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Amnesty
International. Published May 20, 2002.
I. Introduction
Amnesty International contributes to building respect for
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by drawing attention
to violations of certain fundamental rights, pressuring for
perpetrators to be held accountable and making recommendations
to governments on how to improve compliance with international
standards.
From its beginning in 1961, the Amnesty movement identified
as prisoners of conscience ''people who are held in prison
solely because their views are unacceptable to their Government;''
in its first years it took up the cases of several Cubans
that it believed had been detained for the peaceful expression
of their views.(1) Some of the early prisoners of conscience
were trade unionists and other leaders who, like Fidel Castro's
supporters, had reportedly opposed the dictatorship of Fulgencio
Batista, only to be imprisoned after the revolution for criticizing
the behaviour of their former comrades.(2) Others were religious
and conscientious objectors.(3) With time, peaceful political
groupings with views differing from those of the authorities
emerged, and many of their members were also declared prisoners
of conscience after having been detained for their dissident
activities.(4)
In addition to its work on behalf of prisoners of conscience,
Amnesty International also raised concerns about prison conditions
and treatment of detainees;(5) fair trials for political prisoners;(6)
and the death penalty.(7)
Over the next three decades, Amnesty International delegates
paid several visits to Cuba. In 1977, delegates were permitted
to meet with government officials and others, but were denied
private interviews with political prisoners.(8) Amnesty International
visited Cuba again in 1988. In 1990, Amnesty International
delegates to the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention
of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Havana also met
government officials and members of civil society. The government
has not replied to more recent requests for access.
In recent years Amnesty International's work has focused on
the continuing imprisonment of a number of prisoners of conscience;
the harassment of perceived dissidents; and the ongoing recourse
to the death sentence.
Developments within Cuba
Amnesty International is concerned that Cuba continues to
detain people for their political, religious or other conscientiously
held beliefs.(9) An unconfirmed number of people are currently
detained for political offences in Cuba; of these, six had
been identified by Amnesty International as prisoners of conscience
as this report went to print. While recognizing that this
number represents a significant decrease from past decades,
Amnesty International continues to call urgently for the unconditional
release of all prisoners of conscience, and for the repressive
laws under which they are often convicted to be repealed.
While the number of identified prisoners of conscience has
declined steadily over the last years, Amnesty International
and other organizations have noted with concern an increase
in other types of violations, including short-term arbitrary
arrest, threats, summonses and other forms of harassment directed
by the state against political dissidents, independent journalists
and other activists in an effort to limit their ability to
exercise fundamental freedoms.(10)
Such harassment, in addition to targetting the most vocal
or well-known activists, has increasingly been used to stifle
broader initiatives such as the Proyecto Varela, a
petition for a referendum on legal reform that has reportedly
collected the 10,000 voters' signatures required to introduce
the subject before the Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular,
National Assembly of People's Power.(11) In addition,
several recent incidents of the use of violence against protestors
could signal the beginning of an extremely worrying trend
in the Cuban authorities' efforts to repress dissent. These
include the security forces' response to the events of 27
February 2002, when 21 Cubans drove a bus into the grounds
of the Mexican Embassy in Havana. Police officers and state
security officials reportedly beat Reuters journalist Andrew
Cawthorne and cameraman Alfredo Tedeschi with batons while
trying to prevent them from covering the story. Security sources
reported that up to 150 Cubans, who had gathered outside the
embassy, were arrested in a mass crackdown. The 21 were eventually
arrested as well, after police were allowed entry into the
embassy. As this report went to print, a number of those detained,
including several well known dissidents, remained in custody
(see below).
Cuban law has long provided for the death penalty for a range
of offences. In a positive trend, it appears that no executions
were carried out in 2001, in response to an unofficial moratorium
declared by the authorities. However, at least 49 people remain
on death row; and Amnesty International continues to urge
the government to abolish the death penalty entirely.
Relations with the international community
The four decades-old embargo against Cuba by the USA continues
to contribute to a climate in which fundamental rights are
denied. On 19 April 2002, the UN Commission on Human Rights
passed by 23 votes to 21 a resolution inviting Cuba to allow
its citizens greater enjoyment of their civil and political
rights. A resolution on human rights in Cuba has been passed
annually since 1992, with the exception of 1998. Like the
2001 text, the 2002 resolution was more conciliatory towards
Cuba than in earlier years; while stopping short of condemnation
of the US embargo, the resolution recognized Cuba's efforts
to give effect to its people's social rights, ''despite an
adverse international environment.''
