President Obama on Tuesday met with more than a dozen political dissidents in Cuba, including some who were arrested just before their historic meeting.
Some dissidents who were able to attend the meeting reported being harassed by Cuban secret police on Monday as they traveled to a silent protest. That happened just hours after President Raul Castro denied that the communist nation holds any political prisoners.
Berta Soler, leader of “Ladies in White,” a group founded by the families of political prisoners, was reportedly arrested on her way to an interview with CNN on Monday. She was eventually released and attended Tuesday’s meeting with Obama.
Elizardo Sanchez, head of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National Reconciliation, said 20 Cubans who oppose the dictatorship of the Castro brothers were detained on Monday, and 60 were arrested on Sunday. Sanchez was on hand for the Obama meeting at the U.S. embassy in Havana as well.
Miriam Celaya Gonzales, an attorney, and Manuel Cuesta Morua, a well-known activist, flanked Obama. Behind them was a painting by Michel Mirabal, called “My New Friend,” which the artist donated to the embassy upon the one-year anniversary of Obama announcing a thawing of relations with the island, according to the White House.
Mirabal was in Washington on Tuesday painting a similar picture for the Cuban embassy.
Obama told the group that “it requires, often times, great courage to be active in civic life here in Cuba,” according to the Associated Press.
In explaining his rationale for his controversial decision to normalize relations with Cuba, he said his focus is on the U.S. and Americans interacting with their neighbors just 90 miles south of Florida.
“Much of this is a matter of us being able to hear directly from the Cuban people and making sure that they have a voice and making sure that their concerns and their ideas are helping to shape U.S. policy,” he reportedly said.
Obama planned to meet with dissidents from the earliest stages of planning his historic trip, despite complaints from Cuban officials. Administration officials stressed during the trip’s lead up that they and they alone would determine with whom Obama would meet.
Obama became the first president in 88 years to visit Cuba when he arrived on Sunday.
The White House said dissidents attending the meeting were: Juana Mora Cedeno, Guillermo Coco Farinas, Jose Daniel Ferrer, Celaya Gonzales, Dagoberta Valdes Hernandez, Cuesta Morua, Nelson Alvarez Matute, Augel Yunier Remon, Antonio Rodiles, Laritza Diversent Soler, Sanchez and Miriam Leiva Viamonte.
Notably absent was Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a physician, anti-abortion activist, prominent member of the black dissident community and winner of numerous human rights awards, including the United States’ 2008 Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.
