The UN urges that the right to protest in Cuba be “fully respected”

The UN hopes that this Monday “the right of Cubans to hold a peaceful protest on the island will be fully respected”, given the measures taken by the authorities to prevent citizens from joining the so-called Civic March for Change.
“I don’t want to speculate on what might happen. What we want to make sure is that the right to peaceful protest is fully respected,” UN spokesman Farhan Haq told a news conference.
Havana lives this Monday a climate of tension with a strong police presence in some streets for the march called for this November 15 in demand of a political change.
Efe verified it in a tour of streets near the National Capitol, El Prado, the Vedado neighborhood and others further away from the city center such as La Lisa, where patrols and agents guard the streets.
The unauthorized march was called by the collective of artists Archipiélago and, as part of the actions of the Cuban Government, its main promoter, the playwright and activist Yunior García Aguilera, was prevented from going out on Sunday to walk alone through the streets of the capital, as he had announced, to express his discontent.
Efe was able to verify that García Aguilera was blocked inside his house, incommunicado and guarded by numerous state security agents dressed in civilian clothes, to prevent him from going out into the street.
The Cuban government withdrew this Saturday, hours before the start of the protests, the accreditations to all journalists and graphics of the Efe Agency on the island without explaining reasons or clarifying whether it was a temporary or permanent measure.
Hours later, the authorities returned them to two of the six journalists of the team, something that the president of the Efe Agency, Gabriela Cañas, has considered “insufficient” and demanded that they all be returned.

Original source in Spanish