The Government Prohibits Berta Soler From Leaving Cuba

The Government Prohibits Berta Soler From Leaving Cuba / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2017 – This Tuesday, the Cuban government
prevented Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White movement, from
traveling outside the country because of an unpaid fine for for an
alleged infraction “against public adornment.” Meanwhile, the
authorities accuse her of having thrown “papers in the street,” which
the regime opponent clarified to 14ymedio were “leaflets.”

Soler took advantage of the action to denounce the disappearance, this
Tuesday, of her husband, the activist Angel Moya. “We consider that he
is ‘disappeared’ because when he left the house he was being followed,”
she detailed. “Today I am calling him and his phone is shut off or
outside the coverage area.”

“This morning I was supposed to travel to the United States, first to
Miami and then to California,” said Soler. However, after passing
through the immigration booth and security controls at Jose Marti
International Airport in Havana, she was intercepted by an immigration
official who asked her to accompany him to an office.

The official told Soler that they would not let her board the plane
because she had not paid a fine for “throwing papers into the street.”
According to Decree 272, whoever “throws into the public street waste
such as papers, wrappings, food waste, packaging and the like,” will
have a fine of 50 pesos and must “pick them up immediately.”

“Here, the person who owes the Cuban people freedom is Raul Castro,”
Soler replied to the accusation. She claims that it was sheets with
political slogans. “The fine is from last September, after that I went
to Panama and the United States, so I don’t understand this now,” the
dissident complains.

Last year, when the Aguilera Police Station informed Soler about the
fine, she signed a document informing her of the contravention with an
ironic “Down you-know-who,” and threw it in the agents’ faces, telling
them: “I do not accept any inappropriate fines.”

Subsequently, Soler was informed that the unpaid fine could be doubled,
and it was suggested that the police could exchange each Cuba peso
(approximately 4 cents US) of the fine for one day in jail or instead
not let her travel on Tuesday.

The activist was planning to meet in California with David Kaye, United
Nations rapporteur for freedom of expression. Instead of Soler, Lady in
White Leticia Ramos will attend the meeting.

“In the report we list all those fines that they assign to us
inappropriately,” reflects Soler. “They are illegal and violate the
Republic’s penal code,” a situation that is complemented by “the
harassment, the threat and violence that is unleashed against our
families, against our children and our husbands to try to get us to stop
our activism.”

This month marks a year since the Lady in White was prevented from
attending mass at Santa Rita parish, and also blocked from attending the
Sunday marches on 5th Avenue, a traditional route that goes back to the
origins of the movement after the repressive wave of 2003, known as the
Black Spring.

Source: The Government Prohibits Berta Soler From Leaving Cuba /
14ymedio – Translating Cuba –
translatingcuba.com/the-government-prohibits-berta-soler-from-leaving-cuba-14ymedio/