In November 2001, UN General Assembly members voted overwhelmingly
to condemn the embargo, for the 10th consecutive year. In
what was hailed as a possible breakthrough, in the same month
the USA sold agricultural commodities to Cuba in the wake
of a hurricane. However, both governments denied that this
signified a change in overall relations.
Developments in relations with the European Union (EU)
The EU has on several occasions condemned the USA's embargo
against Cuba, and has opposed US efforts to limit third countries'
trade with Cuba.(12) At the same time, recent relations between
Cuba and the EU have been strained. Political dialogue between
the EU and Cuba broke down in 1996, when the EU first adopted
a Common Position on Cuba which conditioned any improvement
in political relations to signs of democratic opening and
increased respect for human rights in Cuba. In particular
the EU requested that Cuba reform its legislation with regard
to civil and political rights, with a view towards putting
an end to political imprisonment, repression of fundamental
freedoms and harassment of dissidents. The Common Position
has been the topic of ongoing dialogue; it has been renewed
every six months since.
One consequence was the blockage of cooperation agreements.
Cuba was formally admitted to the group of African, Caribbean
and Pacific (ACP) states on 14 December 2000 as the group's
78th member, after having held observer status since May 1998.(13)
However, it is the only ACP member which has not signed trade
and aid agreements with the EU.(14) Its failure to sign first
the Lomé Convention and then the Cotonou Agreement stems from
debate over its compliance with the agreements' provisions
on democratic principles and human rights.
In February 2000 Cuba formally requested integration under
the agreement; its candidacy was supported by the ACP Council
of Ministers and the ACP-EU Joint Assembly. However, in April
2000, Cuba withdraw its candidacy to protest the votes of
EU members in favour of the UN Commission on Human Rights
resolution condemning Cuba's human rights record.
In August 2000 Cuba again communicated an interest in the
trade and aid agreement, and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary
Assembly again expressed its support.(15) The EU continued
to call for movement on specific human rights issues, including
for example Cuba's accession to the International Covenants
on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, as well as steps towards abolition of the
death penalty.
In April 2002, as during the preceding year, a number of EU
member countries once again voted in favour of the UN Commission
on Human Rights resolution regarding Cuba. During Belgium's
tenure in the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU)
during the second half of 2001, however, the country's foreign
minister Louis Michel had taken significant strides towards
reopening a closer dialogue with Cuba by visiting the country
and meeting with government officials as well as dissidents.
He reportedly reached agreement with the Cuban authorities
on mutual willingness to discuss human rights issues.
In December 2001 the EU reconfirmed the Common Position with
regard to Cuba, while noting some recent positive developments:
After an in-depth assessment and information exchanges,
it [the EU General Affairs Council] continues to note, in
this country, serious failings with regard to the recognition
and application of civil and political freedoms and the
refusal by the authorities to consider reforms leading to
a political system based on these values. However, adds
the Council, it takes stock of a few signals in this area:
greater religious freedom, the non-implementation of the
death penalty for the last two years, a noticeable reduction
in the number of political prisoners and an increase in
the ratification of United Nations instruments in terms
of human rights ... the Council feels that the common positions
remain valid and remain the basis of European policy towards
Cuba, and recalls that it awaits significant signs from
the Cuban government towards achieiving the aims of the
common position.(16)
Developments in relations with Latin America
In January 1962, the Organization of American States removed
Cuba from its membership. The Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights has continued to issue periodic reports on the situation
of human rights in Cuba, and stresses that Cuba is still bound
by regional human rights mechanisms.
Cuba continues to take part in some regional fora, and maintains
bilateral relations with many countries in the Americas. In
February 2002, for example, Mexico's president Vicente Fox visited
the island, meeting with dissidents as well as with authorities.
Uruguay presented a draft resolution on Cuba's human rights
record before the UN Human Rights Commission in April 2002;
it was supported by a wide range of Latin American countries.
Mexico, which for the past decade has not voted in favour of
the resolutions condemning Cuba's record, was among those to
vote in favour of the resolution.
II. Prisoners of conscience
As mentioned above, Amnesty International considers all those
who have been imprisoned for their beliefs, ethnic origin, sex,
colour or language to be prisoners of conscience, as long as
they have not used or advocated violence, and calls for their
immediate and unconditional release.
