Around 30 dissident Cuban women arrested in demo in Havana

Mar 17, 2010, 23:12 GMT

Havana - Around 30 members of the Cuban dissident organization Damas de Blanco (Ladies in White) were arrested Wednesday while they were demonstrating against the government in Havana.

According to eyewitnesses, the women were taken by bus to the home of one of their members.

Damas de Blanco brings together the wives and mothers of imprisoned dissidents to the communist government led by Cuban President Raul Castro.

Wednesday morning, the women had attended a mass in the Parraga suburb of Havana to honour Orlando Zapata, a dissident who died last month while on a hunger strike. Zapata's mother was in attendance.

They also prayed for the health of Guillermo Farinas, another dissident who has been on hunger strike for 22 days and was being force-fed to keep him alive.

After the mass, they encountered about 200 government supporters who sang slogans like 'This is Fidel's street,' with reference to historic Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Then, female police officers in uniform demanded that the women board buses and travel to the home of the organization's leader, Laura Pollan, in central Havana, where they were released.

The group has scheduled various protest actions for this week, to mark the seventh anniversary of the arrest of their loved ones, 75 dissidents who were sentenced to up to 28 years in prison after being considered 'mercenaries' in the service of the United States. Of these, 53 remain in prison.

Cuba has been the target of strong international criticism in recent weeks over the situation of political prisoners, including Zapata and Farinas.

Cuban authorities insist that there are no political prisoners on the island and that Zapata and others are common prisoners. Human rights organizations, however, say there are about 200 political prisoners in Cuba.