Otis Mayfield
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"They gave me a slap that knocked me to the floor," Parra said. "I was kicked all over my body. They wouldn't stop. I was hit in my hands and knees with a baton. For me, it took forever, but maybe it was only 60 seconds. What I know is that I felt pain for 20 days straight."
Massive sweeps by security forces in the hours and days after the protests saw more than 1,000 people detained. Even now, nearly 500 - the most political prisoners held in Cuba in at least two decades - remain behind bars and locked in murky legal proceedings, according to Cubalex, a nonprofit that has monitored the detentions.
In many cases, detainees were subjected to beatings, humiliation and psychological abuse, according to a sweeping report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch. It provides the most detailed accounting yet of Cuba's swift shutdown of dissent.
Orelvys Cabrera, a dissident journalist, said he was forced to strip naked in front of military officials in an interrogation room after being detained for covering the protests.
"I felt violated," he said.
For hours, he said, he was berated with glorious tales of communist Cuba and its late founder, Fidel Castro. Later, he said, he was put in a small cell with seven others. "I slept on the floor for 33 days. They fed us rice with dirt. Soup with fat. Breakfasts were only a slice of bread."
Michael Valladares, a construction worker in the western province of Mayabeque, said his wife, María Cristina Garrido, a 39-year-old dissident, was arrested with her sister the morning after the protests. He was not with them at the time, but said witnesses told him the women were struck by police officers during arrest.
Eighteen days later, he said, he managed to see his wife at the Técnico. She described being tossed into a "punishment cell" with feces on the floor after refusing to yell out "Viva Fidel!"
"Every time she refused, she said, a female soldier would hit her so hard she would wet herself," Valladares said.
Do you believe that the Cuban communists could be this heavy handed with protestors?
Massive sweeps by security forces in the hours and days after the protests saw more than 1,000 people detained. Even now, nearly 500 - the most political prisoners held in Cuba in at least two decades - remain behind bars and locked in murky legal proceedings, according to Cubalex, a nonprofit that has monitored the detentions.
In many cases, detainees were subjected to beatings, humiliation and psychological abuse, according to a sweeping report released Tuesday by Human Rights Watch. It provides the most detailed accounting yet of Cuba's swift shutdown of dissent.
Orelvys Cabrera, a dissident journalist, said he was forced to strip naked in front of military officials in an interrogation room after being detained for covering the protests.
"I felt violated," he said.
For hours, he said, he was berated with glorious tales of communist Cuba and its late founder, Fidel Castro. Later, he said, he was put in a small cell with seven others. "I slept on the floor for 33 days. They fed us rice with dirt. Soup with fat. Breakfasts were only a slice of bread."
Michael Valladares, a construction worker in the western province of Mayabeque, said his wife, María Cristina Garrido, a 39-year-old dissident, was arrested with her sister the morning after the protests. He was not with them at the time, but said witnesses told him the women were struck by police officers during arrest.
Eighteen days later, he said, he managed to see his wife at the Técnico. She described being tossed into a "punishment cell" with feces on the floor after refusing to yell out "Viva Fidel!"
"Every time she refused, she said, a female soldier would hit her so hard she would wet herself," Valladares said.
Stripped naked, beaten, forced to shout 'Viva Fidel!': Inside Cuba's crackdown on dissent
When Cubans took to the streets in July for the biggest challenge to the communist state...
www.greenwichtime.com
Do you believe that the Cuban communists could be this heavy handed with protestors?