In Cuba, freedom of expression and association are restricted
both in law and in practice. This affects, among others, 'independent'
journalists and trade unionists -- those working outside the
state media or official trade union. The following is a short
list of some of the offences contained in the Cuban Penal Code
which usually result in the imprisonment of prisoners of conscience:
C 'Disrespect' (article 144)(17) - anyone who in any
way insults or offends an authority.
Journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padrón(18) is serving
a six-year prison sentence for reportedly accusing President
Fidel Castro and Vice-President Carlos Lage of lying in
an interview given to a United States radio station.
C 'Public disorder' (articles 200-201) - anyone who
carries out an act with the intention of causing panic or
commotion.
Carlos
Oquendo Rodríguez(19) is believed to have been sentenced
to at least two years' imprisonment in January 2002 for
'public disorder' and 'disrespect' after having publicly
expressed criticisms of Fidel Castro.
C 'Revealing state security secrets' (articles 95-96)
- anyone who reveals state security secrets of any kind.
Francisco
Chaviano González(20). A document handed to him by a
stranger was reportedly used against him at his trial in
1994, at which he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.
C 'Enemy propaganda' (article 103) - anyone who incites
against the social order, international solidarity or the Socialist
State by means of oral or written propaganda and anyone
who makes, distributes or possesses propaganda of that kind;
anyone who spreads false news or malicious predictions which
are likely to cause alarm or discontent among the population,
or public disorder.
Cecilio
Monteagudo Sánchez(21) served four years in prison,
reportedly for writing a leaflet calling on people not to
vote in local elections which were due to take place in
October 1997. The leaflet was never printed or distributed.
According to the Cuban Constitution, citizens have the right
to vote but are not obliged to do so.
C 'Insult to the symbols of the homeland' (article 203)
- anyone who insults or shows contempt by means of any other
action for the national flag, anthem or coat of arms.
Oscar
Elías Biscet(22) was sentenced to three years for this
offence in October 1999 after hanging the Cuban flag upside
down from his balcony during a press conference at his house.
C 'Spreading false news against international peace'
(article 115) - anyone who spreads false news with the intention
of disrupting international peace or endangering the prestige
or reputation of the Cuban State or its good relations with
another State.
Independent trade unionist José Orlando González Bridón(23)
spent eleven months in prison in 2001 for an article in
which he accused the police of negligence in the case of
a fellow activist who had been murdered.
C 'Dangerousness' (articles 72-74) - the dangerous
state is the particular proclivity which a person has to commit
crimes, as demonstrated by behaviour which clearly runs counter
to socialist moral norms.
Independent journalist Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández(24)
spent two years in prison, from January 1999 to January
2001, for this offence. This charge, which is particularly
vaguely defined and risks being open to subjective application,
has repeatedly used against those engaged in dissident activities.
Prisoners of conscience released during 2001-2002
Amnesty International welcomes the release of the following
prisoners. At the same time, the organization reaffirms that
these individuals were arrested for the peaceful exercise of
fundamental freedoms, and should never have been imprisoned
in the first instance.
Víctor Bressler Villazán and Emilio Bressler Cisneros:(25)
Víctor and his son Emilio served prison sentences of 8 years
and four months and six years respectively. Both were members
of an unofficial group called Nueva Generación, New Generation,
as well as an association of independent intellectuals and writers.
Víctor Bressler was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment on charges
of 'rebellion' and 'enemy propaganda,' reportedly for belonging
to a dissident group and distributing leaflets. Emilio Bressler
was sentenced to six years for 'enemy propaganda' for distributing
leaflets.
Leonardo Bruzón Avila:(26) Leonardo Bruzón Avila was
in detention for almost two months (from 3 December 2000 until
1 February 2001) after being detained in the context of the
mass arrest of dissidents and government opponents which took
place on the eve of the anniversary of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Following his release without charge he stated
that he had been held for four days handcuffed to the bars of
a punishment cell with his arms up and that later he was held
naked for two days in a room which was kept at a low temperature.
On 5 September 2001 he was again detained for four days, reportedly
for opening a video library for children in Havana.
