MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuban dissidents still under Raul Castro's iron fist despite alleged openness

Cuban dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer said “they searched four homes, and so far we have 42 reported arrests.”

Government officials have arrested dozens of Cuban dissidents as well as an American human rights lawyer, it was reported Sunday. Others were kept from marching in Havana to demand the relaease of political prisoners in what would indicate that the one-party communist state is in no mood for dissent, despite all that was said to US President Barack Obama and Pope Francis.

 Jose Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), reportedly told a newsagency that he had been arrested in Santiago, Cuba's second largest city, for “ facilitating public disorder.... disobedience and espionage.”

Meanwhile in Havana, the Ladies in White group, which presses for the release of their relatives jailed for political issues, said that at least 20 of its activists were “under siege,” kept from attending their weekly march. It was a step backward for the Ladies in White. They long have been considered the only dissidents the Cuban government allowed to march regularly; they hold one weekly protest outside a church in Havana.

“At least 20 homes were blocking the residents to keep us from marching today,” said group leader Berta Soler. “But not this Sunday,” she added.

Kimberley Motley, an American human rights lawyer, was briefly detained on Friday along with Cuban activists Gorki Avila and Luis Alberto Marino when they planned to visit graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado, known as “El Sexto,” in jail. Maldonado was also arrested on November 26, a day after the death of Cuban revolutionary icon Fidel Castro, after painting on a wall in Havana the phrase “He's gone,” her relatives say. Motley has reportedly left Cuba at the request of the government. She tweeted “Thanks for all the love and support safely back home in the U.S. Will not stop fighting to free @dmmelsexto.”

Cuban authorities have not confirmed the arrests. In fact, Raul Castro has long insisted there are no political prisoners in the country, only lawbreakers.

The United States and Cuba re-established ties in July 2015 after breaking them off for more than half a century. Despite advances in relations between the former Cold War rivals -- which include a slew of bilateral agreements and more than 208,000 US citizens visiting Cuba this year -- Washington has not lifted the full economic embargo imposed on Cuba since 1962.