Cuban protesters arrested ahead of pope visit

Cuban authorities have detained about 70 members of the dissident group Ladies in White over the weekend, including 18 who staged its weekly Sunday march in the country's capital after they left their permitted route through Havana's Miramar neighbourhood.

The group says the country's Communist authorities have increased pressure on them in recent days.

The government says they are paid by the US to undermine Cuba's revolution.

The Ladies in White (Damas de Blanco) usually attend Mass together and then stage a protest march outside calling for the release of all political prisoners.

The 18 women, dressed in their customary white clothing, were rounded up and taken away in buses by police. 

The women were arrested on Saturday evening when they attempted to stage a march in central Havana and another 36 were detained on Sunday morning as they prepared to go to Mass at Santa Rita Catholic Church, then stage their silent march along 5th Avenue, Miramar's main boulevard.

They had gathered at the home of their deceased leader, Laura Pollan, over the weekend to commemorate the anniversary of the 2003 arrest of 75 government opponents that gave rise to the organisation, Otero said.

Human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said that along with the estimated 70 women detained in Havana, another 12 dissidents were arrested in other provinces.

"The Ladies in White, or "Damas de Blanco" in Spanish, were the wives and mothers of the 75, who received lengthy sentences but have all been freed, most as part of a 2010 agreement brokered by the Roman Catholic Church that resulted in the release of 130 political prisoners.

The group has continued its weekly marches, which are the only public protests allowed in Cuba, saying there are still more political prisoners to be freed. They are allowed to walk along a 12-block stretch of 5th Avenue, but are quickly detained when they vary from the prescribed route.

In a number of similar incidents in the past, the women have been released within hours without charges.

By early Sunday evening, some of the women had been freed.

"They released us an hour ago and have begun releasing the others, though many have yet to report in," Otero, one of the 18 women picked up at noon on Sunday, said by telephone.

The detentions followed a controversial incident last week when 13 dissidents occupied a Havana Catholic Church demanding that Pope Benedict mediate an end to Communist rule.

After two days, they were ousted by police at the Church's request, which raised the hackles of Cuba's small dissident community.

After a three-day visit to Mexico, the German pontiff is scheduled to visit Cuba between 26-28 March  in a trip viewed as a show of improved church-state relations after decades of hostilities.