Julia Cecilia Delgado:(27) released on 19 October 2001
after serving ten months of a one-year sentence for 'disrespect'
reportedly imposed because she had tried to participate in a
peaceful march calling for human rights in Cuba. When she left
prison, Julia Cecilia Delgado described the conditions in Manto
Negro Prison as ''subhuman in all senses. The water given
to the prisoners is contaminated with sewage water. The majority
of the prisoners are suffering from dermatitis, diarrhoea and
vaginal infections.''(28)
Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández: He was given conditional release
on 17 January 2001 after serving two years of a four-year sentence
for 'dangerousness', believed to have been imposed because of
his work as an independent journalist. On 8 March 2001 he was
rearrested and accused of 'disrespect' but released six hours
later on condition that he leave Cuba. Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández
is the director of the independent press agency known as Cooperativa
Avileña de Periodistas Independientes, Cooperative of Independent
Journalists of Ciego de Avila, and a member of the Comité
Cubano Pro Derechos Humanos, Cuban Committee for Human Rights.
José Orlando González Bridón: José Orlando González Bridón,
secretary general of the unofficial Confederación Democrática
de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTDC), Confederation of Democratic
Workers of Cuba, was conditionally released on 22 November after
serving one year and one month of a two-year sentence for ''spreading
false news against international peace.'' This charge was reportedly
brought against him because in an article he accused the police
of negligence in the case of the murder of Yohana González Herrera,
the national coordinator of the CTDC who apparently died at
the hands of her former husband, despite having repeatedly requested
that he be arrested for ill-treating and threatening her. The
article was published on the internet page of the Miami-based
Cuba Free Press news agency and also broadcast on Radio
Martí, also based in Miami.
Manuel González Castellanos:(29) Manuel González Castellanos
is a journalist with Cuba Press, an independent press
agency. He was sentenced to two years seven months' imprisonment
for 'disrespect,' of which he served two years and four months.
He was released on 26 February 2001.
Cecilio Monteagudo Sánchez: released on 15 June 2001
after completing three years and nine months of a four-year
sentence for 'enemy propaganda.' He was reportedly convicted
for having written a leaflet, which was never printed or distributed,
calling on people not to vote in the local elections that were
due to take place in October 1997. According to the Cuban Constitution,
citizens are not obliged to vote.
Juan José Moreno Reyes:(30) José Moreno Reyes had been
sentenced, together with 19 others, to 13 years' imprisonment
for 'rebellion.' It was alleged that the group had printed and
distributed leaflets criticizing the government and that they
had organized secret meetings. Juan José Moreno Reyes, who was
the last of the group to be released, was freed in December
2001 after spending nine years and three months in prison. He
is a member of an unofficial political group called 'Seguidores
de Ochoa,' Followers of Ochoa, and of the Comisión Cubana
de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional, Cuban Commission
of Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
Angel Moya Acosta:(31) released on 4 December after completing
a one-year sentence for 'disrespect.' The sentence was reportedly
imposed because, in the course of mass celebrated at his home
every Sunday in November 2000, prayers were said for political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience, including calls for them
to be amnestied. Angel Moya Acosta cannot travel to Havana where
his wife and children live because he was also sentenced to
ten years' banishment from the city.
Vladimiro Roca Antúnez:(32) In a document entitled 'La
Patria es de Todos', 'The Country is for Everyone', Vladimiro
Roca, René Gómez, Félix Bonné and Marta Beatriz Roque criticized
the position taken by the fifth congress of the Communist Party,
called on people to abstain in the elections and requested foreign
investors not to invest in the island. The four were arrested
on 17 July 1997 and convicted of 'other acts against state security'
relating to a charge of 'sedition' for which they were sentenced
to prison terms ranging from six months for Marta Beatriz Roque
to five years for Vladimiro Roca. Vladimiro Roca was finally
released from prison on 5 May 2002; the other three had been
freed in May 2000. He had reportedly been denied conditional
release and held in isolation in a punishment cell for much
of his time in prison. According to statements made by his wife,
Magaly de Armas, Vladimiro Roca's state of health was poor because,
as well as arterial hypertension, he was suffering from a chronic
lung illness.
Vladimiro Roca is the son of Blas Roca, one of the founders
of the Partido Comunista Cubano, Cuban Communist Party.
Prisoners of conscience remaining in detention
Amnesty International is calling for the immediate and unconditional
release of the following prisoners, listed alphabetically, on
the grounds that they have imprisoned for the non-violent expression
of their beliefs. The organization is examining information
about other political prisoners to determine whether they are
also prisoners of conscience.
