Cuba supporters countered dissidents’ march

The Peninsula
March 17, 2010

Havana -- Some
200 pro-government demonstrators marched in communist Cuba’s capital
yesterday to counter a protest by relatives of jailed political
dissidents.

The
demonstration by pro-government Cubans countered a smaller march by
about 20 members of the “Damas de Blanco”—“Ladies in White”—protesters
whose loved ones are political prisoners.

The group has staged periodic protests demanding the release of their jailed family members.

But
their protest was met with scorn and anger by pro-government ralliers,
who shouted slogans like “the streets belong to Fidel” and who
dismissed the dissidents as pawns of traditional rival the United
States.

Revolutionary
icon Fidel Castro, 83, led Cuba for almost 50 years and remains head of
the Cuban Communist Party. President Raul Castro, now 78, replaced his
brother Fidel at Cuba’s helm in July 2006 during a protracted health
crisis for the elder Castro.

The
Damas de Blanco were holding their second day of protests to mark the
seventh anniversary of the jailing by the government of 75 dissidents,
who were imprisoned in the spring of 2003.

The
group attended mass at the San Juan de Letran Catholic Church, then
marched to the headquarters of the Union of Cuban Journalists, where
they chanted their demands that their imprisoned relatives be freed.

The
dissident protesters nearly clashed with the government supporters, but
security agents dressed in street clothes kept the two groups apart,
and arrested one man for shouting anti-government slogans.

Rights
groups estimate Cuba has more than 200 political prisoners in a
population that tops 11 million. The Cuban government maintains that
there are no political prisoners in the only one-party Communist regime
in the Americas.

Meanwhile,
Spanish film-maker Pedro Almodovar has signed a petition calling for
the immediate release of all political prisoners in Cuba, his
production company said yesterday.

The
Oscar-winning director put his name to the petition entitled “I accuse
the Cuban government” that was launched on a Spanish blog on Friday,
the company, El Deseo, said in a statement.

Several
personalities, including Spanish-Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa,
are among some 5,000 people who have already signed it.

The
petition calls for “the immediate and unconditional release of all
political prisoners in Cuban jails and the respect of the exercise,
promotion and the defence of human rights throughout the world.

source: http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&sub...

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