MÉRIDA, Mexico -. The Prisoners Defenders (PD) organization increased the number of verified arrests to 41 during the days of popular protests in Cuba, which occurred on March 17 and 18.
Of the 41 arrests, the organization specifies that it has confirmed 20 political prisoners who remain under arrest, 15 detainees in the process of verification and 6 people released.
⚡️Update on the number of detainees in the March 2024 demonstrations in #Cuba. They are confirmed👇
➡️41 verified detainees: ▪️ 20 new political prisoners verified ▪️ 15 detainees in the verification process as new prisoners ▪️ 6 released#11j… pic.twitter.com/OQ55iUnfGb
Holguín leads the number of arrests with 13, followed by Santiago de Cuba with 12, Havana with 5 and Cienfuegos with 2.
Last week, PD counted 32 arbitrary arrests, although it warned that the list being updated could be higher given that “many victims (the majority) do not report, especially if they are given a fine or a home precautionary measure, so we think that in “There could have been around a hundred arrests throughout the country.”
The demonstrations broke out on March 17 in Santiago de Cuba, when hundreds of people spontaneously took to the streets to protest the blackouts and lack of food, shouting “current and food,” but the protests were also heard. slogans “freedom” and “Homeland and life.”
The protest had its replica in Granma where, a few hours later, dozens of Bayamese people paraded through the streets of their city.
In Santa Marta, for its part, a Matanzas town located right at the entrance to Varadero, a live broadcast showed how the residents of the place paraded down the main street in the dark to the rhythm of a loud playing of cauldrons.
On Monday the 18th, once again, there were shouts of “Hey, I’m a hedgehog” and “There’s no food, there’s no power.” Pinga pa’l president”, the people of Santiago expressed their boredom in the midst of a crisis that keeps the people suffocated.
According to journalists and independent media, after the protest broke out there was a strong police presence. Several people were reportedly detained and, as the regime usually does in these contexts, the internet service was interrupted to prevent the fact from being publicized.
