Cuban dissident buried amid tight security

Feb 25, 2010, 20:48 GMT

   Havana - A Cuban dissident who died while on hunger strike was buried Thursday in eastern Cuba amid tight security, while dissident organizations denounced the arrests or detentions of at least 50 of their number in the region.

Orlando Zapata Tamayo, a 42-year-old bricklayer, had been serving a 36-year jail sentence for wrongdoings such as 'disrespect,' 'public disorder,' 'resistance' and 'disobedience.' In prison since 2003, Zapata Tamayo was a member of the dissident group Republican Alternative.

   He died Tuesday after an 83-day hunger strike.

The funeral took place early Thursday in Banes, Zapata Tamayo's hometown, about 800 kilometres east of Havana.

Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the umbrella dissident organization Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), said the burial took place under 'a great police blockade.'

The town had been 'occupied since Tuesday' by Cuban security forces, Sanchez said.

Relatives and friends attended the burial, along with around 10 dissidents, Sanchez said.

The CCDHRN denounced that recent arrests and detentions, particularly in eastern Cuba, appeared aimed at preventing dissidents from attending Zapata Tamayo's funeral.

Zapata Tamayo's death spurred international outcry over the human rights record of the communist Cuban government led by President Raul Castro, along with calls for the release of an estimated 200 political prisoners held in Cuban prisons.

The Cuban government denies that there are any political prisoners in Cuba, and says all prisoners have been arrested and condemned based on the law.