Human rights in Cuba
Encyclopedia
Human Rights Watch
is among international human
rights organizations accusing the Cuba
n government of systematic human rights abuses, including torture
, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extrajudicial execution.
Cuban law
limits freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and the press. Concerns have also been expressed about the operation of due process
. According to Human Rights Watch, even though Cuba, officially atheist until 1992, now "permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, and has allowed several religious-run humanitarian groups to operate, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers." Censorship in Cuba
has also been at the center of complaints. Most emigration is illegal
. In 2010, Serbia
offered to mediate between Cuba and the European Union
to overcome the issue of human rights standing between them.
. The subsequent transportation of African slaves to the island, which lasted over 300 years, led to British
military intervention and a determination "to put a stop to these abuses". Since Cuba achieved independence in 1902, successive Cuban governments have been criticised and condemned by various groups, both within Cuba and internationally, for human rights violations on the island. During the latter part of the Spanish colonial era in Cuba, human rights on the island became a particular international concern. After a visit to the region in 1898, U.S. Senator Redfield Proctor
estimated that that up to 200,000 Cubans had died from starvation and disease within "Spanish forts", essentially concentration camps. The concern was a contributory factor in garnering support for the Spanish-American war
in the U.S.
After independence, and following a sustained period of instability, the 1924-33 government of Gerardo Machado
proved to be authoritarian. Machado extended his rule until a student led uprising deposed him in 1933. According to Hugh Thomas
, the post-Machado period was marked by violent reprisals, mass lynchings and a deterioration towards corruption and gansterismo throughout the island.
From 1940, Cuba had a multiparty electoral system until Fulgencio Batista
(President from 1933–1944) staged a coup with military backing on March 10, 1952.
In 1958, Time magazine wrote : "Cuba's fanatic, poorly armed rebels last week tried to smash President Fulgencio Batista with the ultimate weapon of civilian revolutions: the general strike. [...] Fulgencio Batista got ready for the strike by offering immunity to anyone who killed a striker and by threatening to jail any employer who closed shop." During the strike, militants and youths stole guns, and threw bombs (one of which may have set up a gas-mains fire), after which some people were killed in clashes.
The strike was short-lived : "With the upper hand, Batista drove boldly around the city while his cops proceeded to make their supremacy complete. When a patrol car radioed that it had clashed with rebels and had "a dead man and a prisoner," the dispatcher ordered: "Shoot him." At midafternoon, cops burst into a boardinghouse, grabbed three young men who were leaders of Cuba's lay Catholic Action movement, which sympathizes with Castro. Two hours later their stripped, tortured and bullet-torn bodies were turned over to relatives. Total dead: 43."
In 1959, Fidel Castro
and his forces succeeded in displacing Batista from power. At that time there were fundamental changes in the judicial and political process. During this transitional period there were some concerns voiced about due process
.
The "Cuban National Reconciliation movement", a U.S.-based organisation that claims to act as a forum for discussing Cuban society, has detailed what it believes are complex variables when analysing human rights immediately after the revolution. In the 1960s, violent confrontations known as the Escambray Rebellion between the Cuban government and armed opposition were ongoing, but had declined by the early 1970s. The group asserts that by the time international human rights movements flourished in the 1970s, the most severe period of repression was over, making non-partisan retrospective assessments of the period difficult. The reconciliation movement also cite the difficulties in assessing accounts of abuses that are commonly split upon partisan lines. According to the group, Cuban exiles who were often the first to denounce the Cuban government, largely shared an anti-Communist ideology and overlooked violations committed by other regimes, whilst many left leaning observers did not give the claims of Cuban victims due consideration.
, according to Human Rights Watch.
As early as September 1959, Valdim Kotchergin (or Kochergin), a KGB
agent, was seen in Cuba. Jorge Luis Vasquez, a Cuban who was imprisoned in East Germany, states that the East German secret police Stasi
trained the personnel of the Cuban Interior Ministry (MINIT).
Latin American historian Thomas E. Skidmore says there had been 550 executions in the first six months of 1959. British historian Hugh Thomas
, in his study Cuba or the pursuit of freedom stated that "perhaps" 5,000 executions had taken place by 1970, whilst The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators ascertained that there had been 2,113 political executions between the years of 1958-67. The author of the Historical Atlas, an online personal compilation of various sources, concludes: The dividing line between those who have an axe to grind and those who don't falls in the 5,000-12,000 range. The Cuban American National Foundation states that since the revolution 12,000 political executions have taken place. Dr. Armando Lago, of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, a group of academics whose board of directors is almost entirely Cuban exiles, states that between 15,000 and 18,000 Cubans were executed for counterrevolutionary
activities since the revolution. He also says that 250 Cubans disappeared during the period, 500 died in prison for lack of medical attention, 500 were killed in prison by guards and there were 150 extrajudicial assassinations of women. The Black Book of Communism
estimates that some 15,000 to 17,000 Cubans were shot by the Castro regime from 1959 through the late 1990s.
. Nevertheless, this is disputed.
to present testimonies by former prisoners of Cuba's penal system to the international media. The gathering was sponsored by Resistance international and The Coalition of Committees for the Rights of Man in Cuba. The testimonies presented at the tribunal, before an international panel, alleged a pattern of torture in Cuba's prisons and "hard labor camps". These included beatings, biological experiments in diet restrictions, violent interrogations and extremely unsanitary conditions. The jury concurred with allegations of arbitrary arrests; sentencing by court martial with neither public audience nor defense; periods in hard labour camps without sufficient food, clothes and medical care; and the arrests of children over nine years old.
The number of reported executions in Cuba declined during the 1970s and by the 1980s were restricted to rare high-profile cases, notably the execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa
in 1989. Ochoa, once proclaimed "Hero of the Revolution" by Fidel Castro, along with three other high-ranking officers, was brought to trial for drug trafficking. This offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, but Ochoa and the others were convicted of treason
and promptly executed. Opponents of the Castro government outside of Cuba expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of Ochoa's arrest and execution.
came to power in 1959, few considerable allegations regarding the political abuse of psychiatry in this country emerged before the late 1980s. Americas Watch and Amnesty International
published reports alluding to cases of possible unwarranted hospitalization and ill-treatment of political prisoners. These reports concerned the Gustavo Machin hospital in Santiago de Cuba
in the southeast of the country and the major mental hospital in Havana
. In 1977, a report on alleged abuse of psychiatry in Cuba presenting cases of ill-treatment in mental hospitals going back to the 1970s came out in the United States. It presents grave allegations that prisoners end up in the forensic ward of mental hospitals in Santiago de Cuba and Havana where they undergo ill-treatment including electroconvulsive therapy
without muscle relaxants or anaesthesia. The reported application of ECT in the forensic wards seems, at least in many of the cited cases, not to be an adequate clinical treatment for the diagnosed state of the prisoner — in some cases the prisoners seem not to have been diagnosed at all. Conditions in the forensic wards have been described in repulsive terms and apparently are in striking contrast to the other parts of the mental hospitals that are said to be well-kept and modern.
In August 1981, the Marxist historian Ariel Hidalgo was apprehended and accused of ‘incitement against the social order, international solidarity and the Socialist State’ and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. In September 1981, he was transported from State Security Headquarters to the Carbó-Serviá (forensic) ward of Havana Psychiatric Hospital where he stayed for several weeks.
Regarding institutions, the Human Rights Watch report notes that the Interior Ministry has principal responsibility for monitoring the Cuban population for signs of dissent. In 1991 two new mechanisms for internal surveillance and control emerged. Communist Party leaders organized the Singular Systems of Vigilance and Protection (Sistema Unico de Vigilancia y Protección, SUVP). Rapid Action Brigades (Brigadas de Acción Rapida, also referred to as Rapid Response Brigades, or Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida) observe and control dissidents. The government also "maintains academic and labor files (expedientes escolares y laborales) for each citizen, in which officials record actions or statements that may bear on the person's loyalty to the revolution. Before advancing to a new school or position, the individual's record must first be deemed acceptable".
The opposition movement in Cuba is a widespread collection of individuals and nongovernmental organizations, most of whom are working for the respect of individual rights
on the island. Some of the best known Cuban members of the opposition include the Ladies in White
(recipients of the Sakharov Prize
for Freedom of Thought), Martha Beatriz Roque, and Nobel Peace Prize
nominee and Sakharov Prize
winner Oswaldo Payá
, as well as Oscar Elías Biscet
, and Jorge Luis García Pérez
"Antúnez." The movement is violently repressed by the State despite its nonviolent strategy for change.
