Ex-hunger striker detained in Cuba as govt hits out

[joshcryer]

HAVANA — Police detained former hunger striker Guillermo Farinas as he shouted anti-government slogans from his rooftop on the anniversary of the death of political prisoner Orlando Zapata, his mother said.

"Two officers detained him here at home, after he climbed up on the roof and spoke out against the government and paid tribute to Zapata," said Farinas' mother Alicia Hernandez, speaking to AFP by phone from her home in Santa Clara, 280 kilometers (175 miles) east of Havana.

After Farinas' arrest, a bus stopped outside the home and some 40 people got out and spent more than an hour chanting pro-government slogans, Hernandez said.

Farinas, the 2010 Sakharov rights prize winner, has been detained and released several times this year by the Americas' only one-party communist regime.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hUwculr-GlaADGXq0P19lrFwjHqQ?docId=CNG.8a77d66bccd3cd18428e099055089ce0.31

Didn't see this posted on DU. Been following the Libya coverage.

[naaman fletcher]

1. Bus showed up?

One would think that if it was a spontaneous counter protest that it would be the neighborhood counter-protesting and a bus would not be needed.

[joshcryer]

2. There's photographic evidence that the "counter protest" people are the same folks in different...

...instances. So yeah. It's weird. I don't understand it. Imagine having counter protesters outside of your house for getting a speeding ticket on an expired license in the US (imo, roughly equivalent law breaking).

[bemildred]

3. Him paying tribute to Zapata is sort of weird too.

As far as the counter protest, there is nothing new about astroturf.

[joshcryer]

4. Weird how? Fariñas has done hunger strike protests.

Zapata was called a common criminal by Cuba (and not a "political prisoner") but he no doubt did a hunger strike that killed him, it'd be weird for Fariñas not to respect a fellow hunger striker on the anniversary of his death.

[bemildred]

5. Oh, that Zapata.

Anyway, thank goodness this one is eating again.