Chicago Tribune.
May 31, 2001
CUBA President Fidel Castro's communist government continues to repress
political dissidents in Cuba, with a "serious escalation" at the end
of 2000, human-rights group Amnesty International said Wednesday.
"Individuals and groups peacefully exercising their rights to freedom
of expression, association and assembly continued to face repression,"
London-based Amnesty said in its annual report.
Cuba maintains a one-party political system that outlaws opposition parties
and frequently jails or harasses active opponents on grounds they are "counterrevolutionaries"
in the pay of the U.S.
Amnesty said some conditional releases of jailed activists--most notably
three members of the so-called "Group of Four" dissidents in May
2000--led to hopes Cuba was easing off on opponents in the first half of last
year.
"But new sentences and a serious escalation in repression during the
closing months of 2000 discouraged such optimism," it added.
Cuba vehemently denies abuses.
Related Document
Amnesty
International 2001 Annual Report / Cuba | 