Tuesday, his mother said the family still doesn’t know where he’s being held or what charges he’s facing.
While Maria Victoria Machado Gonzalez worried about her son in jail, she said she understands what he’s doing.
“Danilo is how he is. We’re used to it,” she said. “Of course I’m worried, but I’m also proud of him. What he’s doing is very important.”
Dissidents say they haven’t heard of any other arrests this week, but that may be because of the intense police presence around the homes of the island’s most outspoken critics.
“There’s a group of security guards on the corner right now,” said Antonio Rodiles from his home. “We almost got into a fight with them last night because they were threatening us.”
Rodiles helped organize a petition in 2012 demanding that the Cuban government adhere to international conventions on civil, political and human rights. He has since been arrested several times.
Rodiles said the government agents surrounding the homes of most dissident leaders make it hard to organize any kind of movement.
But he said they are continuing their work through online platforms and will quickly get back to their more public protests once Castro’s funeral is over.
Dissident arrests are on the rise this year, with 9,125 through October.
“We haven’t kept quiet and we won’t keep quiet,” Rodiles said. “We will continue doing our work.”