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Protests in Havana


Havana / AFP
07/15/2005

Two anti-government protests in Havana were blocked by hundreds of worker militias loyal to President Fidel Castro, with at least 10 people arrested, as 5,000 pro-Castro supporters massed in Havana in a counter-protest late Wednesday.
"There are at least 10 detainees, we estimate between 10 and 20," said human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez. "Some people are injured, slight injuries and they received assistance" at a medical center, he said.

Sanchez charged that "para-police groups" were used "to crack down on the movement and they used a lot of force, that's why people are injured."
A group of the protesters was attempting to commemorate the drowning deaths July 13, 1994 of 41 Cubans as they were pursued by Cuban authorities as they tried to flee to the United States in a tug boat.

Around 20 people threw flowers and commemorative pamphlets into the sea in memory of those who died in the tragedy of the tug vessel known as the "March 13". Earlier in the day, several dozen militia members deployed along San Lazaro Street linking Antonio Maceo and La Punto plazas, amid a sparse showing of police. Witnesses said political police agents in civilian dress were among the crowds.

Members of Castro's workers' militia were deployed to the area around Antonio Maceo Plaza in a separate incident in which they shook batons at a small group of protesters who tried to stage an anti-government demonstration.
The two plazas were key venues in the August 5, 1994 protests that led up to a major exodus of refugees headed for the United States.

By 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) calm had been restored, according to Sanchez.
Late Wednesday, around 5,000 students, civil servants and state workers massed in the center of Havana in support of Castro in a reaction to the two small-scale protests.

Waving pro-Castro banners and yelling slogans in favor of the government, the counter-protesters stayed put for more than an hour. "The counter-revolutionaries ... the anti-patriotic ones must know that we will be organized," said Hassan Perez, an official from Cuba's Young Communists Union.

Meanwhile, Elizardo Sanchez said that a show of civil disobedience had taken place all around the island to show "popular discontent" at Castro's communist regime. "We are receiving reports from various parts of the country about the throwing of objects into the street," he said.

"They are expressions -- non-organized, by the opposition -- of dissatisfaction. Sometimes it's one, two or three people," Sanchez added.
In previous years, the July 13 commemoration has sparked minor opposition acts in Havana until now without incident, as well as regattas out of Miami of anti-Castro protesters who sail up to US maritime borders with Cuba.