Activist detained for two days when traveling to the airport in Havana

At 11:30 pm, Rolando Pupo Carralero, a chairman of a political party Cuba Independent and Democratic (CID), was detained when he was on his way to the Jose Marti Airport. He was going to Lima, Peru in order to participate in one of the Cuban civil society fora in the framework of the VIII Cumbre de las Americas. When he was already heading to the airport in Havana, the car he was traveling in was stopped at the National Revolutionary Police Checkpoint in Candelaria, Artemisa Province. Several policemen asked for the indetity cards of all passengers sitting in the car. After a while, Pupo was asked to get off the car and the others were allowed to continue. He was taken to an office where he was kept until 3 am. After that, he was driven by bus to the Police Department in Pinar del Río. There were already two officials waiting for him - State Security official Captain Juan Pérez and Province Chief known as Lieutenant Colonel Ramón Beune. He was subjected to a long interrogation and threatened with imprisonment in case he continued with his counterrevolutionary activities. Later on, he was put in a prison cell where he was kept until his release at 3 pm on the next day.