Harassment against Guantanamo Youth movement.

Havana, August 22, (Omar Rodriguez Saludes, ANP) - The delegation of the Cuban Democratic Youth Movement (Movimiento Cubano Jovenes por la Democracia) in Guantanamo province is being harassed and persecuted by the State Security. Informed to ANP Heriberto Leyva Rodriguez, vice-president of that organization.

Mr. Leyva Rodriguez reported that July 31, the activist Rafael Fonseca, Yordys Garcia, Juan Rodiles, Carlos Herrera, Jackelin Caballero and Dr. Walter Estrada, were visited at their homes by State Security operatives to warn them against showing themselves in public while the province was visited by the delegates of the XIV World Youth and Students Festival.

Disregarding the threats the Youth organized a peaceful rally demanding the release of Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina the youth leader incarcerated in the Guantanamo Combine Prison. They were surrounded by the political police in the neighborhood of the Nguyen Van Troi Stadium and the peaceful display was interrupted by the agents.

Likewise, on August 2, when they attempted to contact foreign delegates to the Youth Festival Mr. Juan Carlos Herrera was arrested and kept in isolation for two days while being interrogated by the political police at the fourth precinct of that City.

The state security operative Manuel Ceballos, who was in charge of the interrogatories warned Juan Carlos Herrera, that he would be indicted on the crime of disorderly conduct and "enemy propaganda." According to Heriberto Leyva the document that generated such charges was none other than the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Juan Carlos Herrera was released shortly after the foreign delegates departed on August 4, but not before he was fined.

Translated directly from the Spanish electronic version by R. Rikki.