International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch
have drawn attention to the actions of the human rights movement and designated members of it as Prisoners of Conscience
, such as Oscar Elías Biscet
. In addition, the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
led by former heads of state Václav Havel
of the Czech Republic, José María Aznar
of Spain and Patricio Aylwin
of Chile was created to support the civic movement.
in 1948. One of the key principles in the declaration was the insistence on Freedom of expression and opinion
. The Cuban constitution says that free speech is allowed "in keeping with the objectives of socialist society" and that artistic creation is allowed "as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution".
Cuba's ranking was on the bottom of the Press Freedom Index
2008 compiled by the Reporters Without Borders
(RWB). Cuba was named one of the ten most censored countries in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists
.
Books, newspapers, radio channels, television channels, movies and music are censored.
Media is operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's
Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".
Human rights groups and international organizations believe that these articles subordinate the exercise of freedom of expression to the state. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
assess that: "It is evident that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression under this article of the Constitution is governed by two fundamental determinants: on the one hand, the preservation and strengthening of the communist State; on the other, the need to muzzle any criticism of the group in power." Human rights group Amnesty International
assert that the universal state ownership of the media means that freedom of expression is restricted. Thus the exercise of the right to freedom of expression is restricted by the lack of means of mass communication falling outside state control. Human Rights Watch
states: "Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the government denies legal status to local human rights groups. Individuals who belong to these groups face systematic harassment, with the government putting up obstacles to impede them from documenting human rights conditions. In addition, international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are barred from sending fact-finding missions to Cuba. It remains one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons."http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/cuba12207.htm
A Reporters Without Borders
report finds that Internet use is very restricted and under tight surveillance. Access is only possible with government permission and equipment is rationed. E-mail is monitored.http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7202 See also Censorship in Cuba
.
Foreign journalists are systematically expelled from Cuba, e.g. notable journalists of New Left
Gazeta Wyborcza
Anna Bikont and Seweryn Blumsztahn were expelled in 2005.
is severely restricted in Cuba, and political dissidents are generally prohibited from meeting in large groups.http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/cuba12207.htm Amnesty
states that "All human rights, civil and professional associations and unions that exist today in Cuba outside the officialdom of the state apparatus and mass organizations controlled by the government are barred from having legal status. This often puts at risk the individuals who belong to these associations of facing harassment, intimidation or criminal charges for activities which constitute the legitimate exercise of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly."http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250012006?open&of=ENG-CUB
The Cuban authorities only recognize a single national trade union centre, the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), heavily controlled by the State and the Communist Party which appoints its leaders. Membership is compulsory for all workers. Before a worker can be hired they have to sign a contract in which they promise to support the Communist Party and all it represents. The government explicitly prohibits independent trade unions, there is systematic harassment and detention of labor activists, and the leaders of attempted independent unions have been imprisoned. The right to strike is not recognized in law.
Bans are enforced by "Rapid Brigades", consisting of members of the army and police in plain clothes, who beat and disperse any demonstrators.
In 2001 an attempt was made by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and others from the Christian Liberation Movement, operating as the Varela Project
, to have a national plebiscite using provisions in the Constitution of Cuba
which provided for citizen initiative
. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as freedom of association
, freedom of speech
, freedom of press, as well as starting private businesses. The petition
was refused by the National Assembly and in response a referendum was held in support of socialism being a permanent fixture of the constitution, for which the government claimed 99% voter approval.
Another important project is the establishment of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is a coalition of 365 independent civil society groups with the stated aims of forming a democratic culture, developing a social movement, strengthening the Assembly’s organization, communicating among groups to promote the civil society, using all available means to combat poverty and seeking the betterment of the community’s life conditions, developing a true knowledge of Cuba’s history, in all its dimensions: economic, social and political, undertaking activities and projects aimed at the protection and conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem, and promoting a true culture on labor rights. The Assembly had its first meeting in May 2005.
in 2001. However, an exception was made when, in 2003, three Cubans were executed for a ferry hijacking in which Cuban passengers and two young French female tourists were held at gunpoint.
has been allowed to travel abroad to receive his Sakharov Prize
, but Ladies in White
was not.
From 1959 through 1993, some 1.2 million Cubans (about 10% of the current population) left the island for the United States http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/000797.html, often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In the early years, a number of those who could claim dual Spanish-Cuban citizenship left for Spain
. Over time a number of Cuban Jews were allowed to emigrate to Israel
after quiet negotiations; the majority of the 10,000 or so Jews who were in Cuba in 1959 have left. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many Cubans now reside in a diverse number of countries, some ending up in countries of the European Union
. A large number of Cubans live in Mexico
and Canada
.
At times the exodus was tolerated by the Cuban government as a "release valve"; at other times the government has impeded it. Some Cubans left for economic reasons and some for political ones. Others emigrated by way of the U.S. Naval Base
at Guantanamo Bay
, which is blocked on the Cuban (land) side by barbed-wired fences and landmines.
In 1995 the US government entered into an agreement with the Cuban government to resolve the emigration crisis that created the Mariel Boatlift
of 1980, when Castro opened the docks to anyone who wanted to leave. The result of the negotiations was an agreement under which the United States was required to issue 20,000 visas annually to Cuban emigrants. This quota is rarely filled; the Bush administration
has refused to comply with the act, issuing only 505 visas to Cubans in the first six months of 2003. It has also blocked some Cubans who have visas.
On July 13, 1994, 72 Cubans attempted to leave the Island on a World War II
era tugboat
named the 13 de Marzo
. In an attempt by the Cuban Navy to stop the tugboat, patrol boats were sent out to intercept the tug. Crewmen and survivors reported that the interception vessels rammed the tugboat and sprayed its passengers with high pressure fire hoses, sweeping many overboard.
The US Coast Guard reported that the interceptions in high seas have been characterized as violent confrontations with authorities and by the deaths of immigrants. According to the same authorities, the Cubans are taken to the US on speed boats by a network of criminals specialized in human trafficking, former drug traffickers, based in southern Florida which now find contraband of humans more lucrative than drugs. These criminals charge 8 to 12 thousand dollars per person, overcrowding the small vessels. The majority of those that attempt to emigrate are individuals that have relatives in the United States, others who do not qualify to be considered as legal immigrants in the US, or those who do not want to wait their turn in the annual quota, assigned under the migratory treaties for legal immigrants
One of the consistent policies of Washington's aggression against Cuba has been promoting legal and illegal emigration from the island to the United States. Since November 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act has been the weapon by which the US has achieved this destabilizing policy. It has not only been used to destabilise Cuban society by stealing its scientists, professionals, technicians and other skilled individuals, but it has also served as a reserve weapon to provoke a migratory crisis to justify an eventual US military aggression.
The Cuban Adjustment Act provides automatic permanent residency for almost all Cubans arriving legally or illegally after one year and one day in the US. No immigrant from any other nation has this privilege.
At the end of the 2005 fiscal year which ended September 30, the US Coast Guard Service reported having intercepted 2,712 Cubans at sea, more than double the 1,225 reported in 2004 The figure for 2005 is the third highest of Cubans intercepted in the Florida straights during the last 12 years. The highest had been reported in 1993 with 3,656 and 1994 when over 30,000 Cubans emigrated illegally due to the so called migratory crisis between the two countries.
The 1994 and 1995 migratory accords signed between Havana and Washington, and which emerged due to the crisis in August 1994, are still in effect. These, force the US to return all those intercepted at sea by US authorities to Cuba, except the cases in which political persecution could be proven to justify exile in the United States.
The accords were designed to discourage those that would consider emigrating illegally by sea but the Bush administration failed to comply with Washington's part of the agreements. To the contrary, the White House used it to provoke more illegally departures from the island. Although the Coast Guard says that only 2.5 percent of the Cubans intercepted are granted political asylum, the public understanding, the public perception in Cuba and among the Cuban community in Miami is not the same. And since that is not the perception, more and more people continue to illegally leave the island by sea causing fatal consequences. According to studies carried out by Cuban experts on the island, it is estimated that at least 15 percent of those that attempt to cross the sea die before reaching the US.
