The US State Department, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch joined Jan. 28 to condemn the Cuban government's detentions of dissidents to keep them away from a Havana summit of hemispheric leaders. According to rights activists in Havana, an estimated 100 pro-democracy activists have been briefly detained or put under house arrest for the two-day summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which ends Jan. 28. Thirty dissidents were detained when they gathered in Santiago de Cuba as Cuban ruler Raúl Castro was giving his opening address to the summit. CELAC is supposed work towards economic integration of its 33 member states. Dissidents were planning two "parallel summits" this week to discuss human rights and other issues. Argentine activist Gabriel Salvia was deported by Cuban authorities when he arrived in Havana to join the parallel summit. "It is unacceptable to not to be able to do in Cuba what can be done in any other country that belongs to CELAC," Salvia said on his Twitter page.
From Jurist, Jan. 29. Used with permission.
CIA backing Havana alternative summit?
Gabriel Salvia's group is apparently the Center for Opening and Development in Latin America (CADAL), and a Jan. 23 report on Las Razones de Cuba says that it is organizing the Forum for Promotion of Continental Democracy counter-summit with the International Republican Institute (IRI). Both gorups are identified as "known partners of the CIA."