Cuba rounds up 100 dissidents to thwart human rights protests

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Cuban authorities temporarily rounded up about 100 dissidents over the weekend to block anti-government activities coinciding with World Human Rights Day, activists said on Monday.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said most were freed in a few hours but 10 people remained in jail on Monday afternoon, according to relatives.

"This weekend we have had the highest level of detentions in many years, more than 100 in 72 hours," said Elizardo Sanchez, the commission president and a well-known dissident jailed in the past.

The arrests took place around the country on Saturday and on Sunday, which was Human Rights Day, to stop events like open-air meetings or the distribution of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, Sanchez said.

Most of the planned activities were prevented with the exception of a few closed-door meetings.

President Fidel Castro's communist government views local dissidents as U.S.-backed "counter-revolutionary" troublemakers.

The increased use of short-term arrests by Cuban security services has kept at bay the Caribbean island's small opposition movement, which analysts say currently poses little threat to Castro's power base.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

See related sites about Americas

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.