However, figures of those fleeing other Latin American or Caribbean countries of origin compare similarly with those of Cuba. During the 2005 fiscal year, 3,612 Dominicans were picked up at high seas attempting to illegally reach the US (900 more than Cubans intercepted) and in 2004, 3,229 Haitians were also picked up (2,000 more than the 1,225 Cubans that fiscal year). The Brazilian daily O Globo published an article on illegal immigrants in the US, quoting official sources, pointing out that during the first semester of 2005, 27,396 Brazilians were stopped from illegally crossing US borders, an average of 4,556 per month and 152 a day. In 2004, a total of 1,160,000 foreigners, were stopped by attempting to illegally enter the US, 93 percent of them (close to 1,080,000) were Mexicans. None of these citizens can receive the benefits of the Cuban Adjustment Act if they successfully enter the US illegally. On the contrary, they are prosecuted.
Strong ideological content is present. The constitution states that educational and cultural policy is based on Marxist ideology. A file is kept on children's "revolutionary integration" and it accompanies the child for life. University options will depend on how well the person is integrated to Marxist ideology. The Code for Children, Youth and Family states that a parent who teaches ideas contrary to communism can be sentenced to three years in prison.
There is no right to privacy, patient's informed consent, or right to protest for malpractice. Moreover, the patient does not have right to refuse treatment (for example, a Rastafarian cannot refuse an amputation
on grounds that his religion forbids it. Rastafari teaches the body must remain whole in order for it to be resurrected on Judgement day). As a result, the experience can be dehumanizing. Many Cubans complain about politics in medical treatment and health care decision-making.
After spending nine months in Cuban clinics, Katherine Hirschfeld asserted in her paper "My increased awareness of Cuba’s criminalization of dissent raised a very provocative question: to what extent is the favorable international image of the Cuban health care system maintained by the state’s practice of suppressing dissent and covertly intimidating or imprisoning would-be critics?"
Family doctors are expected to keep records of patients "political integration". Epidemiological surveillance has become juxtaposed with political surveillance.
, the activities of the Roman Catholic Church
were severely limited and in 1961 all property held by religious organizations was confiscated without compensation. Hundreds of members of the clergy
, including a bishop
, were permanently expelled from the nation. The Cuban leadership was officially atheist
until 1992 when the Communist Party
agreed to allow religious followers to join the party. In 1998, Pope John Paul II
visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor masses
.
Visas
for nineteen foreign priests to take up residence in the country. In addition, other religious groups in Cuba such as the Jewish community are now permitted to hold public services and to import religious materials and kosher food for Passover
, as well as to receive rabbi
s and other religious visitors from abroad. In October 2008, Cuba marked the opening of a Russian Orthodox
Cathedral in Havana in a ceremony attended by Raul Castro, Vice President Esteban Lazo, Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcon, and other figures. The Cuban press noted that the cathedral was the first of its kind in Latin America.
prevalent in communist Cuba.
Enrique Patterson, writing in the Miami Herald, describes race as "social bomb" and says that "If the Cuban government were to permit black Cubans to organize and raise their problems before [authorities]... totalitarianism would fall". Carlos Moore, who has authored extensive on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead". He says that a new generation of black Cubans are looking at politics in another way.
Jorge Luis García Pérez
, a well-known Afro-Cuban human rights and democracy activist who was locked up in prison for 17 years, in an interview with the Florida-based Directorio Democratico Cubano states "The authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the revolution. During the trial, the color of my skin aggravated the situation. Later when I was mistreated in prison by guards, they always referred to me as being black".
due to their alleged cooperation with James Cason
, head of the United States Interests Section in Havana
. The accused were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 28 years. In all, 75 people were given lengthy sentences averaging 17 years each. Among those sentenced were Raúl Rivero
, Martha Beatriz Roque, and Oscar Elías Biscet
. Amnesty International
described the trials as "hasty and manifestly unfair."
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque
denied these accusations and responded: "Cuba has the right to defend itself and apply punishment just like other nations do, like the United States punishes those who cooperate with a foreign power to inflict damage on their people and territory."
During the trial, evidence was presented that the defendants had received funds from the U.S. Interests Section. Cuban officials claim that the goal of this funding was to undermine the Cuban state, disrupt internal order, and damage the Cuban economy. For his part, Cason denies offering funds to anyone in Cuba.
On November 29, 2004, the Cuban government released three of those arrested in the March 2003: Oscar Espinosa Chepe
, Marcelo López, and Margarito Broche. The action followed a meeting between the Spanish ambassador and Cuba's foreign minister. In subsequent days four more dissidents were released: Raúl Rivero
, Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés, Edel José García and Jorge Olivera. Seven other prisoners had previously been released for health reasons.
, conscientious objectors, and dissidents were forced to conduct their compulsory military service in the 1960s at UMAP camps, where they were subject to political "re-education". Military commanders brutalized the inmates. Carlos Alberto Montaner says "Camps of forced labour were instituted with all speed to "correct" such deviations.... Verbal and physical mistreatment, shaved heads, work from dawn to dusk, hammocks, dirt floors, scarce food.... The camps became increasingly crowded as the methods of arrest became more expedient".
In the late 1960s, because of "revolutionary social hygiene", the Castro government claimed to cleanse the arts of "fraudulent sodomitic" writers and "sick effeminate" dancers. Additionally, men with long hair were locked up and their hair was cut.
Castro has asserted, "in the country, there are no homosexuals", and denounced "maricones" ("faggots") as "agents of imperialism". Castro has asserted that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people".
issued a report on the status of gay people in Cuba that claimed that the Cuban government no longer offers any legal punishment for its gay citizens, that there is a greater level of tolerance among Cubans for gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and that the Cuban government was open to endorsing a gay rights plank at the United Nations
. Since 2005 sex reassignment surgeries
are free under law, and are paid for by the government. Also Havana
now has a "lively and vibrant" gay scene.
Mariela Castro
, daughter of current president Raul Castro
has been pushing for gay rights with the pro-gay government sponsored Cuban National Center for Sex Education
which she leads. Mariela has claimed her father fully supports her initiatives, saying that her father has overcome his initial homophobia to support his daughter.
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
is among international human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
rights organizations accusing the Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n government of systematic human rights abuses, including torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extrajudicial execution.
Cuban law
Cuban Law
The substantive and procedural laws of Cuba were later based on the Spanish Civil laws and were influenced by the principles of Marxism-Leninism after that philosophy became the guiding force of government.- Principle of equality :...
limits freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement, and the press. Concerns have also been expressed about the operation of due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
. According to Human Rights Watch, even though Cuba, officially atheist until 1992, now "permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, and has allowed several religious-run humanitarian groups to operate, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers." Censorship in Cuba
Censorship in Cuba
Censorship in Cuba has been reported on extensively, and resulted in European Union sanctions as well as statements of protest from groups, governments, and noted individuals....
has also been at the center of complaints. Most emigration is illegal
Illegal emigration
Illegal emigration refers to a person moving across national borders in a way that violates emigration laws. Such a person may legally go abroad and refuse to return when demanded by the country of origin....
. In 2010, Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
offered to mediate between Cuba and the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
to overcome the issue of human rights standing between them.
History
During Spanish colonization, the oppression of the indigenous populations was chronicled at length by clergyman Bartolomé de las CasasBartolomé de Las Casas
Bartolomé de las Casas O.P. was a 16th-century Spanish historian, social reformer and Dominican friar. He became the first resident Bishop of Chiapas, and the first officially appointed "Protector of the Indians"...
. The subsequent transportation of African slaves to the island, which lasted over 300 years, led to British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
military intervention and a determination "to put a stop to these abuses". Since Cuba achieved independence in 1902, successive Cuban governments have been criticised and condemned by various groups, both within Cuba and internationally, for human rights violations on the island. During the latter part of the Spanish colonial era in Cuba, human rights on the island became a particular international concern. After a visit to the region in 1898, U.S. Senator Redfield Proctor
Redfield Proctor
Redfield Proctor was a U.S. politician of the Republican Party. He served as the 37th Governor of Vermont from 1878 to 1880, as Secretary of War from 1889 to 1891, and as a United States Senator for Vermont from 1891 to 1908....
estimated that that up to 200,000 Cubans had died from starvation and disease within "Spanish forts", essentially concentration camps. The concern was a contributory factor in garnering support for the Spanish-American war
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence...
in the U.S.