Bernardo Arévalo Padrón: Since 28 November 1997 Bernardo
Arévalo Padrón has been serving a six-year sentence for showing
'disrespect' towards President Fidel Castro and Vice-President
Carlos Lage. When interviewed by a Miami radio station, he called
them ''liars'' and accused them of failing to keep the commitments
they had made to democracy at an earlier Ibero-American Summit.
In April 1998 he was reportedly beaten by two guards at Ariza
High Security Prison after they accused him of distributing
anti-government propaganda. As a result of the injuries to his
head, he has reportedly suffered from memory problems. He is
also said to be suffering from lumbago and high blood pressure
as a result of which doctors have recommended that he should
not do physical work. Despite this, his failure to do such work
was the reason reportedly given by the authorities to deny his
conditional release. Bernardo Arévalo Padrón is the founder
and director of the independent press agency known as Prensa
Línea Sur, Linea Sur Press.
Oscar Elías Biscet González: In November 1999 Oscar Elías
Biscet was imprisoned and accused of 'insult to the symbols
of the homeland,' an offence which carries a maximum sentence
of one year's imprisonment. In February 2000, however, the prosecutor
added two further charges of 'public disorder' and 'incitement
to commit an offence' and Biscet was sentenced to three years'
imprisonment. Oscar Elías Biscet is the president of the Fundación
Lawton de Derechos Humanos, Lawton Human Rights Foundation,
an unofficial organization.
Francisco Chaviano González: In 1994 he was accused of
revealing State Security secrets and falsifying a document for
which he was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. Francisco
Chaviano has reportedly suffered from a duodenal ulcer and arthritis
and has had breathing problems. He has received no medical attention
for his high blood pressure and he was confined to a punishment
cell for at least three months in 1999. He has also reportedly
been beaten on several occasions: at the time of arrest and
on 17 June 1999 when, according to reports received by Amnesty
International, prison guards broke his tibia and caused injuries
to his face. He has undertaken hunger strikes on several different
occasions to draw attention to his conditions of detention.
Francisco Chaviano is the president of the Consejo Nacional
por los Derechos Civiles en Cuba, National Council for Civil
Rights in Cuba, an unofficial human rights group whose work
includes documenting the cases of Cubans who have been lost
at sea trying to leave the country.
Eddy Alfredo Mena y González:(33) He is the provincial
coordinator of the Movimiento de Jóvenes Cubanos por la Democracia,
Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, and was sentenced
in July 2000 to five years for 'disrespect,' 'public disorder'
and 'damage,' together with the president of the group, Nestor
Rodríguez Lobaina. In September 2000 Eddy Alfredo Mena was reportedly
beaten with sticks by common prisoners; in August of the same
year he went on hunger strike in protest at the suspension of
his visits.
Néstor Rodríguez Lobaina:(34) in detention since 2 March
2000, the president of the Movimiento de Jóvenes Cubanos
por la Democracia, Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy. He
was sentenced, together with the group's coordinator, Eddy Alfredo
Mena González, to six years and two months' imprisonment for
'disrespect,' 'public disorder' and 'damage.' In a report from
prison, he said that he was ''eating in unsanitary conditions,
full of rodents and insects and near common prisoners suffering
from tuberculosis'' as a result of which he went on hunger
strike.(35) In September of the same year, he was reportedly
attacked by a common prisoner who broke his jaw but, despite
this, they were allegedly left in the same cell together. Amnesty
International has received unconfirmed reports that Néstor Rodríguez
began another hunger strike in early April 2002, allegedly after
having been beaten by prison staff.
Carlos Oquendo Rodríguez:(36) sentenced to at least
two years' imprisonment in January 2002 for 'public disorder'
and 'disrespect' after having publicly expressed criticisms
of Fidel Castro. Carlos Oquendo Rodríguez, who is the president
of the Movimiento Opositor 13 de Julio, 13 July Opposition
Movement, has been imprisoned on several occasions: in December
1999 he was arrested for participating in a march calling for
the release of political prisoners. After being held for five
months, he was released without charge; he was also imprisoned
between October 2000 and January 2001 for undertaking a hunger
strike in his home in defence of the rights of prisoners of
conscience.
III. Short term detention and harassment of dissidents
In Cuba freedom of expression, association and assembly are
severely limited by law and in practice. Those who attempt to
express views, organize meetings or form organizations that
conflict with government policy can be subjected to short term
detentions, interrogations, summonses, official warnings, threats,
intimidation, eviction, loss of employment, restrictions on
travel, house searches, house arrests, telephone bugging and
physical and verbal acts of aggression carried out by government
supporters. These measures can be directed against specific
individuals, in an apparent effort to encourage them to desist
from their activities. Similarly, they can be used on a larger
scale, to prevent planned demonstrations or events in which
dissident views might be expressed.
