|
U.S.
Department of State. Released by
the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. March 31,
2003
(4
of 6)
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Although the Constitution grants limited rights of assembly
and association, these rights are subject to the requirement
that they may not be "exercised against the existence
and objectives of the Socialist State." The law punishes
any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including
those for private religious services in private homes, by
up to 3 months in prison and a fine. The authorities selectively
enforced this prohibition and often used it as a legal pretext
to harass and imprison human rights advocates.
The Government's policy of selectively authorizing the Catholic
Church to hold outdoor processions at specific locations on
important feast days continued during the year. On September
8, the Government permitted for the fifth consecutive year
a procession in connection with Masses in celebration of the
feast day of Our Lady of Charity in Havana. A number of activists
participated in the procession. Police in Santiago de Cuba
warned several dissidents in that city not to attend a procession
for Our Lady of Charity (see Section 2.c.). There were no
reports that processions were denied permits during the year.
The authorities never have approved a public meeting by a
human rights group and often detained activists to prevent
them from attending meetings, demonstrations, or ceremonies
(see Section 1.d.). Asked by a foreign correspondent in October
whether his Government obstructed demonstrations, President
Castro responded that he had "no need to control what
does not occur." There were unapproved meetings and demonstrations,
which the Government frequently disrupted or attempted to
prevent. The authorities sometimes used or incited violence
against peaceful demonstrators.
On December 10, the authorities monitored, but did not block,
a commemoration of International Human Rights Day by more
than 50 persons at the home of dissident Martha Beatriz Roque.
Police did not impede similar activities at the home of dissident
Odilia Collazos and other sites throughout the country. Roque
reported that 1,300 people across the country participated
in commemorations, most of which the Government monitored
but did not obstruct. However, police arrested Rogelio Menendez
and two others in Havana to prevent their participation in
December 10 ceremonies (see Section 1.d.).
In February state security officials threatened to evict
an activist from his home because he had used the home for
meetings of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated with
the Andrei Sakharov Foundation (see Section 2.b.). Also in
February, state security officers detained prodemocracy activists
in different parts of the country to prevent them from staging
activities commemorating the 1996 shooting down of two civilian
aircraft in international airspace (see Sections 1.d. and
2.a.).
On March 13, police arrested seven human rights activists
in Nueva Gerona, Isle of Youth, as they conducted a public
demonstration calling for democratic reforms and the release
of political prisoners (see Section 1.d.). Police beat the
activists as they were conducting a silent march and took
them to a local police station. They were fined and released.
On March 18, state security officials arrested four leaders
of the Brotherhood of Blind Cubans to prevent a demonstration
against police mistreatment of handicapped street vendors
and to call for the release of blind dissident Juan Carlos
Gonzalez Leyva (see Sections 1.c. and 5). Police released
the four after issuing them "official warnings."
Earlier, on March 4, police arrested protesters at the public
hospital in Ciego de Avila.
On April 1, police called Alberto Fernandez Silva and Humberto
Echevarria Herrera of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated
with the Andrei Sakharov Foundation to a local police station
to warn them that they would be imprisoned if their organization
did not cease all meetings, masses, and vigils.
On April 17, police arrested Barbaro Vela Coego and Armando
Dominguez Gonzalez, president and vice president, respectively,
of the January 6 Civic Movement, to prevent their attendance
at a fast in honor of political prisoners. They were held
for 2 hours and released (see Section 1.d.).
On May 17, police went to the home of Pedro Veliz, president
of the Independent Medical School of Cuba, and instructed
him to leave Havana to prevent his attendance at ceremonies
marking the anniversary of a prerevolutionary political party
(see Section 1.f.).
On May 25, police beat and arrested four members of the Cuban
Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov
Foundation who were on their way to a Mass in honor of a dissident
figure (see Section 2.c.). The four were searched, threatened
with imprisonment, fined, and released.
On June 1, police arrested nine activists as they departed
a human rights course at the Culture and Democracy Institute
in Santiago de Cuba (see Section 1.d.). They were interrogated
and released on June 2.
On June 7, police forcefully removed 17 persons from the
home of activist Migdalia Rosado Hernandez, where the group
was commemorating the second anniversary of the Tamarindo
34 hunger strike. The police took 14 persons far from their
homes and abandoned them by the roadside. Three others were
fined and released.
On June 24, police blocked access to the home of activist
Francisco Moure Saladriga to prevent a meeting of members
of the Cuban Human Rights Party scheduled for that day.
In July state security officials in Santiago de Cuba warned
activists Evelio Manteira Barban, Orestes Alberto Alvarez,
Manuel de Jesus Nario, Joaquin Jimenez Hernandez, and Carlos
Jimenez Cespedes that they would be beaten and arrested if
they held events commemorating the sinking of the "13th
of March" tugboat.
In early August, state security officials warned opposition
activists who were planning protests to coincide with the
eighth anniversary of the antigovernment riot that took place
in Havana on August 5, 1994 that they would be jailed if they
participated in such events. Independent journalist Angel
Pablo Polanco and activists Rogelio Menendez Diaz and Marcel
Valenzuela Salt were arrested on suspicion that they were
organizing protests for August 5 (see Section 1.d.).
On September 7, state security officials in Santiago de Cuba
warned Orestes Alberto Alvarez Vega not to attend a Mass in
honor of Our Lady of Charity (see Section 2.c.).
The Government organized marches on May Day and held a rally,
"Tribuna Abierta," every Saturday in a different
municipality in the country. There was both radio and television
coverage of the weekly rally.
The Government generally denied citizens the freedom of association.
