Identidades in English No 1, February 2014 | Page 48

Video Senator Menéndez
round midday on January 26th, 2014, oppositionist leader Manuel Cuesta Morúa, spokesperon for the Partido Arco Progresista [Progressive Arc Party], was arrested and held prisoner till
the evening of January 30th.
This violent, totalitarian act was carried out against
him and flagrantly violated all his rights as a citizen.
The arrest of this well known, Cuban oppositionist
was part of “Operación Limpieza” [Operation CleanUp], a repressive wave by State Security [political police] at the time of the CELAC [Community of Latin
American and Caribbean States] summit that was taking place in Havana between January 28th-29th. Attending this summit were delegations from all 33 of
its member states.
With the non-profit CADAL, Manuel Cuesta Morúa
and his Progressive Arc Party were co-organizers of
the II Foro Democrático de Relaciones Internacionales y Derechos Humanos [Second Democratic Forum
on International Relations and Human Rights] (to be
held parallel with the CELAC summit). Its goal was
to discuss with other Cubans “La Declaración Especial en Defensa de la Democracia de la CELAC y su
incompatibilidad con el sistema pólitico de partido

A

único de Cuba” [the Special Declaration in Defense of
Democracy within CELAC and its incompatibility
with Cuba’s one-party system].
Manuel was freed Thursday evening, January 30th,
when the very publiciz VB