Cuba Detains at Least Three Before Protest, Dissidents and Relatives Say [View all]

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Source: Wall Street Journal

HAVANA—Cuban dissidents said Tuesday that police had arrested at least three members of the island’s political opposition hours before the first major test of Cuba’s tolerance for dissent since this month’s declaration of U.S.-Cuban detente.

Expatriate artist Tania Bruguera returned to Cuba on Friday after announcing plans to set up an open microphone for any member of the public Tuesday afternoon on the Plaza of the Revolution, the symbolic heart of Cuban political power.

Hours before the planned performance, police arrested at least three well-known dissidents and calls stopped going through to Ms. Bruguera’s cellphone. Her supporters said they didn’t know where she was and police prevented a reporter from approaching the door of her Havana apartment.

“I’ve been arrested,” dissident Antonio Rodiles told the Associated Press by telephone, saying police were taking him away around 12:30 p.m. The wife of Eliecer Avila, the 29-year-old head of moderate opposition group “Somos Mas,” said he had also been arrested along with Reinaldo Escobar, husband of blogger Yoani Sánchez.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/cuba-detains-at-least-three-before-protest-dissidents-and-relatives-say-1419978698