Government backers scuffle with dissidents
 
By Vanessa Bauzá
Havana Bureau

HAVANA · Cuban government supporters quashed two small dissident demonstrations Wednesday in tense but nonviolent confrontations that led to several detentions.

The first scuffle occurred about noon when 18 peaceful dissidents congregated at Havana's seawall to commemorate the deaths of 41 Cubans who were killed in 1994 when government patrol boats sprayed water hoses and rammed their stolen tugboat as they tried to flee the island.

On Wednesday, dissidents chanting "Justice, liberty!" commemorated the 11th anniversary of the sinking of the tugboat by tossing white flowers into the sea and carrying posters with photos of the dead that proclaimed, "These are the victims of a cruel tyrant who claims to defend women and children."

As the dissidents left the seaside, they were surrounded by a larger group of pro-government demonstrators shouting "Viva Fidel!" and calling the dissidents traitors and worms. At least two dissidents, Manuel Pérez Soria and Lázaro Alonso, were detained, The Associated Press reported.

A few hours later, a similar scenario unfolded near Havana's Revolution Square when a group of more than 200 pro-government demonstrators assembled near a park where two dissidents had declared a hunger strike to protest their alleged eviction from a friend's home by government officials.

Moisés Leonardo Rodríguez and Roberto Guerras had said that they would remain in the park indefinitely.

Government supporters, who arrived in buses and trucks, shouted angrily, "This street belongs to Fidel! Viva Fidel! Down with the mercenaries!" and unfurled a Cuban flag. It was unclear whether Rodríguez and Guerras were still at the park when the pro-government demonstrators arrived. After one man was surrounded and pushed into a police car that sped away, the group quickly dispersed. Several government supporters refused to answer questions about their demonstration.

The Cuban government maintains the sinking of the tugboat was accidental and blames Washington's migration policies for encouraging Cubans to risk their lives at sea by allowing them to stay in the United States if they reach land.

In Miami on Wednesday, Cuban-American exiles also commemorated the anniversary of the sinking of the tugboat with an evening Mass at the Our Lady of Charity Shrine.

Information from The Associated Press was used to supplement this report.

Vanessá Bauza can be reached at vmbauza1@yahoo.com.

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