After independence, and following a sustained period of instability, the 1924-33 government of Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado
Gerardo Machado y Morales was President of Cuba and a general of the Cuban War of Independence...
proved to be authoritarian. Machado extended his rule until a student led uprising deposed him in 1933. According to Hugh Thomas
Hugh Thomas
Hugh Thomas , is a British historian and life peer.Hugh Thomas may also refer to:* Hugh Thomas , American choral conductor, pianist and educator* Hugh Thomas , Australian rules football coach...
, the post-Machado period was marked by violent reprisals, mass lynchings and a deterioration towards corruption and gansterismo throughout the island.
From 1940, Cuba had a multiparty electoral system until Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
(President from 1933–1944) staged a coup with military backing on March 10, 1952.
In 1958, Time magazine wrote : "Cuba's fanatic, poorly armed rebels last week tried to smash President Fulgencio Batista with the ultimate weapon of civilian revolutions: the general strike. [...] Fulgencio Batista got ready for the strike by offering immunity to anyone who killed a striker and by threatening to jail any employer who closed shop." During the strike, militants and youths stole guns, and threw bombs (one of which may have set up a gas-mains fire), after which some people were killed in clashes.
The strike was short-lived : "With the upper hand, Batista drove boldly around the city while his cops proceeded to make their supremacy complete. When a patrol car radioed that it had clashed with rebels and had "a dead man and a prisoner," the dispatcher ordered: "Shoot him." At midafternoon, cops burst into a boardinghouse, grabbed three young men who were leaders of Cuba's lay Catholic Action movement, which sympathizes with Castro. Two hours later their stripped, tortured and bullet-torn bodies were turned over to relatives. Total dead: 43."
In 1959, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
and his forces succeeded in displacing Batista from power. At that time there were fundamental changes in the judicial and political process. During this transitional period there were some concerns voiced about due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
.
The "Cuban National Reconciliation movement", a U.S.-based organisation that claims to act as a forum for discussing Cuban society, has detailed what it believes are complex variables when analysing human rights immediately after the revolution. In the 1960s, violent confrontations known as the Escambray Rebellion between the Cuban government and armed opposition were ongoing, but had declined by the early 1970s. The group asserts that by the time international human rights movements flourished in the 1970s, the most severe period of repression was over, making non-partisan retrospective assessments of the period difficult. The reconciliation movement also cite the difficulties in assessing accounts of abuses that are commonly split upon partisan lines. According to the group, Cuban exiles who were often the first to denounce the Cuban government, largely shared an anti-Communist ideology and overlooked violations committed by other regimes, whilst many left leaning observers did not give the claims of Cuban victims due consideration.
Communism
After coming to power in 1959, Fidel Castro's government built a highly effective machinery of repressionPolitical repression
Political repression is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take political life of society....
, according to Human Rights Watch.
As early as September 1959, Valdim Kotchergin (or Kochergin), a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
agent, was seen in Cuba. Jorge Luis Vasquez, a Cuban who was imprisoned in East Germany, states that the East German secret police Stasi
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
trained the personnel of the Cuban Interior Ministry (MINIT).
Political executions
Various estimates have been made to ascertain the number of political executions carried out on behalf of the Cuban government in Cuba since the revolution. According to Amnesty International, death sentences from 1959-87 numbered 237 of which all but 21 were actually carried out. The Cuban Government justified such measures on the grounds that the application of the death penalty in Cuba against war criminals and others followed the same procedure as that seen in the trials by the Allies in the Nuremberg trials. Some Cuban scholars maintain that had the government not applied severe legislation against the torturers, terrorists, and other criminals employed by the Batista regime, the people themselves would have taken justice into their own hands.Latin American historian Thomas E. Skidmore says there had been 550 executions in the first six months of 1959. British historian Hugh Thomas
Hugh Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton
Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton , is a British historian of Welsh origin and writer.Hugh Thomas was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before taking a BA in 1953 at Queens' College, Cambridge, he was a major scholar and he is now a Honorary Fellow...
, in his study Cuba or the pursuit of freedom stated that "perhaps" 5,000 executions had taken place by 1970, whilst The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators ascertained that there had been 2,113 political executions between the years of 1958-67. The author of the Historical Atlas, an online personal compilation of various sources, concludes: The dividing line between those who have an axe to grind and those who don't falls in the 5,000-12,000 range. The Cuban American National Foundation states that since the revolution 12,000 political executions have taken place. Dr. Armando Lago, of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy, a group of academics whose board of directors is almost entirely Cuban exiles, states that between 15,000 and 18,000 Cubans were executed for counterrevolutionary
Counterrevolutionary
A counter-revolutionary is anyone who opposes a revolution, particularly those who act after a revolution to try to overturn or reverse it, in full or in part...
activities since the revolution. He also says that 250 Cubans disappeared during the period, 500 died in prison for lack of medical attention, 500 were killed in prison by guards and there were 150 extrajudicial assassinations of women. The Black Book of Communism
The Black Book of Communism
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression is a book authored by several European academics and edited by Stéphane Courtois, which describes a history of repressions, both political and civilian, by Communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, and...
estimates that some 15,000 to 17,000 Cubans were shot by the Castro regime from 1959 through the late 1990s.
Refugees
According to the US government, some 1,200,000 Cubans (about 10% of the current population) left the island for the United States between 1959 and 1993, often by sea in small boats and fragile raftsBalseros (rafters)
Balseros is the name given to the persons who emigrate illegally in self constructed or precarious vessels from Cuba to neighbouring states including the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and, most commonly, the United States.Balseros is also the title of a 2002 documentary about those persons and their...
. Nevertheless, this is disputed.
Forced labor camps and abuse of prisoners
In 1986 a "Tribunal on Cuba" was held in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to present testimonies by former prisoners of Cuba's penal system to the international media. The gathering was sponsored by Resistance international and The Coalition of Committees for the Rights of Man in Cuba. The testimonies presented at the tribunal, before an international panel, alleged a pattern of torture in Cuba's prisons and "hard labor camps". These included beatings, biological experiments in diet restrictions, violent interrogations and extremely unsanitary conditions. The jury concurred with allegations of arbitrary arrests; sentencing by court martial with neither public audience nor defense; periods in hard labour camps without sufficient food, clothes and medical care; and the arrests of children over nine years old.
The number of reported executions in Cuba declined during the 1970s and by the 1980s were restricted to rare high-profile cases, notably the execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa
Arnaldo Ochoa
Arnaldo T. Ochoa Sánchez was a prominent Cuban general who was executed after being found guilty of treason.-Career:Ochoa was born from an old Oriente area family of farmers...
in 1989. Ochoa, once proclaimed "Hero of the Revolution" by Fidel Castro, along with three other high-ranking officers, was brought to trial for drug trafficking. This offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, but Ochoa and the others were convicted of treason
Treason
In law, treason is the crime that covers some of the more extreme acts against one's sovereign or nation. Historically, treason also covered the murder of specific social superiors, such as the murder of a husband by his wife. Treason against the king was known as high treason and treason against a...
and promptly executed. Opponents of the Castro government outside of Cuba expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of Ochoa's arrest and execution.
Political abuse of psychiatry
Although Cuba has been politically connected to the Soviet Union since the United States broke off relations with Cuba shortly after the president Fidel CastroFidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
came to power in 1959, few considerable allegations regarding the political abuse of psychiatry in this country emerged before the late 1980s. Americas Watch and Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
published reports alluding to cases of possible unwarranted hospitalization and ill-treatment of political prisoners. These reports concerned the Gustavo Machin hospital in Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city of Cuba and capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in the south-eastern area of the island, some south-east of the Cuban capital of Havana....
in the southeast of the country and the major mental hospital in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
. In 1977, a report on alleged abuse of psychiatry in Cuba presenting cases of ill-treatment in mental hospitals going back to the 1970s came out in the United States. It presents grave allegations that prisoners end up in the forensic ward of mental hospitals in Santiago de Cuba and Havana where they undergo ill-treatment including electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy
Electroconvulsive therapy , formerly known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients for therapeutic effect. Its mode of action is unknown...
without muscle relaxants or anaesthesia. The reported application of ECT in the forensic wards seems, at least in many of the cited cases, not to be an adequate clinical treatment for the diagnosed state of the prisoner — in some cases the prisoners seem not to have been diagnosed at all. Conditions in the forensic wards have been described in repulsive terms and apparently are in striking contrast to the other parts of the mental hospitals that are said to be well-kept and modern.
