Cuban dissidents join forces following crackdown

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

LISBON, Spain (AFP): Cuban dissident groups joined forces on the island and boosted their ties with supporters abroad after Havana launched a massive crackdown on their activities in March, a veteran Cuban human rights activist said in an interview published Monday.

"We have been working together for some time. Since March that cooperation was reinforced because it is a question of survival," Vladimiro Roca, a former political prisoner, told daily newspaper Publico in Havana. 

"Relations with dissidents outside of Cuba have also been tightened, which shows the regime is in its final stage," he added.

"I don't know how much more time it will take but this is a soap opera that has so far lasted 44 years and this is the last episode."

Authorities on the communist island launched their toughest crackdown against dissidents of the regime of President Fidel Castro in March, netting 75 opponents who were subsequently given summary trials, convicted and sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

In April three people who tried to hijack a Cuban commuter ferry to get to the United States faced swift summary trials and execution in Cuba.

Both the EU and United States have said they are reviewing their relations with Cuba in light of the crackdown.

Roca, who was released from prison last year after serving a five-year sentence for publishing a document critical of Castro, said he believes the protests from foreign governments led Havana to suspend its efforts to crush dissident activities.

"During the crackdown in March, the order was for the entire opposition to be arrested," he said. "It seems as if the protests produced results." 

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