Journalist, Democracy Activist Among 65 Held

Cuban agents arrested a leading independent journalist and a democracy activist as a major crackdown on dissent began targeting the Communist government’s best-known critics. At least 65 dissidents have been rounded up since Fidel Castro’s government claimed that some opponents were conspiring with U.S. diplomats to undermine the island’s leadership.

The two detained were Raul Rivero, a journalist, and Hector Palacios, an organizer of a movement aimed at bringing democratic reform to Cuba, known as the Varela Project.