The Penal Code specifically outlaws illegal or unrecognized
groups. The Minister of Justice, in consultation with the
Interior Ministry, decides whether to give organizations legal
recognition. The authorities never have approved the existence
of a human rights group. However, there were a number of professional
associations that operated as NGOs without legal recognition,
including the Association of Independent Teachers, the Association
of Independent Lawyers (Agramonte), the Association of Independent
Architects and Engineers, and several independent journalist
organizations.
Recognized churches (see Section 2.c.), the Roman Catholic
humanitarian organization Caritas, the Masonic Lodge, small
human rights groups, and a number of nascent fraternal or
professional organizations were the only associations outside
the control or influence of the State, the Communist Party,
and their mass organizations. With the exception of the Masons,
who had been established in the country for more than a century,
the authorities continued to ignore those groups' applications
for legal recognition, thereby subjecting members to potential
charges of illegal association. All other legally recognized
NGOs were affiliated at least nominally with or controlled
by the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess
and practice any religious belief within the framework of
respect for the law; however, in law and in practice, the
Government continued to restrict freedom of religion. In general,
unregistered religious groups continued to experience various
degrees of official interference, harassment, and repression.
The Government's main interaction with religious denominations
was through the Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist
Party. The Ministry of Interior engaged in active efforts
to control and monitor the country's religious institutions,
including through surveillance, infiltration, and harassment
of religious professionals and practitioners. The Government's
policy of permitting apolitical religious activity to take
place in government-approved sites remained unchanged; however,
citizens worshiping in officially sanctioned churches often
were subjected to surveillance by state security forces, and
the Government's efforts to maintain a strong degree of control
over religion continued.
The Constitution provides for the separation of church and
State. In 1991 the Government allowed religious adherents
to join the Communist Party. A 1992 constitutional amendment
prohibits religious discrimination and removed references
to "scientific materialism," (i.e., atheism) as
the basis for the State. Members of the armed forces did not
attend religious services in uniform, probably to avoid possible
reprimand by superiors.
The Government requires churches and other religious groups
to register with the provincial registry of associations within
the Ministry of the Interior to obtain official recognition.
In practice the Government refused to recognize new denominations;
however, the Government tolerated some religions on the island,
such as the Baha'i Faith. Unregistered religious groups were
subject to official interference, harassment, and repression.
The Government, with occasional exceptions, prohibited the
construction of new churches, forcing many growing congregations
to violate the law and meet in private homes. In October the
Government authorized the Greek Orthodox Church to build a
church in Havana.
Government harassment of private houses of worship continued,
with evangelical denominations reporting evictions from houses
used for these purposes. According to the Cuban Council of
Churches (CCC) officials, most of the private houses of worship
that the Government closed were unregistered, making them
technically illegal. In addition, CCC Pentecostal members
complained about the preaching activities of foreign missionaries
that led some of their members to establish new denominations
without obtaining the required permits. Because of these complaints
by the Pentecostals, the CCC formally requested overseas member
church organizations to assist them in dissuading foreign
missionaries from establishing Pentecostal churches.
In 1998 following Pope John Paul II's visit, the country's
Roman Catholic bishops called on the Government to recognize
the Catholic Church's role in civil society and the family,
as well as in the temporal areas of work, the economy, the
arts, and the scientific and technical worlds. The Government
continued to limit the Catholic Church's access to the media
and to the Internet and refused to allow the Catholic Church
to have a legal independent printing capability. It maintained
a prohibition against the establishment of religious-affiliated
schools.
In September local government authorities, for the fifth
consecutive year, allowed the Catholic Church to hold an outdoor
procession to mark the feast day of Our Lady of Charity in
Havana (see Section 2.b.). Although visibly present, state
security personnel did not harass any participants or observers
as they did in 1998. However, in Santiago, prior to the procession,
security police ordered a number of human rights activists
not to attend the procession.
In 1998 the Government announced that henceforth citizens
would be allowed to celebrate Christmas as an official holiday.
(The holiday had been cancelled, ostensibly to spur the sugar
harvest, in 1969 and restored in 1997 as part of the preparations
for the Pope's 1998 visit.) However, the Government maintained
a 1995 decree prohibiting nativity scenes in public buildings.
The Government allowed 9 priests and 12 nuns to enter the
country to replace other priests and nuns whose visas had
expired. The applications of 60 priests and other religious
workers remained pending at year's end.
In the past several years, the Government relaxed restrictions
on some religious denominations, including Seventh-day Adventists
and Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses, once considered
"active religious enemies of the revolution," were
allowed to proselytize door-to-door and generally were not
subjected to overt government harassment, although there were
sporadic reports of harassment by local Communist Party and
government officials.
Education is secular, and no religious educational institutions
are allowed. There were no reports that parents were restricted
from teaching religion to their children.
The Government continued to prevent any national or joint
enterprise (except those with specific authorization) from
selling computers, fax machines, photocopiers, or other equipment
to any church at other than official--and exorbitant--retail
prices. There was no restriction on the importation of religious
literature and symbols if imported by a registered religious
group in accordance with the proper procedures. In punishment
cells, prisoners were denied access to reading materials,
including Bibles (see Section 1.c.).
The CCC continued to broadcast a monthly 15-minute program
on a national classical music radio station on the condition
that the program could not include material of a political
character.
State security officials visited some priests and pastors
prior to significant religious events, ostensibly to warn
them that dissidents were trying to "use the Church;"
however, some critics claimed that these visits were done
in an effort to foster mistrust between the churches and human
rights or prodemocracy activists. State security officers
also regularly harassed human rights advocates who sought
to attend religious services commemorating special feast days
or before significant national days, sometimes entering churches
and disrupting religious ceremonies.
For a more detailed discussion see the 2002 International
Religious Freedom Report.
NEXT
PAGE
|
