- Title: A month on from Cuban protests, police crackdown jails demonstrators
- Date: 11th August 2021
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (AUGUST 10, 2021) (REUTERS) GABRIELA ZEQUEIRA (RIGHT), ARRESTED AMID PROTESTS AND SENTENCED TO HOME DETENTION ZEQUEIRA WITH MOTHER AT HOME (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PERSON ARRESTED AMID PROTESTS AND SENTENCED TO HOME DETENTION, GABRIELA ZEQUEIRA, SAYING: "I came from the hairdresser and was amazed to see so many people. I'm 17 years old and have never seen anything like it. I stood there watching and when I came to my house, about five blocks on Rita street, they (authorities) got me. A patrol was coming behind me and a woman got off and grabbed me by the arm, very hard. And then she put me in the patrol vehicle, she hit me, with the edge of the door when I was entering. She took me to the station and I asked her why, why was I here. I didn't know anything, I am a minor, I am 17. She told me it was because I was a counter-revolutionary. I kept asking why, I didn't do anything."
- Embargoed: 25th August 2021 23:38
- Keywords: Cuba Havana President Miguel Diaz-Canel protests
- Location: HAVANA + SAN ANTONIO DE LOS BANOS, ARTEMISA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA + SAN ANTONIO DE LOS BANOS, ARTEMISA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA002EPU69MV
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: On the one-month anniversary of anti-government protests that rocked Cuba, protesters still remain detained for their alleged role in the demonstration. Some say it is part of a crackdown to stamp out any future dissent.
The July 11 protests, Cuba's most widespread since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, appeared largely spontaneous as Cubans vented frustrations over long lines for food, power outages, medicine shortages as well as curbs on civil freedoms.
Protests petered out within a couple of days amid a large deployment of security forces and a wave of detentions.
One of those detained was 17-year-old Gabriela Zequeira, who received an eight-month jail sentence that has since been commuted to house arrest.
Speaking to Reuters, Zequeira said she was an onlooker at the protest but was followed home and arrested. A Cuban court found her guilty of "public disorder".
Zequeira's mother told Reuters she had only been made aware of her daughter's detention days after her arrest.
According to the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, at least 757 people were arrested or went missing after the protests, 13 of them being minors.
Cuba issued its first jail sentences in late July for detainees accused of being involved in the protests, with sentences of up to a year.
Among those in prison is Dashiel Alfonso Cata, who received a 10-month sentence. His wife Yakelin Salas told Reuters that authorities are looking to make an example of detainees.
"The truth is it's very cruel. The way I see it they (authorities) are taking these measures as an example for society, to stop this from happening again, to scare people. I can't think of another reason," said Salas.
Cuba has blamed the protests on online meddling by counter-revolutionaries backed by the United States, which has for decades openly sought to force reform on it through sanctions.
The pandemic and tighter U.S. sanctions has exacerbated Cuba's economic woes, plunging it into its deepest crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union.
(Production: Nelson Gonzalez, Mario Fuentes, Paul Vieira) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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