HAVANA -- Inside Avenida 21, number 3014, a nondescript house in a Havana suburb, lives dissident Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz. Despite Cuba's greater engagement with the world over the last decade, "political repression has been increasing," says Sanchez.
There have recently been mass detentions after an invasion of the Mexican embassy grounds by students hoping to get visas. Independent journalists and human rights activists have been beaten, detained and jailed.
"This has been the highest level of repression in the last 10 years, maybe the last 20 years," Sanchez complains. Vicki Huddleston, head of the U.S. Interest Section in Cuba, opines: "For me, the most worrisome thing is that the situation will be shoved backwards."