Seven Cuban libertarians and activists with the Mises-Mambi Institute of Cuba were arrested on Friday morning. Among those arrested were president Caridad Ramirez, national spokesman Nelson Rodriguez Chartrand, and Alexis Muñoz Jimenez , the Mises-Mambi regional president for Camaguey province. The motivation of the mass arrest seems to be to prevent the Cuban libertarians from attending the trial of imprisoned Mises activists Ubaldo Herrera and Manuel Velazquez.
According to organization members, Caridad and the other activists awoke to find the police surrounding their private home which serves as the Mises-Mambi Institute headquarters. The police also surrounded the headquarters in Camaguey province, arresting anyone who left the buildings or tried to approach.
All seven people detained were arrested specifically for attempting to attend the trial of Ubaldo and Manuel. Ubaldo and Manuel were arrested by State Security and the National Revolutionary Police under the false charge of attempted assault of a police officer. They have been languishing in conditions unfit for humanity at the Melena del Sur labor prison. Their trial began today with the stakes being at least 1 charge of distributing enemy propaganda, and a hard labor prison sentence of up to 7 years.
By Friday night, five of the seven detained libertarians had been released. Miguel Lopez Santos and Israel Reyes Montero are still in custody in Havana.
Despite escalating action by the Cuban government, the Mises-Mambi Institute will be publishing a brand-new Spanish translation of some of Rothbard’s work later this summer. It’ll be the first of a line of unique and original books from the Mises-Mambi Institute, proudly continuing the work of Mises and Rothbard right under Raul Castro’s nose.