Examples of individuals targetted for short term detention
and harassment
Maritza Lugo Fernández,(37) 38-year-old vice-president
of the Partido Democrático 30 de Noviembre ''Frank País'',
Frank País 30 November Democratic Party, left Cuba for the USA
in January 2002. Her decision to leave was in large part prompted
by the repeated harassment and detentions to which she and her
family were subjected; her husband Raphael Ibarra Roque, aged
42, is serving a 20-year sentence in Kilo 8 Maximum Security
Prison in the Province of Camaguey, reportedly on charges of
sabotage. The couple have two daughters.
Maritza Lugo was regularly subjected to short-term detention,
interrogations and other forms of harassment before leaving
Cuba. Her last long-term detention occurred when she was arrested
on 15 December 2000, after trying to commemorate the anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She was charged
with instigacion a delinquir, 'instigation to commit
a crime,' but was not tried. During her detention, in the Centro
de Reeducación de Mujeres de Occidente, Women's Re-education
Centre in Havana (the main prison for women nicknamed ''Manto
Negro''), Maritza Lugo published a scathing denunciation
of the Cuban government and state security apparatus:
I accuse, from this horrible place, before all international
human rights organizations; before all organizations concerned
with defending democracy, justice and peace; before religious
organizations that promote human freedom and before the
entire world.
I accuse the dictatorial government in place in Cuba and
its repressive arm, State Security, of injustices and abuses
that they commit against the Cuban people, the prison population
and especially political prisoners and prisoners of conscience.
[...]
Enough of detaining innocent people whenever they feel like
it, for the sole crime of not agreeing with Castro's system
[...] In prison they are held for several months, if they
are not found guilty by the courts, though in this way we
always serve time unjustly without being tried; while other
people are tried and sentenced without justice at their
convenience.(38)
The open letter goes on to denounce poor prison conditions,
which she alleges constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
ill-treatment by prison guards and by other prisoners with the
complicity of prison guards; and inadequate medical care for
detainees, among other forms of abuse. Maritza Lugo was released
from ''Manto Negro'' in April 2001.
Prior to this, she had served numerous prison sentences and
had on several occasions been identified by Amnesty International
as a prisoner of conscience. In one such circumstance, she was
arrested on 23 December 1999 after having planned to participate
in a religious procession to celebrate Christmas. She went on
two hunger strikes to protest her arrest and continued detention
without official charge. She was eventually charged with desórdenes
públicos, 'public disorder,' but was not tried; she was
released on 1 June 2000, over five months after her arrest.
At the time of the December 1999 arrest, Maritza Lugo had reportedly
been detained several times in preceding months, including on
20 October 1999 after a meeting was held at her house organized
by the Foro Tercer Milenio, the Third Millennium Forum,
a group of non-governmental organizations who had written to
Ibero-American presidents calling for human rights and democracy
in Cuba; on 12 November 1999 prior to the Ibero-American Summit
in Havana; and on 4 December 1999.
Moreover, she had only just been released from ''Manto Negro''
prison. In September 1997 Maritza Lugo had been sentenced to
two years' limitación de libertad, 'restricted freedom,'
charged with cohecho, 'bribery,' on the grounds that
she bribed a prison guard to smuggle money and a tape recorder
into Unit 1580 Prison (also known as ''El Pitirre'')
for another political prisoner. However, in February 1999 she
was detained and her sentence was changed to imprisonment, reportedly
for violating the order of restricted freedom. She was held
in ''Manto Negro'' prison until her release on in September
1999.
Former prisoner of conscience Leonardo Bruzón Avila is
president of the Movimiento Pro Derechos Humanos 24 de Febrero,
24 February Human Rights Movement. This group is named for the
date in 1996 on which two planes belonging to a Cuban exile
group were shot down by the Cuban airforce. Leonardo Bruzón
was reportedly arrested on the morning of 23 February 2002,
apparently to prevent him from taking part in the next day's
activities to commemorate the anniversary of the incident. He
was taken to the Departamento Técnico de Investigaciones
in Havana.
While visiting him there on 1 March, his family learned that
he had been charged with 'disrespect' and 'enemy propaganda.'
