“I was kept in an isolation cell for more than 48 hours”. That’s how former Cuban prisoner of conscience Angel Moya Acosta described his arrest which occurred on Sunday, March 18th 2012. The detention took place because Moya, along with also ex political prisoner Eduardo Diaz Fleitas, was observing the peaceful march of the 22 Ladies in White in Havana who managed to surpass State Security operations to demonstrate through the streets of the capital during the ninth anniversary of the Black Spring (when 75 dissidents were arrested and sentenced to lengthy and unjust prison terms for being independent journalists and human rights activists).
At the scene of the march, a number of State Security agents abruptly arrived and, in the case of Moya Acosta, he was shoved into a vehicle. Diaz Fleitas was then pushed into a police car. Also detained was a young man who was accompanying the former prisoners and who has been taking pictures of the Ladies in White for 9 years and sending them out to the exterior. However, these last two were released during night hours of that same Sunday, but Angel Moya was kept in the Police Unit of Acosta, better known as “La Decima”, until Tuesday night.
“They confined me to an isolation cell, far from all the other detainees. This cell was kept under constant illumination during the 24 hours of the day“, explains the prisoner who also pointed out that “the State Security agents who arrested me were armed with guns“, something that, according to Moya, he had never seen before during his arrests.
The activist was kept in his brightly lit cell until 10:45 PM on Tuesday night when he was left nearby his home without any explanations regarding his arrest.
Moya Acosta took advantage of the situation and communicated to this blog that he maintains his position regarding Pope Benedict’s visit to the island in just a few days: “Pope Benedict XVI is not the liberator of Cuba. The freedom of Cuba is the responsibility and right of Cubans [in the island] and in exile. We Cubans have to be protagonists of our own story“. However, Moya declares that “since Benedict will arrive to a country where the peaceful opposition is being violently repressed and harassed, he should dedicate at least a minute to the Ladies in White to listen to their testimonies and so that they can update him on the actual situation on the island“.
Angel Moya reiterated that the visit of Pope Benedict on March 26th until the 28th will be manipulated by the Cuban regime and that whether he does or does not meet with dissidents depends of Cardinal Jaime Ortega, “the maximum religious authority of Cuba“.
For his part, Moya affirms that he will continue carrying out his activism in favor of human rights in Cuba.
Pedazos de la Isla 