In August 1981, the Marxist historian Ariel Hidalgo was apprehended and accused of ‘incitement against the social order, international solidarity and the Socialist State’ and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment. In September 1981, he was transported from State Security Headquarters to the Carbó-Serviá (forensic) ward of Havana Psychiatric Hospital where he stayed for several weeks.
Political oppression
A Human Rights Watch 1999 report on Cuba notes:Regarding institutions, the Human Rights Watch report notes that the Interior Ministry has principal responsibility for monitoring the Cuban population for signs of dissent. In 1991 two new mechanisms for internal surveillance and control emerged. Communist Party leaders organized the Singular Systems of Vigilance and Protection (Sistema Unico de Vigilancia y Protección, SUVP). Rapid Action Brigades (Brigadas de Acción Rapida, also referred to as Rapid Response Brigades, or Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida) observe and control dissidents. The government also "maintains academic and labor files (expedientes escolares y laborales) for each citizen, in which officials record actions or statements that may bear on the person's loyalty to the revolution. Before advancing to a new school or position, the individual's record must first be deemed acceptable".
The opposition movement in Cuba is a widespread collection of individuals and nongovernmental organizations, most of whom are working for the respect of individual rights
Individual rights
Group rights are rights held by a group rather than by its members separately, or rights held only by individuals within the specified group; in contrast, individual rights are rights held by individual people regardless of their group membership or lack thereof...
on the island. Some of the best known Cuban members of the opposition include the Ladies in White
Ladies in White
Ladies in White is an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing...
(recipients of the Sakharov Prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
for Freedom of Thought), Martha Beatriz Roque, and Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
nominee and Sakharov Prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
winner Oswaldo Payá
Oswaldo Payá
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas is a political activist in Cuba and is considered that country's most prominent political dissident. He received the Sakharov Prize in 2002...
, as well as Oscar Elías Biscet
Oscar Elías Biscet
Óscar Elías Biscet González , is a Cuban medical professional and a noted advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation....
, and Jorge Luis García Pérez
Jorge Luis García Pérez
Jorge Luis García Pérez is a human right and democracy activist in Cuba.Antúnez was jailed for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Other dissidents have referred to Antúnez as Cuba's Nelson Mandela....
"Antúnez." The movement is violently repressed by the State despite its nonviolent strategy for change.
International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
and Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
have drawn attention to the actions of the human rights movement and designated members of it as Prisoners of Conscience
Prisoner of conscience
Prisoner of conscience is a term defined in Peter Benenson's 1961 article "The Forgotten Prisoners" often used by the human rights group Amnesty International. It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, or political views...
, such as Oscar Elías Biscet
Oscar Elías Biscet
Óscar Elías Biscet González , is a Cuban medical professional and a noted advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation....
. In addition, the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
The International Committee for Democracy in Cuba was created in September 2003 as "a response to the latest brutal crackdown by the Cuban government in the spring of that year against those pushing for democratic reforms, freedom of speech and adherence to international human rights...
led by former heads of state Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
of the Czech Republic, José María Aznar
José María Aznar
José María Alfredo Aznar López served as the Prime Minister of Spain from 1996 to 2004. He is on the board of directors of News Corporation.-Early life:...
of Spain and Patricio Aylwin
Patricio Aylwin
Patricio Aylwin Azócar was the first president of Chile after its return to democratic rule in 1990, following the military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.- Early life :...
of Chile was created to support the civic movement.
Censorship
Cuba officially adopted the civil and political rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human RightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly . The Declaration arose directly from the experience of the Second World War and represents the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled...
in 1948. One of the key principles in the declaration was the insistence on Freedom of expression and opinion
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
. The Cuban constitution says that free speech is allowed "in keeping with the objectives of socialist society" and that artistic creation is allowed "as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution".
Cuba's ranking was on the bottom of the Press Freedom Index
Press Freedom Index
The Press Freedom Index is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders based upon the organization's assessment of their press freedom records. Small countries, such as Andorra, are excluded from this report...
2008 compiled by the Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
(RWB). Cuba was named one of the ten most censored countries in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists
Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent nonprofit organisation based in New York City that promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journalists.-History:A group of U.S...
.
Books, newspapers, radio channels, television channels, movies and music are censored.
Media is operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the governing political party in Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".
Human rights groups and international organizations believe that these articles subordinate the exercise of freedom of expression to the state. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
assess that: "It is evident that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression under this article of the Constitution is governed by two fundamental determinants: on the one hand, the preservation and strengthening of the communist State; on the other, the need to muzzle any criticism of the group in power." Human rights group Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
assert that the universal state ownership of the media means that freedom of expression is restricted. Thus the exercise of the right to freedom of expression is restricted by the lack of means of mass communication falling outside state control. Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
states: "Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the government denies legal status to local human rights groups. Individuals who belong to these groups face systematic harassment, with the government putting up obstacles to impede them from documenting human rights conditions. In addition, international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are barred from sending fact-finding missions to Cuba. It remains one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons."http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/cuba12207.htm
A Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders
Reporters Without Borders is a France-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. It was founded in 1985, by Robert Ménard, Rony Brauman and the journalist Jean-Claude Guillebaud. Jean-François Julliard has served as Secretary General since 2008...
report finds that Internet use is very restricted and under tight surveillance. Access is only possible with government permission and equipment is rationed. E-mail is monitored.http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7202 See also Censorship in Cuba
Censorship in Cuba
Censorship in Cuba has been reported on extensively, and resulted in European Union sanctions as well as statements of protest from groups, governments, and noted individuals....
.
Foreign journalists are systematically expelled from Cuba, e.g. notable journalists of New Left
New Left
The New Left was a term used mainly in the United Kingdom and United States in reference to activists, educators, agitators and others in the 1960s and 1970s who sought to implement a broad range of reforms, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist...
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza
Gazeta Wyborcza is a leading Polish newspaper. It covers the gamut of political, international and general news. Like all the Polish newspapers, it is printed on compact-sized paper, and is published by the multimedia corporation Agora SA...
Anna Bikont and Seweryn Blumsztahn were expelled in 2005.
Restrictions of assembly
Human Rights Watch states that "freedom of assemblyFreedom of assembly
Freedom of assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests...
is severely restricted in Cuba, and political dissidents are generally prohibited from meeting in large groups.http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/cuba12207.htm Amnesty
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
states that "All human rights, civil and professional associations and unions that exist today in Cuba outside the officialdom of the state apparatus and mass organizations controlled by the government are barred from having legal status. This often puts at risk the individuals who belong to these associations of facing harassment, intimidation or criminal charges for activities which constitute the legitimate exercise of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly."http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250012006?open&of=ENG-CUB
The Cuban authorities only recognize a single national trade union centre, the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC), heavily controlled by the State and the Communist Party which appoints its leaders. Membership is compulsory for all workers. Before a worker can be hired they have to sign a contract in which they promise to support the Communist Party and all it represents. The government explicitly prohibits independent trade unions, there is systematic harassment and detention of labor activists, and the leaders of attempted independent unions have been imprisoned. The right to strike is not recognized in law.
Bans are enforced by "Rapid Brigades", consisting of members of the army and police in plain clothes, who beat and disperse any demonstrators.
Society
Permission from the government is required to move to another home due to the lack of private property rights. Jobs are also subject to state control, often people's occupations are handpicked by Raul Castro himself via postal mail. Jobs are based on school grades and general reputation of the person.In 2001 an attempt was made by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and others from the Christian Liberation Movement, operating as the Varela Project
Varela Project
The Varela Project is a project that was started in 1998 by Oswaldo Payá of the Christian Liberation Movement and named after Felix Varela, a Cuban religious leader...
, to have a national plebiscite using provisions in the Constitution of Cuba
Constitution of Cuba
Since attaining its independence from Spain, Cuba has had five constitutions. The current constitution was drafted in 1976 and has since been amended.-1901 Constitution:The 1901 Constitution was Cuba's first as an independent state...
which provided for citizen initiative
Initiative
In political science, an initiative is a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote...
. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as freedom of association
Freedom of association
Freedom of association is the individual right to come together with other individuals and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests....
, freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, freedom of press, as well as starting private businesses. The petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
was refused by the National Assembly and in response a referendum was held in support of socialism being a permanent fixture of the constitution, for which the government claimed 99% voter approval.
