Dissidents' kin stage rare public protest in Cuba's Revolution Square

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press Wednesday October 06, 2004 21:21 by redjade

Mothers and relatives of dissidents camped out in Havana's Revolution Square for a second day in a rare, bold public protest seeking the release of one of 75 dissidents rounded up in a major crackdown by Cuba's communist government in March 2003.

Dressed entirely in white, the women arrived at the vast square -- the site of countless rallies addressed by President Fidel Castro -- on Tuesday with a letter for Castro, demanding the release of Angel Moya, 39, who after a summary trial was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"It is the right thing to do at a time like this," Marta Beatriz Roque, a prominent dissident economist and the only woman arrested and jailed in the crackdown, told AFP. She was released early suffering from health troubles.

"It seems to me that it is time to move past reporting things, issuing letters, and move from written words to active deeds," in defense of the dissidents, who "are more and more harassed every day," Roque charged.