ARREST OF EBERT HIDALGO CRUZ IN CUBA
A video shared on September 17 by the Patriotic Union of Cuba shows the moment when Ebert Hidalgo Cruz was arbitrarily arrested in his home in Santiago de Cuba. Family members courageously stood up to the police and publicly proclaimed Ebert’s peaceful activism and denounced his arbitrary arrest by police and State Security. Note the individual making the arrest in civilian clothes which in most cases has been linked to state security agents. Ebert was previously arrested on July 24 along with a dozen members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba in reprisal for a protest fasting in solidarity with political prisoners. Ebert has been arbitrarily arrested and fined numerous times since he joined UNPACU in 2017. The regime has threatened him with imprisoning his son and has attempted to coerce him to press false charges against the leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba José Daniel Ferrer Garcia.
For information on previous politically m motivated arrests see other articles published by Cubanet and Amnesty International.
A fine on July 27 for 100 pesos to Ebert Hidalgo Cruz. A common repressive method in Cuba is to impose numerous arbitrary fines on democracy and human rights activists to justify their arrest as activists refuse to pay them. Photo by Katherine Mojena