Human Rights in Cuba

   Summary 

On April 18, 2001, the UN Commission on Human Rights adopted a resolution criticizing the human rights situation in Cuba and calling upon the Government of Cuba to adhere to international human rights norms. This was the third year in a row that the commission has adopted such a resolution. The resolution expressed the commission’s “deep concern about the continued repression of members of the political opposition and about the detention of dissidents and all other persons detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their political, religious, and social views and for exercising their right to full and equal participation in public affairs…”  and called upon the Cuban Government to open a dialogue with the opposition and cooperate with the commission in improving its human rights situation. The resolution, which was introduced by the Government of the Czech Republic, was co-sponsored by 22 countries (not all voting members) and passed by a vote of 22 to 20 with 10 abstentions.  The vote was considered a positive development by Cuba’s human rights activists.

As the State Department Human Rights Report documents, Cuba remains a repressive regime. The Cuban Government continues to intimidate, detain, and arrest dissidents and human rights activists. Hundreds of political prisoners remain in Cuban jails.

The four leaders of the Dissident Working Group -- Martha Beatriz Roque, Vladimiro Roca, Felix Bonne, and Rene Gomez Manzano were arrested July 16, 1997 for publishing a document entitled "The Fatherland Belongs to All," which criticized Cuba's one-party system and called for democratic change. On March 1, 1999 a closed trial was held. On March 15, 1999 the four were convicted of sedition and sentenced to prison terms of 3 1/2 to 5 years.
 
In May of 2000, Felix Bonne Carcasses, Martz Beatriz Roque Cabello, and Rene de Jesus Gomez Manzano received a conditional release from prison. The fourth member of the group, Vladimiiro Roca Antunez, remains imprisoned.

Independent Journalists

Within this general environment one of the most interesting, and potentially historic, phenomena in Cuba has been the emergence, over the last several years, of a small, independent press sector. There are some 40 journalists associated with at least five independent press bureaus or agencies. They do not have opportunities for professional development, but they have worked and endured. They are also growing in sophistication and skill. They have reported extensively, and from differing perspectives, on a wide variety of topics, including politics, environmental issues, sports, and social conditions. Their work appears regularly in papers published in the U.S., on the Internet, and occasionally in other U.S. and international media. Groups like Cuba Free Press and Cubanet, which publish a regular paper in English with articles by the independent press, are helping broaden dissemination of articles written by independent journalists.

Independent journalists are embattled and harassed. The Cuban Government has put some on trial. On August 3, independent journalist Reinaldo Alfaro Garcia was tried and sentenced to 3 years in prison for "disseminating false information contrary to international peace." Others who have been detained and/or tried in the fall and winter of 1998-99 are: Manuel Antonio Gonzalez Castellanos, a reporter for Cubanet, who is awaiting trial in Holguin on charges of "disrespect" and Mario Julio Viera Gonzalez, director of the independent press agency Cuba Verdad, awaiting trial for "slander." Other independent journalists serving prison terms include Bernardo Arevalo Padron, serving 6 years for "disrespect" and Juan Carlos Recio Martinez, sentenced to one year of "correctional work."

Amnesty International has strongly condemned the arrest on January 18, 1999, of independent journalist Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez, who was arrested, tried, and sentenced in Ciego De Avila province to four years' imprisonment for "dangerousness." Jesus Diaz had been repeatedly harassed and threatened by the government, and in 1996 was subjected to a government instigated "acto de repudio" (act of repudiation).

Press Controls in Cuba

The latest development in Cuba is the passage of yet another law which criminalizes a broad range of activities purporting to undermine state security -- the law on "Protection of National Independence and Economy of Cuba." The law would sentence Cubans for up to 20 years in jail and casts as subversive any activity the State deems as aiding and abetting U.S. policy toward Cuba. This legislation is aimed at detering interviews, meetings, or discussion between a Cuban national and a representative of a foreign news media organization. On one occasion, the President of Cuba's National Assembly speculated its provisions and sanctions might apply equally to the foreign press corps in Cuba.

The crackdown on journalists and this new law have earned worldwide condemnation from media organizations and has been harshly criticized by the Washington Post, which in a February 24, 1999 editorial both condemned the law and praising independent journalists of Cuba:

. . . "it threatens penalties of 10 or 20 years for any Cuban who in the regime's eyes lends himself to the 'subversive' proposals of the United States. This is how Fidel Castro means to handle the brave and small but seemingly irreducible number of dissidents, including journalists, who do our calling proud."

Critics include the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, "Reporters Without Borders," Human Rights Watch, and others. The Inter-American Press Association, which represents about 1,300 news media outlets in North America and Latin America, said the law "elevates censorship to the status of law." The law is a clear violation of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has the right to freedom of expression, including the right "to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica's February 3 editorial, entitled "No Freedom in Cuba", sharply criticized the Cuban Government's arrest of independent journalists and its strict press controls. It wrote, "a country which does not respect freedom of the press has nothing to share with the consensus of the democratic nations . . . Cuba is the only country in Latin America where freedom of the press is not recognized by law."