Rights group says abuses in Cuba growing

Cuban police have detained far more dissidents so far than during a similar period last year and treated them more violently, a Havana human rights group said. While activists in Cuba disagreed on the number of detentions, they agree that the level of violence against dissidents increased significantly during the first six months of 2011 and the number of detentions more than doubled, El Nuevo Herald reported Wednesday. "The most disquieting and notable thing in this report is the really unprecedented increase in violence," Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights and National Reconciliation said of the findings in the report issued Tuesday. His committee's report for June noted the "physical violence employed by the political police, its agents or para-police elements against peaceful opponents during the month has been particularly disquieting." Sanchez's report documented a 110 percent increase in the number of "persons detained temporarily for political reasons," up from 821 in the first six months of 2010 to 1,727 in the same period this year, El Nuevo Herald reported. Another Havana activist, Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, said his Cuban Council of Human Rights Reporters documented more than 3,000 "temporary detentions" so far in 2011. The detentions, ranging from a few hours to several days, were meant to intimidate protesters or block opposition gatherings, he said, calling the actions "state terrorism to maintain control."