State Security imposed movement restrictions and threatened to charge and criminally prosecute two members of the Independent Trade Union Association of Cuba (ASIC) in Cruces, Cienfuegos.
The couple formed by Consuelo Rodríguez Hernández and Lázaro Roberto Aguiar Mendoza, were summoned to appear this Wednesday at the local police station.
“State Security from Cruces was waiting for us, Officer Camilo and Officer Adonis. I entered the office first. They threatened to put me in prison for 2 to 8 years,” Aguiar Mendoza said in an audio sent to Martí Noticias, without specifying the crime for which the police intend to charge him.
“They prohibited us from making publications or sharing them on social networks, from having links with counterrevolutionary people, among them the Secretary of the ASIC, Iván Hernández Carrillo. We cannot leave the municipality,” he explained.
Aguiar Mendoza, a nurse by profession, has complained on Facebook about the lack of ambulances and the conditions in which health professionals have to work in the Cienfuegos municipality.
His wife, Consuelo Rodríguez, who was later questioned by the same agents, also received intimidating treatment.
“They said that this was the first time that they were calling our attention and that, if we did it again, there would be other measures, which could be 2 to 8 years of deprivation of liberty, that they would search us and confiscate our phones. ”.
Both union members were warned that, for their activity on social networks, they could be fined under Decree 370, which includes the seizure of private electronic devices.
The Prisoners Defenders organization has denounced the application of Article 370 as a “very serious act” that represents the “persecution of freedom of expression and other rights” in Cuba.
Members of ASIC are constantly being harassed by Cuban state forces. The harassment of trade unionists has been brought to the attention of Gilbert F. Houngbo, Director General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“This is an act of harassment against ASIC members and we are very concerned about what is happening, especially since the Cuban regime is facing a time of many difficult social, economic and political situations, and it could lead to an escalation of repression against independent trade unionists.”
The world workers’ organization has asked the Cuban authorities on more than one occasion to legalize ASIC and recognize free unionism on the island.
