Santiago de Cuba: At 7 a.m. the homes of five human rights defenders in three municipalities in Eastern Cuba were under siege by paramilitary forces and by pro government mobs: three in “Palma Soriano”, one in “Palmarito de Cauto”, and another one in “El Caney”, to prevent the Ladies in White and female supporters from going to the Cathedral of Santiago de Cuba to pray for the freedom of Cuba and of all Cuban political prisoners.
As the Ladies in White left the home of Aimee Garces Leyva in Palma Soriano at around 8:30 a.m. chanting the Cuban National Anthem and “Freedom for Cuba”, one hundred police, men and women, attacked them screaming insults, dragging them, beating them up, twisting their arms, and shoving the women inside two buses that dropped them off at undisclosed locations. The Cuban women who suffered brutal repression were: Isabel Peña Torres, Mildrey Noemi Sanchez Infante, Maritza Cardosa Romero, Milagros Leyva Ramirez, Karina Quintana Hernandez, Belkis Cantillo Ramirez, Aimee Garces Leyva, Caridad Caballero Batista, Yuremis Gonzalez Pavo, Oria Casanova Moreno, Julia del Carmen Cairo, Yainela Elia Depaigne and Julia Halil.
