EU Presidency shrugs as Cuba activist Antúnez, wife, arrested, beaten

Iris Pérez and Antúnez

Cuban human rights activist Jorge Luís García Pérez -- best known as "Antúnez" -- was arrested on Tuesday, along with his wife and another activist in the town of Palma Soriano, in Santiago de Cuba province. They were working to organize an independent library named after the late Gloria Amaya, the matriarch of one of Cuba's most prominent family of dissidents.

Antúnez has already spent more than 17 years as a political prisoner, but defending those who would open libraries in Cuba is not something that bothers the European Union presidency, currently held by Spain. 

The Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos-- knew better than to meet with any families of political prisoners, independent journalists, or human-rights organizations when he traveled to Cuba in October. This reflects Madrid's closeness to the Castro regime, an approach that is not necessarily shared by others in the EU.

But  last Monday, the Spanish Euro MP Luis Yáñez-Barnuevo García was abruptly expelled from Cuba, hours after arriving with a tourist visa. The rebuff of the Socialist Member of the European Parliament caused predictable paroxysms of fury in Madrid, where Cuba's ambassador was summoned for a dressing down. 

Once can imagine the 'Casablanca'-like conversation as the two sides winked at each other at the Spanish Foreign Ministry:  

Captain Renault/Spanish Diplomat: I'm shocked, shocked, to find that gambling/repression is going on in here!

Sadly the repression under Raul Castro is if anything worse that it was under Fidel. In  April 2007he was released from jail, but he has been rearrested many times since.

Hat Tip to Marc Masferrer for lettng us know  that according to the Cuban Democratic Directorate in Miami, police beat Antúnez as they took him and the others into custody.

The third dissident, Raudel Ávila Losada, at whose home the arrests took place, was still in custody on Wednesday, apparently facing a charge of "assault."

The whereabouts of Antúnez and his wife were not known. A group of activists standing in vigil outside secret police headquarters in Santiago, known as "Versailles," reported they saw the pair on Wednesday being taken to the local airport in a patrol car, according to the Directorate.

They urged the world take notice of what happened. Read more here, including how to follow Antunez in Twitter.