Yesterday, while we were having lunch or dinner or driving to work or whatever our peaceful pursuits may be, Fidel Castro’s barbarians assaulted Martha Beatriz Roque, the leading Cuban freedom fighter in an ‘act of repudiation.’ This is nothing more than to say a gang assault sanctioned by the state. Radio Mambi in Miami said she was on the phone with them yesterday when it happened, and the Cuban American Foundation has the transcript of what happened, as Martha Beatriz told it here.

She said (sorry no time to translate but will later):

“…me han dado tantos golpes, me han dado un golpe por el ojo, un hombre gordo fort????simo, un pi????azo por el ojo que casi me saca el ojo… me dieron por la cara, me arrastraron por el piso, me dieron patadas…han acabado conmigo… Estoy dici????ndoles esto a mis hermanos de Miami para que sepan la situaci????n tan dif????cil que estamos viviendo. S????lo porque yo iba a casa de Michael… a una recepci????n, una conferencia por televisi????n, y desde el primer momento no dejaron entrar a mi sobrina a mi casa, desde el primer momento, esto es una situaci????n muy dif????cil muy dif????cil; la comunidad internacional tiene que hacer algo por nosotros porque nosotros no podemos seguir aguantando estas humillaciones, no podemos seguir aguantando esta falta de libertades; de verdad que esto es una situaci????n ya insostenible, yo quisiera que ustedes vieran c????mo tengo la cara, c????mo tengo el cuerpo, estoy vestida de ropa blanca y toda la ropa la tengo sucia y rajada porque me arrastraron por el piso. Yo les ruego por favor que tomen nota de esto y hagan algo por los que estamos aqu???? sufriendo dentro de la isla… no puedo seguir hablando, de verdad, no puedo seguir hablando… (llora)…”

Hat tip to Val Prieto at Babalu blog, who has additional thoughts here. (LINK FIXED)

UPDATE: Agencia EFE has the story here:

Castro loyalists beat dissident

Havana, Apr 26 (EFE).- A mob organized by the Communist government’s secret police beat up a prominent dissident and invaded her home, a human rights group and the victim of the agression said here Wednesday.

Marta Beatriz Roque told EFE that the incident occurred on Tuesday when a group of people stationed themselves in front of her house in the capital to prevent her from attending a meeting at the home of the head of the U.S. Interests Section in Cuba, Michael Parmly.

She said that when she tried to leave her home, about 10 men and two women pushed and beat her in the passageway that leads from the house to the street, and a man entered her residence and slugged her in the face.

She acknowledged she had shouted, “Down with Fidel!,” referring to the aging autocrat who has ruled this island nation since 1959.

Roque, an economist and former university professor, said that after being beaten she had problems seeing out of one eye and had bruises on one of her legs and an arm.

“I feel depressed. I never thought that they would go this far,” said Roque, the head of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society, adding that despite her experience, her morale was not low.
“What they’re doing to me, they’re doing to the entire opposition … This is a message for the whole opposition,” she said, adding that “those people are the hand of Fidel Castro.” The Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) denounced what it called the “brutal aggression” against Roque.

In a communique, the CCDHRN, which the Cuban government has declared illegal, said that Roque was “brutally attacked by a mob organized and instigated by the state security police.” It added that “several members of the para-police mob attacked her verbally and physically, they threw her to the ground and then attacked her inside her house, where a very hefty individual slugged her hard in the face.” “This act yesterday is particularly alarming precisely because of the brutality of the attack and the fact that the para-police members committed a series of common crimes (injuries, illegal detention, violation of the home and creating a public scandal, among others),” the CCDHRN said.

The dissident organization said that the incident occurred “under the complacent gaze of the Cuban government,” which it added was the “main (party) responsible for these repressive acts for political ends.” The Cuban government says that the so-called “acts of repudition” agianst opposition figures on the Communist island result from “spontaneous demonstrations” by the public.

The CCDHRN denounced in February a “new wave of political repression” against dissidents by groups of “individuals mobilized by the government.” Roque was the only woman in the group of 75 dissidents sentenced to prison terms of up to 28 years in the spring of 2003. Cuban authorities released her in July 2004 because she was in poor health. EFE jlp/bp