Mob Brutally Repudiates Blind Cuban Activist

Jim Meyers, NewsMax.com
Monday, Sept. 12, 2005

A blind human rights activist in Cuba says he was the victim of an "act of repudiation" by a mob organized by the communist government. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva was holding a meeting of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights on September 1 at his home in the city of Ciego de Avila when the attack came, he disclosed in a telephone call after the confrontation.

"Forces of State Security and the Cuban Police used the provincial coordinator of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, Jose Manuel Benedico, to lead a mob of between 200 and 400 people that shouted obscenities and governmental slogans," he said. "These people banged on our doors and windows, and they made it apparent to us that they were not going to permit activities in the defense of human rights.

"They threatened us with death, saying they were going to yank us out of the house by our necks and they were going to pull out our teeth. "They tried to fumigate my house with smoke, and threatened to turn off our water and electricity. They prevented any food from coming into my house. They even cut off public phone connections so that the act of repudiation would not be reported abroad. "Activists who left my house at 4:30 in the afternoon received insults.

Others were beaten up, like Lazaro Iglesias Estrada, National Secretary of the Cuban Foundation of Human Rights, and independent journalist Osmel Sanchez Lopez. "From August 6 to the present I have suffered more than 15 acts of repression, like arrests, detainments, fines, citations, common court cases and acts of repudiation. I am constantly monitored. "The situation is very tense because their objective is to pressure me into leaving the country."

Sent by: Sr.Cohiba