06/26/2008
Update on Cuban Activists Arrested Prior to Planned Gay Rights March
Some additional information out of Havana on what went down before yesterday's planned gay rights march there. The Miami Herald, reports on a conference call from gay Cuban activists in Havana to Miami:
"'The march was not able to take place because the government stopped our leaders,' said Ron Brenesky, a Miami Cuban who heads the Unity Coalition, South Florida's largest Latin gay rights group. 'Our brothers and sisters in Cuba, they are not alone,' said Brenesky, who spoke with gay activists in Cuba by cellphone Wednesday evening. Unity Coalition members gathered for the phone call at Club Azucar on Southwest 32nd Avenue in Little Havana. Dissident Ignacio Estrada Cepero told Brenesky and the others that he was detained early Wednesday before the planned rally in Havana. Security guards told him he didn't have permission to leave his home province of Santa Clara, Brenesky said. Cuban Aliomar Janjaque was put on house arrest after being warned not to gather in a park with other gay dissidents, he told Unity Coalition members. The park was taken over by security forces, Janjaque said."
Ambiente sent out a press release yesterday reporting that some sort of assault went down as well. More information as it comes...
Posted 3:55 PM EST by Andy Towle in Cuba, Gay Rights, News | Permalink
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I knew all this sounded to good. Back to business as usual in Cuba.
Posted by: Jorge in Paradise | Jun 26, 2008 7:23:15 PM
"Security guards told him he didn't have permission to leave his home province."
We're lucky here in the US that we can't easily wrap our minds around the idea of not being allowed to leave one's home province. This kind of oppression is an everyday fact of Cubans' lives...
Posted by: kipp | Jun 27, 2008 12:35:48 PM
** Where are the commenters who held Cuba's Communist dictatorship as a model of enlightened gay policy making? Where are the commenters from Canada and Europe who "led by example" with their tourist loonies and euros? Did any of them note that the gay leader was not even allowed by the government to leave his home? House arrest is the new progressive gay rights policy in Cuba! Come out, come out mis inocentes. We await your latest spin.
Posted by: rudy | Jun 30, 2008 7:39:51 AM