Dissidents jailed

last updated 8 January 2015

Havana

The Cuban government this week accused the top U.S. diplomat in Havana of trying to stir up an “internal counter-revolution” against Fidel Castro. Security agents arrested more than 80 activists and threatened to try them for plotting against Castro’s communist regime. The American diplomat, James Cason, has accused Castro of trying to stamp out the democratic opposition. State Department officials called the crackdown “an appalling act of intimidation.” Security agents searched the homes of dozens of dissidents and confiscated computers, fax machines, and documents. Plainclothes officers also kept watch over prominent opposition figures. “They are outside my house, on the corner,” said human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez.