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Dissident Jailed in Cuba For Refusing to Mourn Castro's Death, Family Says

Elizabeth Pacheco says Cubans have also been practically forced to board buses to attend Castro's memorial

The daughter of a Cuban dissident says her father was beaten and taken to jail for refusing to mourn the death of Fidel Castro.

Elizabeth Pacheco tells NBC 6 Cuban government security officers warned Eduardo Pacheco, who leads a gathering of the Movimento Recuperacion Democratico, that he could not host his monthly meeting with the opposition organization because he is supposed to be in mourning.

Cuba's government declared nine days of national mourning following Castro's death Nov. 25. The group meets with other Cuban dissidents on the last Monday of every month.

According to Pacheco, government security officers were monitoring her father's home Monday. When one of the group's member's arrived, an officer hurled a rock at her father as he opened the door.

"My dad opened the door of the house and they then hit him with a rock that fractured his nose," Pacheco said. "My mom says someone told her he can barely breathe."

She says several officers tackled her father and took him into custody. Her father's whereabouts are unknown.

Pacheco says her family is often the target of vandalism and Castro sympathizers even throw excrement at their home.

Pacheco also says Cubans are practically forced to board buses to attend Castro's memorial. She says though some have gone willingly, she believes many go out of fear of repercussions. The communist government still employs about 80 percent of the working people in Cuba despite the growth of the private sector under Castro's brother Raul Castro.

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