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This News Service is posted by the
International Secretariat of Amnesty International,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ
(Tel +44-71-413-5500, Fax +44-71-956-1157)
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News Service 31/96
AI INDEX: AMR 25/ /96
19 FEBRUARY 1996


CUBA:  AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF
LEADERS OF CONCILIO CUBANO

Amnesty International is calling on the Cuban authorities to
immediately release the leaders of non-governmental groups
belonging to a recently-established coalition called Concilio
Cubano, Cuban Concilium.

      ~We are very concerned about what appears to be a
serious clampdown by the authorities on the peaceful
activities of members of Concilio Cubano,~  Amnesty
International said today.

      Members of the coalition have faced frequent short-term
detention and harassment since it was set up in October last
year. However, the past few days has seen an intensification
of action against them by the authorities in what appears to
be a concerted attempt to prevent them from holding a
national meeting from 24-27 February.

      Today, only half an hour after talking to Amnesty
International by telephone, Rafael Solano, director of Habana
Press -- an independent press agency which is also part of
Concilio Cubano -- was arrested by state security officials
and taken to the 11th police unit in San Miguel del Padron,
Havana.  At the time of writing, he is still in detention.
      The current clampdown began on 15 February when Dr
Leonel Morejon Almagro, the national organizer of Concilio
Cubano, and deputy national organizers, Mercedes Parada
Antunez and Lazaro Gonzalez Valdes, were arrested in Havana
on the orders of the Department of State Security and taken
to different police stations.  The latter two were detained
following police searches of their homes in which documents
belonging to the coalition were confiscated.
      On 16 February Mercedes Parada Antunez was transferred
under police guard to the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in
Havana to undergo a minor operation but she was reportedly
told that she still faces various charges.
      The arrest of Dr Morejon took place at the office of
the Buro de Prensa Independiente de Cuba (BPIC), Independent
Cuban Press Bureau, also part of the coalition, after a large
police operation had closed off the area around the house for
several hours.  Next day a fourth member of the national
organizing group of Concilio Cubano, Hector Palacio Ruiz, was
detained at his home, again after a police search.  One
report says he was released later that day although
confirmation has been hard to obtain.

      As of 18 February, Dr Morejon and Lazaro Gonzalez
Valdes were both still in detention in two different police
stations and have reportedly gone on hunger strike.According to Dr  
Morejon~s mother, who was able to visit him
briefly, he was being subjected to pressure by the
authorities to make him sign statements he did not agree
with.  Latest reports indicate that the two have been
transferred to the State Security headquarters at Villa
Marista.

      According to reports, several other members of groups
belonging to Concilio Cubano have been arrested throughout
the country since 15 February, including Pinar del Rio,
Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba.  Although most were believed
to have been released shortly afterwards, the whereabouts of
others is not clear.

      Amnesty International believes that if charged and
imprisoned Dr Leonel Morejon Almagro, Lazaro Gonzalez Valdes,
Mercedes Parada Antunez and Rafael Solano will be prisoners
of conscience detained solely because of their peaceful
attempts to exercise their rights to freedom of expression,
association and assembly.

      The organization urges the authorities to release them
immediately and unconditionally and further requests the
Cuban Government to permit members of the groups belonging to
Concilio Cubano  -- including independent journalists
attempting to compile reports about the current events -- to
carry out their legitimate activities without interference.
BACKGROUND

Concilio Cubano is a coalition of over 100 non-governmental
groups including political opposition groups, human rights
groups, and independent groups of journalists, lawyers,
trades unionists, women and others.  In December Concilio
Cubano wrote to the Cuban authorities requesting permission
to hold a national meeting between 24 and 27 February.  In
January they received an official acknowledgement that the
letter had been received.  No written response has been given
but members of the coalition have been told on several
occasions while in detention that the meeting would not be
allowed to go ahead.

      The authorities have resorted to various methods to
prevent other meetings of the coalition from taking place
throughout the country. On 8 February a meeting of the
national leadership of Concilio Cubano decided that the
national meeting should go ahead with or without official
authorization.

      Concilio Cubano has repeatedly stressed its commitment
to using only peaceful methods to achieve its demands, which
include an amnesty for all political prisoners; full respect
for the present Constitution; that the Cuban Government
should fulfill its international obligations with regard to
human rights; various demands relating to the economy, and a
call for direct and free elections based on the pluralist
nature of Cuban society.

      Dozens of members of Concilio Cubano have been detained
since October 1995 and warned repeatedly that they would be
charged with various offences, including spreading ~enemy
propaganda~, ~dangerousness~, ~illegal association~ and
others, if they did not give up their activities or leave the
country.  Some have also reported threats of violence against
them or members of their families.
ENDS\





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