Human rights in Cuba
In addition, the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba led by former statesmen Václav Havel of the Czech Republic, José María Aznar of Spain and Patricio Aylwin of Chile was created to support the Cuban dissident movement.
[6][7] According to the report of Human Rights Watch from 2017 the government continues to rely on arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate critics, independent activists, political opponents, and others.
[8] Amnesty International's 2017-2018 Annual Report also noted more arbitrary detentions, discriminatory layoffs by state agencies and harassments in self-employment with the aim of making them silent in criticism.
[13] 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 capitalist government of Gerardo Machado proved to be authoritarian.
[15][16] To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions.
Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.
[24]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. ...
[40]: 75 In 1977, a report on the alleged abuse of psychiatry in Cuba was published in the United States and it presented cases of ill-treatment in Cuban mental hospitals which dated back to the early 1970s.
[40]: 75 It presents grave allegations which claim that prisoners who end up in the forensic wards of mental hospitals in Santiago de Cuba and Havana are subjected to methods of ill-treatment which include electroconvulsive therapy without the use of muscle relaxants or anaesthesia.
[40]: 75 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.
"[42] The 2017 World Report by Human Rights Watch writes that independent journalists who publish information considered critical of the government are subject to smear campaigns and arbitrary arrests, as are artists and academics who demand greater freedoms.
[43] 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.
On October 18, 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the United States will impose new sanctions against Cuba following its poor human rights records and its support of the Venezuelan government.
[48] According to American group Committee to Protect Journalists, the media in Cuba are operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".
[53] It formally began in May of that year as Members of Civic Democratic Action, an umbrella group of nearly twenty Castro opposition organizations, formed an alliance with the Independent Cuban Journalists Association.
[57][58][59][60] 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.
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[weasel words] 99% voter approval.
After a two-day stand-off, the ferry was escorted by coast guard patrol boats back to a Cuban port, ostensibly to refuel; when hostages began jumping over the sides of the ship, however, the authorities subdued the hijackers and regained control.
These acts occur when large groups of citizens verbally abuse, intimidate and sometimes physically assault and throw stones and other objects at the homes of Cubans who are considered counter-revolutionaries.
In 1998, Pope John Paul II visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor masses and visas were issued for nineteen foreign priests taking up residence in the country.
In October 2008, Cuba marked the opening of a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana in a ceremony attended by Raúl Castro, Vice President Esteban Lazo, Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcón, and other figures.
The appeal is signed, for example, by Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, José Saramago, Claudio Abbado, Manu Chao, Walter Salles, Nadine Gordimer, Harold Pinter, Tariq Ali, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Ernesto Cardenal, Alice Walker, Ramsey Clark and Danielle Mitterrand.
[95] Jorge Luis García Pérez, a well-known Afro-Cuban human rights and democracy activist who was imprisoned for 17 years, in an interview with the Florida-based[96] Directorio Democrático Cubano states "The authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the revolution.
[99] In March 2003, the government of Cuba arrested dozens of people (including self-identified journalists and human rights activists), and charged them with sedition due to their alleged cooperation with James Cason, head of the United States Interests Section in Havana.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Cuba have evolved significantly over time, from widespread discrimination in most of the 20th century to what are now considered some of the most progressive LGBT policies in Latin America.
[107] Thousands of homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, conscientious objectors, and dissidents were forced to conduct their compulsory military service in the 1960s at UMAP camps, where they were subject to political "reeducation".
[109] 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 ...
[127] Though the coalition's NGO-driven human rights effort for Cuba initially struggled to gain traction in the UNHRC, their influence gradually grew, especially as key groups secured Consultative Status which significantly expanded their resources and exposure there.
By 1992, there had been a substantial change in Geneva as the UNHRC representatives had shifted from initial rejection, then indifference and towards embrace of the anti-Castro Cuban human rights movement's diplomatic efforts.
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.