Another important project is the establishment of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is a coalition of 365 independent civil society groups with the stated aims of forming a democratic culture, developing a social movement, strengthening the Assembly’s organization, communicating among groups to promote the civil society, using all available means to combat poverty and seeking the betterment of the community’s life conditions, developing a true knowledge of Cuba’s history, in all its dimensions: economic, social and political, undertaking activities and projects aimed at the protection and conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem, and promoting a true culture on labor rights. The Assembly had its first meeting in May 2005.
Capital punishment
Cuba placed a moratorium on the use of capital punishmentCapital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
in 2001. However, an exception was made when, in 2003, three Cubans were executed for a ferry hijacking in which Cuban passengers and two young French female tourists were held at gunpoint.
Acts of repudiation
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have long been critical of what the Cuban authorities have termed "Acts of repudiation" (actos de repudio). These acts occur when large groups of citizens verbally abuse, intimidate and sometimes physically assault and throw stones and other objects at homes of Cubans considered to be counter-revolutionary. Human rights groups suspect that these acts are often carried out in collusion with the security forces and sometimes involve the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution or the Rapid Response Brigades. The level of violence of these acts have increased significantly since 2003.Notable prisoners of conscience
- In 1960, Armando ValladaresArmando ValladaresArmando Valladares is a former prisoner in Cuba turned United States ambassador to the United Nations.-Political prisoner:Valladares was a Cuban Postal Bank employee . He was arrested when he refused to display a sign on his desk that promoted communism...
was working at the Cuban Postal Savings Bank when agents of the Ministry of Communications handed him a card bearing a communist slogan and told him to put it on his worktable. The 23-year-old Valladares refused. Astonished, the agents asked him if he had anything against Castro. Valladares answered that if Castro was a communist, he did. Valladares was convicted on a charge of placing bombs in public places and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. His supporters contend that he was never part of the Batista police as alleged by Castro supporters (as Valladares was only 19 at the time of the revolution), and that his imprisonment was the result of his vocal opposition to the Castro government. Conservative author David Horowitz has called him a "Human Rights Hero." Valladares claims to have been tortured and humiliated while on a hunger strike to protest prison abuses; he claims the guards denied him water until he became delirious, and proceeded to urinate in his mouth and on his face. Valladares was released from prison after twenty-two years upon the intercession of France's Socialist President François MitterrandFrançois MitterrandFrançois Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand was the 21st President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra, serving from 1981 until 1995. He is the longest-serving President of France and, as leader of the Socialist Party, the only figure from the left so far elected President...
. - In 1973, gay writer Reinaldo ArenasReinaldo ArenasReinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright who despite his early sympathy for the 1959 revolution, grew critical of and then rebelled against the Cuban government.- Life :...
was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of 'ideological deviation' and for publishing abroad without official consent. He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was re-arrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. After escaping Cuba, Arenas described the horrors he endured under the Cuban government in his autobiography Antes que anochezca (1992), English translation Before Night Falls (1993). - On August 28, 1998, a Havana court sentenced Reynaldo Alfaro García, a member of the Democratic Solidarity PartyDemocratic Solidarity PartyThe Democratic Solidarity Party is a political liberal party in Cuba. Although changes to the Cuban constitution in 1992 decriminalized the right to form political parties other than the Communist Party of Cuba, these parties are not permitted to campaign or engage in any public political...
, to three years in prison for "spreading enemy propaganda" and "rumour-mongering." - Desi Mendoza, a Cuban doctor, was imprisoned for making statements criticizing Cuba's response to an epidemic of dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba which he alleged had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza had previously been fired from his job in a Cuban hospital three years earlier for establishing an independent medical association. He was later released due to ill-health, subject to his leaving the country.
- Oscar Elías BiscetOscar Elías BiscetÓscar Elías Biscet González , is a Cuban medical professional and a noted advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation....
, a medical doctor, has been sentenced to jail for 25 years for his non-violent, but vocal opposition to Castro. - In early 2003 dozens of persons, including independent journalists, librarians and other opponents of the Castro government were jailed after summary show trials, with some sentences in excess of 20 years, on the charge of receiving money from the United States to carry out anti-government activity.
- An Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
report, CUBA: fundamental freedoms still under attack from Amnesty InternationalAmnesty InternationalAmnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
calls for the "Cuban authorities to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally" and to "revoke all legislation that restricts freedom of expression, assembly and association, and to put a halt to all actions to harass and intimidate dissidents, journalists, and human rights defenders." - Jorge Luis García PérezJorge Luis García PérezJorge Luis García Pérez is a human right and democracy activist in Cuba.Antúnez was jailed for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Other dissidents have referred to Antúnez as Cuba's Nelson Mandela....
was reported to have been released from prison in April 2007 after serving his full sentence of 17 years and 34 days after having, at the age of 25, shouted slogans against Fidel Castro. García Antúnez was convicted of sabotage after authorities accused him of setting fire to sugar cane fields, sabotage, spreading "enemy propaganda", and being in illegal possession of a weapon.
Travel and emigration
Cuban citizens cannot leave or return to Cuba without first obtaining official permission, which is often denied. Unauthorized travel abroad can result in criminal prosecution. The government also frequently bars certain citizens engaged in authorized travel (primarily medical personnel and other professionals deemed essential to the country) from taking their children with them overseas, which critics see as essentially holding the children hostage to guarantee the parents return to Cuba. In the event that the Cuban doctors defect to the United States when they are sent to a "mission" out of Cuba to any foreign country, any children left behind will be punished and made to stay for a minimum of ten years, even if they receive the USA visa, and regardless of their age. Castro opposition leader Oswaldo PayáOswaldo Payá
Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas is a political activist in Cuba and is considered that country's most prominent political dissident. He received the Sakharov Prize in 2002...
has been allowed to travel abroad to receive his Sakharov Prize
Sakharov Prize
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named after Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament as a means to honour individuals or organisations who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought...
, but Ladies in White
Ladies in White
Ladies in White is an opposition movement in Cuba consisting of wives and other female relatives of jailed dissidents. The women protest the imprisonments by attending Mass each Sunday wearing white dresses and then silently walking through the streets dressed in white clothing...
was not.
From 1959 through 1993, some 1.2 million Cubans (about 10% of the current population) left the island for the United States http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/000797.html, often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In the early years, a number of those who could claim dual Spanish-Cuban citizenship left for Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Over time a number of Cuban Jews were allowed to emigrate to Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
after quiet negotiations; the majority of the 10,000 or so Jews who were in Cuba in 1959 have left. After the collapse of the Soviet Union many Cubans now reside in a diverse number of countries, some ending up in countries of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. A large number of Cubans live in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
At times the exodus was tolerated by the Cuban government as a "release valve"; at other times the government has impeded it. Some Cubans left for economic reasons and some for political ones. Others emigrated by way of the U.S. Naval Base
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
at Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is located on of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas...
, which is blocked on the Cuban (land) side by barbed-wired fences and landmines.
In 1995 the US government entered into an agreement with the Cuban government to resolve the emigration crisis that created the Mariel Boatlift
Mariel boatlift
The Mariel boatlift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980....
of 1980, when Castro opened the docks to anyone who wanted to leave. The result of the negotiations was an agreement under which the United States was required to issue 20,000 visas annually to Cuban emigrants. This quota is rarely filled; the Bush administration
George W. Bush administration
The presidency of George W. Bush began on January 20, 2001, when he was inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States of America. The oldest son of former president George H. W. Bush, George W...
has refused to comply with the act, issuing only 505 visas to Cubans in the first six months of 2003. It has also blocked some Cubans who have visas.
On July 13, 1994, 72 Cubans attempted to leave the Island on a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era tugboat
Tugboat
A tugboat is a boat that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugs move vessels that either should not move themselves, such as ships in a crowded harbor or a narrow canal,or those that cannot move by themselves, such as barges, disabled ships, or oil platforms. Tugboats are powerful for...
named the 13 de Marzo
13 de Marzo Incident
On July 13, 1994, seventy-two Cubans attempted to leave the island of Cuba on the 13 de Marzo, a World War II era tugboat from the suburb of Regla in Havana. The Cuban group, consisting of men, women and children had decided to leave their home country for the United States. Cuban authorities were...
. In an attempt by the Cuban Navy to stop the tugboat, patrol boats were sent out to intercept the tug. Crewmen and survivors reported that the interception vessels rammed the tugboat and sprayed its passengers with high pressure fire hoses, sweeping many overboard.
