Santa Clara, Cuba: Dissident’s Grandmother Dies After Violent Act of Repudiation

Act of Repudiation that led to the death of the grandmother of Idania Yanez. Via: @antunezcuba (Twitter)

In Santa Clara, Villa Clara, on Saturday May 19th, Antonia Rodriguez, the grandmother of activist Idania Yanez Contreras died after suffering a stroke following a drastic rise in her blood pressure. According to several sources in the internal Resistance, her blood pressure spiked after several aggressive acts of repudiation occurred over a period of two days.

The violence erupted on Wednesday, May 16th, when about 30 human rights activists managed to reach Idania Yanez Contreras’s home in Santa Clara for a meeting about their opposition activities. Among those present was the opposition leader Jorge Luis Garcia Perez “Antunez,” who had to circumvent many police cordons to reach the house from the city of Placetas. Antunez was sending messages on Twitter (@ antunezcuba) as soon as the repudiation started, under the leadership of Lt. Col. Regino, among other agents.

During the act of repudiation, the mob began shouting insults at the dissidents present, as well as making obscene gestures, as was the case of Colonel Regino who was fondling his genitals while facing female activists who were inside the house. Antunez published photos of these actions through Twitter.

One of the most violent moments in the repudiation was when the mob started throwing stones at the house of Yanez Contreras. One of these stones penetrated the house and hit Aramilda Contreras, Yanez Contreras’s mother. Then, during the second day of repudiation, May 17th, the police beat several activists including Rolando Ferrer Espinosa, Maria Martinez and Barbara Portieles in the house of Damaris Moya Portieles, which is located directly across from the house of Yanez Contreras.

Yanez explains that her family actually made a decision to sneak her grandmother out and into the home of another relative who lives just a few houses down the block while the act of repudiation had still not escalated into such a violent event.  On the 18th, when Antonia Rodriguez came back to the house, there were still mobs screaming obscenities at her family.  Meanwhile, she had witnessed all of the other violence from the relative’s house she was staying in.  Nervous for her loved ones, her blood pressure spiked. A few moments later, Antunez reported that she suffered a stroke and during the afternoon of Saturday May 19, activists reported that she had died (Twitter: @ alambradas, @ LibradoLinares, @ maritovoz).

It was also reported that Antunez, who been able to return to his home in Placetas, was being prevented from leaving to show support for the family of Yanez Contreras and to attend the funeral of her grandmother.

This has been another death in which the guilt lies with the Cuban dictatorship, which sends mobs to repudiate and beat the elderly, children and any Cuban who dares to think differently and in favor of freedom.

Via @antunezcuba: Some of the activists present in the house during the repudiation