US concerned by arrests of Cuban activists

The US on Monday called the arrest of Cuban dissident Jorge Luis Garcia Perez and his wife "reprehensible," and said the incident was only one among "the latest examples of the Cuban government harassment against the government's critics. "We are deeply concerned about the recent increase in arbitrary detentions, physical violence and other abusive actions carried out by the Cuban government against peaceful human and civil rights advocates," said State Department Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf. "We condemn the Cuban government's continued harassment and repeated use of arbitrary detention, at times with violence, to silence critics, disrupt peaceful assembly and intimidate independent civil society," she added. Perez, who also goes by the name Antinez, had been organizing an opposition movement on the island. Security forces raided his house on Wednesday, seizing electronics and other household items. "Freedoms of express and assembly are international recognized human rights, and the Cuban government remains the outlier in the Western Hemisphere with its lack of respect for these rights," noted Harf. "We urge the government of Cuba to end the practice of arbitrary detentions and to allow Cuban citizens to express their opinions freely and to assemble peacefully," she concluded.