Arrested for Peacefully Commemorating Heroes

Luis Felipe Rojas (left) and Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina (right)

In the early morning hours of Monday, September 12^th, the dissident blogger/journalist Luis Felipe Rojas announced through his Twitter that he was in the town of Duaba, in Baracoa, reporting and taking part in the National ‘Zapta and Boitel Live’ March for Freedom.  The demonstration is part of a nation-wide series of protests which aim to commemorate the fallen Cuban prisoners, Orlando Zapata Tamayo and Pedro Luis Boitel, who both died after lengthy hunger strikes demanding justice and freedom, not only for them, but for all Cubans.  At the moment of his Tweet (at around 8:15 am), Rojas denounced that one dissident- Roberto Gonzalez- had already been arrested while trying to get to the protest.

Soon thereafter, Luis Felipe uploaded a photo of some of the activists  carrying out the march:

This image is the last heard of Luis Felipe Rojas, as well as the other activists taking part in the protest (a total of 26), among them Rolando Rodriguez Lobaina, coordinator of the Eastern Democratic Alliance.

Up to the moment, all these dissidents are still detained, and their exact whereabouts are unknown, as seen by the latest Tweet coming from Rojas’ account, tweeted by his wife, Exilda Arjona:

alambradas_en Luis Felipe Rojas

Still don’t know whereabouts of Luis Felipe Rojas, detained yesterday while reporting Zapata & Boitel Live March (Note from Rojas’ wife)

We demand that they all be released immediately.