WASHINGTON, March 19: Cuba said on Tuesday that it had arrested “several dozen people” accused of involvement in a “conspiracy” allegedly led by the head of the US Interests Section in Havana, James Cason.

State-run television reported that the detainees were being held for “provocations” and “subversive activities” allegedly hatched by Cason, whom Castro has called “a bully with diplomatic immunity.”

Cason’s contacts with Cuban dissidents have enraged Castro, who has also threatened to close the US Interests Section and imposed limits on the travel of US diplomats on the island, according to State Department officials.

An “outraged” United States on Wednesday demanded the immediate release of the dozens of detainees.

“The United States is outraged by the Cuban government’s announced arrest of dozens of opposition members,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters.

“This is an appalling act of intimidation against those who seek freedom and democratic change in Cuba. These people have been arrested simply for speaking out, one of the basic and most recognized international human rights,” he said.

Mr Boucher called on the Cuban government to immediately release them, and for other nations and groups to demand their release.

Boucher’s comments were the latest salvo in an exponential rise in four decades of hostility between the United States and Cuba that has occured over the past six months.

Armed with a mandate from US President George W. Bush to seek out and engage Cuban dissidents, Cason has met a range of Castro foes and held unprecedented face-to-face talks with opposition leaders.

On March 6, Castro said the US Interests Section in Havana had become “an incubator of counterrevolutionaries and headquarters for subversive plots against our country.”—AFP