UNPACU activist arrested, interrogated and fined for false allegations by a neighbour

Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) activist, Roberto Quiñones Guzmán, was arbitrarily detained by Captain Gianny Clape Rodríguez. The arrest took place on Martí and Gliserio Blanco Street, due to a complaint by one of his neighbors, Marco Legra, who accused him of being responsible for anti-government signs that appeared in writing near his house. The activist told State Security Department (DSE) agents that they could do handwriting tests on the signs so that they would realize that he had nothing to do with those signs. The activist also explained to them that Mr. Marco was against them because in October he had told him, in front of all the neighbors, that he was in the business of ratting out all the neighbors who raised animals so that he could have some money at the end of the year. For this reason, the activist considered that Mr. Legra took advantage of the appearance of the signs to point out him as responsible. The activist said that his neighbor has certain friends within the police and that he is also the head of surveillance for the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR) in the neighborhood where they live, so it was easy for him to hold the activist responsible and to manipulate the police and the neighbors in the neighborhood. The activist was arrested and taken to the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) unit where he was detained from 2 pm to 6 pm the same day. Before his release, an official warning was issued for public disorder and he was fined for the same crime. According to the victim, during his detention he suffered psychological and verbal abuse by the police officers who arrested him, and also by the officer who interrogated him, Ricardo Azahares. This officer insulted him by telling him that he was an asshole and tried to provoke him so that the activist would take a violent attitude and thus be able to prosecute him for the crime of assault. According to the activist, this is not the first time this first lieutenant grade officer has tried to provoke an activist to become violent.