The US Coast Guard reported that the interceptions in high seas have been characterized as violent confrontations with authorities and by the deaths of immigrants. According to the same authorities, the Cubans are taken to the US on speed boats by a network of criminals specialized in human trafficking, former drug traffickers, based in southern Florida which now find contraband of humans more lucrative than drugs. These criminals charge 8 to 12 thousand dollars per person, overcrowding the small vessels. The majority of those that attempt to emigrate are individuals that have relatives in the United States, others who do not qualify to be considered as legal immigrants in the US, or those who do not want to wait their turn in the annual quota, assigned under the migratory treaties for legal immigrants
One of the consistent policies of Washington's aggression against Cuba has been promoting legal and illegal emigration from the island to the United States. Since November 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act has been the weapon by which the US has achieved this destabilizing policy. It has not only been used to destabilise Cuban society by stealing its scientists, professionals, technicians and other skilled individuals, but it has also served as a reserve weapon to provoke a migratory crisis to justify an eventual US military aggression.
The Cuban Adjustment Act provides automatic permanent residency for almost all Cubans arriving legally or illegally after one year and one day in the US. No immigrant from any other nation has this privilege.
At the end of the 2005 fiscal year which ended September 30, the US Coast Guard Service reported having intercepted 2,712 Cubans at sea, more than double the 1,225 reported in 2004 The figure for 2005 is the third highest of Cubans intercepted in the Florida straights during the last 12 years. The highest had been reported in 1993 with 3,656 and 1994 when over 30,000 Cubans emigrated illegally due to the so called migratory crisis between the two countries.
The 1994 and 1995 migratory accords signed between Havana and Washington, and which emerged due to the crisis in August 1994, are still in effect. These, force the US to return all those intercepted at sea by US authorities to Cuba, except the cases in which political persecution could be proven to justify exile in the United States.
The accords were designed to discourage those that would consider emigrating illegally by sea but the Bush administration failed to comply with Washington's part of the agreements. To the contrary, the White House used it to provoke more illegally departures from the island. Although the Coast Guard says that only 2.5 percent of the Cubans intercepted are granted political asylum, the public understanding, the public perception in Cuba and among the Cuban community in Miami is not the same. And since that is not the perception, more and more people continue to illegally leave the island by sea causing fatal consequences. According to studies carried out by Cuban experts on the island, it is estimated that at least 15 percent of those that attempt to cross the sea die before reaching the US.
However, figures of those fleeing other Latin American or Caribbean countries of origin compare similarly with those of Cuba. During the 2005 fiscal year, 3,612 Dominicans were picked up at high seas attempting to illegally reach the US (900 more than Cubans intercepted) and in 2004, 3,229 Haitians were also picked up (2,000 more than the 1,225 Cubans that fiscal year). The Brazilian daily O Globo published an article on illegal immigrants in the US, quoting official sources, pointing out that during the first semester of 2005, 27,396 Brazilians were stopped from illegally crossing US borders, an average of 4,556 per month and 152 a day. In 2004, a total of 1,160,000 foreigners, were stopped by attempting to illegally enter the US, 93 percent of them (close to 1,080,000) were Mexicans. None of these citizens can receive the benefits of the Cuban Adjustment Act if they successfully enter the US illegally. On the contrary, they are prosecuted.
Education
Education in Cuba is normally free at all levels and controlled by the Ministry for Education. In 1961 the government nationalized all private educational institutions and introduced a state-directed education system. The system has been criticized for political indoctrination and for monitoring the political opinions of the students. It has also been criticized for prohibiting any private alternatives to the state-directed education system and for limiting the power of parents to influence their children's education.Strong ideological content is present. The constitution states that educational and cultural policy is based on Marxist ideology. A file is kept on children's "revolutionary integration" and it accompanies the child for life. University options will depend on how well the person is integrated to Marxist ideology. The Code for Children, Youth and Family states that a parent who teaches ideas contrary to communism can be sentenced to three years in prison.
Healthcare
The Cuban government operates a national health system and assumes full fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens. The government prohibits any private alternatives to the national health system. In 1976, Cuba's healthcare program was enshrined in Article 50 of the revised constitution which states, "Everyone has the right to health protection and care".There is no right to privacy, patient's informed consent, or right to protest for malpractice. Moreover, the patient does not have right to refuse treatment (for example, a Rastafarian cannot refuse an amputation
Amputation
Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma, prolonged constriction, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on individuals as a preventative surgery for...
on grounds that his religion forbids it. Rastafari teaches the body must remain whole in order for it to be resurrected on Judgement day). As a result, the experience can be dehumanizing. Many Cubans complain about politics in medical treatment and health care decision-making.
After spending nine months in Cuban clinics, Katherine Hirschfeld asserted in her paper "My increased awareness of Cuba’s criminalization of dissent raised a very provocative question: to what extent is the favorable international image of the Cuban health care system maintained by the state’s practice of suppressing dissent and covertly intimidating or imprisoning would-be critics?"
Family doctors are expected to keep records of patients "political integration". Epidemiological surveillance has become juxtaposed with political surveillance.
Religious freedom
In the years following the Cuban RevolutionCuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
, the activities of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
were severely limited and in 1961 all property held by religious organizations was confiscated without compensation. Hundreds of members of the clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, including a bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
, were permanently expelled from the nation. The Cuban leadership was officially atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
until 1992 when the Communist Party
Communist Party of Cuba
The Communist Party of Cuba is the governing political party in Cuba. It is a communist party of the Marxist-Leninist model. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the Party to be the "leading force of society and of the state"...
agreed to allow religious followers to join the party. In 1998, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor masses
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
.
Visas
Visa (document)
A visa is a document showing that a person is authorized to enter the territory for which it was issued, subject to permission of an immigration official at the time of actual entry. The authorization may be a document, but more commonly it is a stamp endorsed in the applicant's passport...
for nineteen foreign priests to take up residence in the country. In addition, other religious groups in Cuba such as the Jewish community are now permitted to hold public services and to import religious materials and kosher food for Passover
Passover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
, as well as to receive rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
s and other religious visitors from abroad. In October 2008, Cuba marked the opening of a Russian Orthodox
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
Cathedral in Havana in a ceremony attended by Raul Castro, Vice President Esteban Lazo, Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcon, and other figures. The Cuban press noted that the cathedral was the first of its kind in Latin America.
Rights of women
Women have relatively high representation in the country.Torture of prisoners
The Cuban Foundation for Human Rights reports torture of female prisoners in Cuba.Race relations
Esteban Morales Dominguez has pointed to institutionalized racism in his book The Challenges of the Racial Problem in Cuba . Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba discusses the racial politicsRacial politics
Racial politics is a term used to describe politicians exploiting the issue of race for a personal agenda.-Racial politics in Malaysia:Malaysian politician Chang Ko Youn put forward "Malaysia has practised racial politics for 51 years and we know it is divisive as each party only talks on behalf of...
prevalent in communist Cuba.
Enrique Patterson, writing in the Miami Herald, describes race as "social bomb" and says that "If the Cuban government were to permit black Cubans to organize and raise their problems before [authorities]... totalitarianism would fall". Carlos Moore, who has authored extensive on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead". He says that a new generation of black Cubans are looking at politics in another way.
Jorge Luis García Pérez
Jorge Luis García Pérez
Jorge Luis García Pérez is a human right and democracy activist in Cuba.Antúnez was jailed for 17 years from 1990 to 2007. Other dissidents have referred to Antúnez as Cuba's Nelson Mandela....
, a well-known Afro-Cuban human rights and democracy activist who was locked up in prison for 17 years, in an interview with the Florida-based Directorio Democratico Cubano states "The authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the revolution. During the trial, the color of my skin aggravated the situation. Later when I was mistreated in prison by guards, they always referred to me as being black".
Black Spring
In March 2003, the government of Cuba arrested dozens of people (including self-identified journalists and human rights activists), and charged them with seditionSedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
due to their alleged cooperation with James Cason
James Cason
James Cason is a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, most recently serving as Ambassador to Paraguay, a post he held from 2006 to 2008. Prior to that post, he was the Principal Officer of the US Interests Section in Havana...
, head of the United States Interests Section in Havana
United States Interests Section in Havana
The U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is inaccessible from within Cuba. Consular issues regarding the naval base are handled by the U.S. Embassy in Kingston, Jamaica.-Location:...
