As the U.S. and Cuba are engaged in a thaw of over 50 years of icy tension, reports of civil rights abuses on the island nation have taken on an increasing importance.

Sunday's alleged attacks on activists in Cuba further exacerbates the situation.

Yesterday, Ambassador Samantha Power, a member of President Obama’s Cabinet, tweeted that the Cuban activist Antonio G. Rodiles had been beaten, and that dozens more had been detained on their way to Sunday Mass.

Rodiles, part of the organization Estado SATS, confirmed on his Twitter account what happened, uploading photos of some of the injured. 

When asked if he had anything to say regarding Power’s tweet on an apparent Cuban crackdown on civil society, spokesman for U.S. Department of State John Kirby replied that, “We have seen reports of the beating and detention of a political activist by the name of Antonio Rodiles and detention of almost a hundred peaceful activists by Cuban authorities Sunday afternoon, and members of our interests section down there have confirmed these troubling reports.”

“We will continue to criticize violations of human rights and advocate for the rights to peaceful assembly, association, and freedom of expression and religion, and we’ll continue to voice our support for improved human rights conditions and democratic reforms in Cuba,” added Kirby.

On July 1, President Obama announced the decision to re-establish diplomatic relations between Cuba and the U.S., which will be effective on July 20.

A press release about the normalizing of U.S.-Cuba relations maintains that the embargo on Cuba is still in place and that legislative action would be required in order to lift it. Furthermore, the administration has no current plans to alter its migration policy.

When asked if it concerned him that these reports were surfacing so close to the opening of a Cuban embassy, Kirby said, “Certainly, it’s concerning to us,” adding, “we’re always going to be very vocal and very candid about human rights concerns where we see them, wherever that is. But it’s not going to change the policy about the restoration of diplomatic relations with Cuba. In fact, it reinforces the need to move forward with re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, because opening that embassy, we believe, will advance our human rights agenda by opening up channels of official engagement through the re-establishment of those relations.”

A video of Cuban witnesses and victims explaining, in Spanish, what transpired tells how the police arrived and arrested activists calling for the freedom of political prisoners. Among them is a woman claiming to be an American citizen of Cuban descent who was visiting the island.

Watch the interviews: