Cuban activists Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez and Camila Lobón They were released, hours after being arbitrarily detained while peacefully protesting on San Rafael Boulevard, in Havana.
"We are already home. We are under precautionary measure. But they are not going to silence us," Bisquet announced on his Facebook wall.
This Wednesday afternoon, both young women were arrested by State Security in the popular artery, for displaying a poster in which they demanded that the government return the works of art of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, as well as the cessation of the police siege on his home, which serves as the organization's headquarters.
Hours before their release, a message was published on Bisquet's Facebook wall announcing that if the two activists were still held at 9:00 p.m., they would go on hunger strike.
"We do not accept imprisonment, detention, or the possibility of criminal proceedings being opened against us; since we have not committed any crime, except for exercising our legitimate right to peacefully protest," the text reads.
"We protest the constant violence and harassment to which all those who dissent are subjected. In this very particular case, our friend Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is on a hunger and thirst strike due to the violation of his rights. The poster that we wear in the civic protest says: 'Our friend dies on strike. He does not want to live without freedom, under the harassment and violence of State Security,'" he adds.
Bisquet and Lobón made it clear that their protest was conceived only because of their disagreement and that they do not represent any group or movement.
"This is a citizen protest and we have the complete right to carry it out," they stressed.
During the time they were held, several voices were raised on social media demanding their immediate release.
"We want them free now. Because they have the right to exercise peaceful protest," said independent journalist Luz Escobar.
"Where is Camila? I haven't heard from her in more than 3 hours!" denounced Paula Lobón, Camila's mother.
For his part, the independent journalist Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho, who in turn was arrested when he tried to visit the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, revealed that the young women were in the Zanja police unit, in Central Havana.
"I told you today when they released me, I don't care how many times they arrest me, I will continue going out as many times as necessary. This is too small for them. The flame has been rekindled!" he stressed.
"We want Camila Lobón, Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez and Lara Crofs free, and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara safe," said the 'Hannah Arendt' International Institute of Artivism.
The arrest of Camila Lobón and Katherine Bisquet was broadcast live through the latter's profile by art historian Yamilka Lafita, who had to leave the boulevard after one of the repressors threatened to take the phone of whoever was recording or taking pictures.
However, Lafita was able to clearly show how a man dressed in civilian clothes snatched the poster showing Bisquet and Lobón and crushed it, minutes before the police arrived.
Shortly after, Lafita was also arrested.
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