Cuban dissidents say political arrests top 1,000 in February

[okaawhatever]

(Reuters) - Politically motivated arrests in Cuba topped 1,000 for a third straight month in February as the result of wider public demonstrations against the one-party state, a leading human rights organization said on Monday.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said arrests in the past three months have nearly doubled from the monthly averages of the previous two years.

The commission reported 1,051 arrests in February that it considered arbitrary and politically motivated, although all the people jailed were released, usually within a few hours.

The February number was similar to the 1,052 reported in January and down from 1,123 in December.

Reuters could not independently verify the numbers, which the commission's president, Elizardo Sanchez, said were based on first-hand reports from activists around the island. The commission excludes any arrest report that it cannot verify, Sanchez said.

The Cuban government says the commission is illegal and counterrevolutionary, and normally does not respond to its monthly reports.

[Excelsyor]

1. Cuba should stop the crackdown and US should pardon Snowden

Both are protesting against injustice in their respective countries.

[Mika]

2. If Elizardo Sanchez says that other people have said that some people say ... then, it MUST be true.

Especially considering that the "activists" telling 3rd hand stories are on the Cubanet (USAID, Freedom House, NED, IRI, etc) payroll.