. The accused were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 28 years. In all, 75 people were given lengthy sentences averaging 17 years each. Among those sentenced were Raúl Rivero
Raúl Rivero
Raúl Rivero Castañeda is a Cuban poet, journalist, and dissident. Rivero was born in 1945 in Morón, Camagüey, in central Cuba.In his youth, he was an ardent follower of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. He was among the first generation of journalists to graduate after the triumph of the...
, Martha Beatriz Roque, and Oscar Elías Biscet
Oscar Elías Biscet
Óscar Elías Biscet González , is a Cuban medical professional and a noted advocate for human rights and democratic freedoms in Cuba. He is also the founder of the Lawton Foundation....
. Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
described the trials as "hasty and manifestly unfair."
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque
Felipe Pérez Roque
Felipe Ramón Pérez Roque was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba from 1999 to 2009. At his appointment, he was not only the youngest member of the Cuban cabinet but also the only one to be born after the Cuban Revolution in 1959.Pérez Roque was formerly an electronics engineer and leader of...
denied these accusations and responded: "Cuba has the right to defend itself and apply punishment just like other nations do, like the United States punishes those who cooperate with a foreign power to inflict damage on their people and territory."
During the trial, evidence was presented that the defendants had received funds from the U.S. Interests Section. Cuban officials claim that the goal of this funding was to undermine the Cuban state, disrupt internal order, and damage the Cuban economy. For his part, Cason denies offering funds to anyone in Cuba.
On November 29, 2004, the Cuban government released three of those arrested in the March 2003: Oscar Espinosa Chepe
Oscar Espinosa Chepe
Óscar Manuel Espinosa Chepe is a Cuban economist and dissident. He was one of approximately 75 dissidents arrested, tried and convicted in 2003 as part of what has been widely described as a massive crackdown by the Cuban government. Amnesty International declared him as a prisoner of conscience...
, Marcelo López, and Margarito Broche. The action followed a meeting between the Spanish ambassador and Cuba's foreign minister. In subsequent days four more dissidents were released: Raúl Rivero
Raúl Rivero
Raúl Rivero Castañeda is a Cuban poet, journalist, and dissident. Rivero was born in 1945 in Morón, Camagüey, in central Cuba.In his youth, he was an ardent follower of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. He was among the first generation of journalists to graduate after the triumph of the...
, Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés, Edel José García and Jorge Olivera. Seven other prisoners had previously been released for health reasons.
Campaigns against homosexual behavior
Thousands of homosexuals, Jehovah's WitnessesJehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...
, conscientious objectors, and dissidents were forced to conduct their compulsory military service in the 1960s at UMAP camps, where they were subject to political "re-education". Military commanders brutalized the inmates. Carlos Alberto Montaner says "Camps of forced labour were instituted with all speed to "correct" such deviations.... Verbal and physical mistreatment, shaved heads, work from dawn to dusk, hammocks, dirt floors, scarce food.... The camps became increasingly crowded as the methods of arrest became more expedient".
In the late 1960s, because of "revolutionary social hygiene", the Castro government claimed to cleanse the arts of "fraudulent sodomitic" writers and "sick effeminate" dancers. Additionally, men with long hair were locked up and their hair was cut.
Castro has asserted, "in the country, there are no homosexuals", and denounced "maricones" ("faggots") as "agents of imperialism". Castro has asserted that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people".
Recent improvements
Cuba has taken some reforms recently. In 2003, Carlos Sanchez from the International Lesbian and Gay AssociationInternational Lesbian and Gay Association
The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association is an international organization bringing together more than 750 LGBTI groups from around the world. It continues to be active in campaigning for LGBT rights on the international human rights and civil rights scene and...
issued a report on the status of gay people in Cuba that claimed that the Cuban government no longer offers any legal punishment for its gay citizens, that there is a greater level of tolerance among Cubans for gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and that the Cuban government was open to endorsing a gay rights plank at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
. Since 2005 sex reassignment surgeries
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
are free under law, and are paid for by the government. Also Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
now has a "lively and vibrant" gay scene.
Mariela Castro
Mariela Castro
Mariela Castro Espín is the director of the Cuban National Center for Sex Education in Havana and an activist for LGBT rights in Cuba....
, daughter of current president Raul Castro
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician and revolutionary who has been President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba since 2008; he previously exercised presidential powers in an acting capacity from 2006 to 2008...
has been pushing for gay rights with the pro-gay government sponsored Cuban National Center for Sex Education
Cuban National Center for Sex Education
The National Center for Sex Education is a government-funded body in Cuba. The center is best known for advocating tolerance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and transgender issues on the island...
which she leads. Mariela has claimed her father fully supports her initiatives, saying that her father has overcome his initial homophobia to support his daughter.
United Nations Human Rights Commission
Since 1990, the United States has presented various resolutions to the annual UN Human Rights Commission criticizing Cuba’s human rights record. The proposals and subsequent diplomatic disagreements have been described as a "nearly annual ritual". Long term consensus between Latin American nations has not emerged. The resolutions were passed 1990-1997, but were rejected in 1998. Subsequent efforts by the U.S. have succeeded by narrow voting margins. In the Americas, some governments back the criticism, others oppose it, seeing it as a cynical manipulation of a serious human rights issue in order to promote the isolation of the island and to justify the decades-old embargo. European Union nations have universally voted against Cuba since 1990, though requests that the resolution should contain references to the negative effects of the economic embargo have been made.Cuban human rights groups
- Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio)Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio)The Cuban Democratic Directorate is a nongovernmental organization that supports the human rights movement in Cuba....
- International Committee for Democracy in CubaInternational Committee for Democracy in CubaThe International Committee for Democracy in Cuba was created in September 2003 as "a response to the latest brutal crackdown by the Cuban government in the spring of that year against those pushing for democratic reforms, freedom of speech and adherence to international human rights...
- Cuban Liberty CouncilCuban Liberty CouncilThe Cuban Liberty Council is a not-for-profit organization whose stated goal is to promote liberty and democracy in Cuba.- Activities:CLC was founded October 10, 2001...
- Cuban dissidents
See also
- Censorship in CubaCensorship in CubaCensorship in Cuba has been reported on extensively, and resulted in European Union sanctions as well as statements of protest from groups, governments, and noted individuals....
- Guantanamo Bay detention camp
- Sebastian Arcos BergnesSebastian Arcos BergnesSebastian Arcos Bergnes was a Cuban human rights activist. A prominent Cuban dissident, he was openly adverserial to the dictatorships of Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista.-Life and career:...
- Darsi Ferrer RamírezDarsi Ferrer RamírezDarsi Ferrer Ramírez is a Cuban doctor, journalist, director of Juan Bruno Zayas Health and Human Rights Center, and a dissident.He organized protests at the UNESCO headquarters in Havana and published about poverty in Cuba. He was arrested and went on a hunger strike. Ferrer was facing up to 8...
External links
- Notes on Cuban migration and the Cuban Adjustment Act by Walter Lippman
- News and annual reports for the last ten years from Amnesty International USAAmnesty International USAAmnesty International USA is one of many country sections that make up Amnesty International worldwide.Amnesty International is an organization of more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, with complete independence from government, corporate or national...
- Review of Cuba by the United Nations Human Rights CouncilUnited Nations Human Rights CouncilThe United Nations Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations System. The UNHRC is the successor to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights , and is a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly...
's Universal Periodic Review, February 5, 2009 - Cuba from Human Rights WatchHuman Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Its headquarters are in New York City and it has offices in Berlin, Beirut, Brussels, Chicago, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Tokyo,...
- Annual Report 2007: Cuba from the Inter-American Commission on Human RightsInter-American Commission on Human RightsThe Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States .Along with the...
- Gay Rights and Wrongs in Cuba from the Gay and Lesbian Humanist
- Censorship in Cuba from the International Freedom of Expression ExchangeInternational Freedom of Expression ExchangeThe International Freedom of Expression eXchange , founded in 1992, is a global network of around 90 non-governmental organisations that promotes and defends the right to freedom of expression....
- For constitutional rights: The Cuban Constitution
- Human rights in Cuba from Cuba Verdad with News Blog
- Views on Cuba: Human Rights (Ricardo Bofill) from the Public Broadcasting ServicePublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
American Experience Fidel Castro documentary - Labor in Cuba from foreignpolicy.com
- The Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba
- Oswaldo Paya democratic activist
- Directorio Democrático Cubano
- International Committee for Democracy in Cuba
- Cuba and the Rhetoric of Human Rights by Salim Lamrani, July 7, 2010