Opposition Activist Arrested in Villa Clara

Cuban Democratic Solidarity Party Bulletin

CAIBARIEN, Villa Clara Province , April, 1997

The Democratic Solidarity Party (DSP) representative in Santa Clara, Israel Feliciano Garcia, has been arrested in his home by the National Revolutionary Police.

NRP units raided Garcia's home without a search warrant. Agents jumped the fence around the house, shouting that they had orders to shoot anyone attempting to leave the premises.

Mr. Garcia's wife, Arelis Reyes Garcia, was also detained for confronting the police and accusing them of violation of privacy and conducting a raid without a warrant.

The alleged reason for the raid was a recent fine for "disrupting the peace" that Mr. Garcia had refused to pay. The fine was imposed as punishment for participating in a local meeting of the Cuban Council, the underground national opposition front to which the DSP belongs.

Mr. Garcia was taken to Police Unit number 5 and was expected to be transferred to a prison. After his arrest, the political police, State Security, threatened to fabricate other charges against him and incite prison inmates against him.

The DSP publicly denounces before world public opinion and international humanitarian organizations this arbitrary imprisonment of a nonviolent opposition activist, whose only crime was to exercise his right to free association and free expression.

Translated for CubaNet by Miguel Casuso, 4/22/97