However, in subsequent reports, his lawyer referred to charges
of 'disrespect,' 'public disorder' and 'resistance.' On 6 March,
the Movimiento Pro Derechos Humanos 24 de Febrero reportedly
held a demonstration in the park José Martí and sent letters
to the Ambassador of Spain in Cuba, the President of the EU
and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, as
well as a series of other international figures, denouncing
Leonardo Bruzón's arrest as politically motivated.
According to the information received, Leonardo Bruzón was held
in a punishment cell in the Departamento Técnico de Investigaciones
(DTI), Technical Investigations Department, in Havana
before being transferred to Melena Dos prison in La Habana province
at end March 2002. Amnesty International understands from other
reports that such cells can be dark, poorly ventilated and unhygienic.
This is of particular concern in that reports described Bruzón
Avila as being in poor health. The organization reiterates that
international standards of prison conditions must be respected
for all prisoners; and that deliberating exposing detainees
to poor conditions as punishment constitutes a serious violation
of their rights.
Prior to this arrest, Leonardo Bruzón had been repeatedly detained
and harassed. In one instance, the authorities issued a warrant
for his arrest and the eviction of him and his family after
he set up on 12 August 2001 an independent video library for
children in his home in the capital, Havana. He was reportedly
arrested on 5 September 2001, and was released four days later.(39)
Earlier in August he and other opponents of the government were
arrested and briefly detained to prevent them taking part in
a demonstration calling for the release of political prisoners,
in which they were planning to stand with candles in front of
a statue of the Virgin Mary in the Virgen del Camino
park in Havana. On 3 December 2000 he and other dissidents were
detained to prevent them taking part in a demonstration to celebrate
Human Rights Day. In that instance Leonardo Bruzón was not released
for two months.
Examples of activities affected by short term detention
and harassment
Activists attempting to collect signatures for the Proyecto
Varela, a petition for a referendum on legal reform,(40)
have been subjected to threats, short-term detention, summons,
confiscation of materials and other forms of harassment by State
Security agents, police and other officials in a number of locations.
In March 2002 project organizers reported having collected the
10,000 signatures constitutionally required to hold a referendum,
in scores of municipalities throughout the country.
In one recent instance of repression, on 17 January 2002 in
Bayamo, Granma province, two members of the Movimiento Cristiano
Liberación, Christian Liberation Movement, were reportedly
approached by state security agents. According to the information
received, they took one of the young men, Alexis Rodríguez
Fernández, into custody for several hours; while interrogating
him they allegedly told him that the leader of the MCL, Oswaldo
Payá Sardiñas, would soon be arrested and sentenced
to a long prison term. The activist was reportedly released
at nightfall in a remote area, from which he had to walk home.
In another such incident, on 23 January 2002 a group of fifteen
activists of the MCL and another organization were reportedly
beaten by a large group including members of the National Police,
State Security agents and civilian members of a brigada
de respuesta rápida, rapid response brigade,(41) in Baire,
Granma province. According to the information received, the
activists were made to get out of the truck in which they were
travelling, and were reportedly kicked, punched and threatened.
Several documents were said to have been confiscated, including
some signed Proyecto Varela petitions.(42)
Another set of circumstances in which authorities used mass
repression against dissidents followed the events of 27 February
2002 mentioned above. On that date a group of 21 Cubans drove
a bus into the grounds of the Mexican Embassy in Havana. Police
officers and state security officials reportedly beat Reuters
journalist Andrew Cawthorne and cameraman Alfredo Tedeschi with
batons while trying to prevent them from covering the story.
Security sources reported that up to 150 Cubans, who had gathered
outside the embassy, were arrested. The 21 were eventually arrested
by police as well.
In the followup to these arrests, at least a dozen dissidents
were reportedly rounded up to prevent them from taking part
in the disturbances. Most of these were reportedly arrested
in Havana, but a number were taken into custody in Ciego de
Avila province. Also in Ciego de Avila, a number of Cuban journalists
were beaten while attempting to cover dissident activities in
the wake of the Mexican Embassy arrests. In one incident, independent
journalist Jesús Alvarez Castillo of Cuba Press reportedly
suffered a neck injury after having been beaten by members of
a rapid response brigade and officials of the Interior Ministry
on 4 March. Activists who protested this injury at the
hospital where he was being treated later the same day were
themselves allegedly beaten by police agents. Several of them
were reportedly arrested; as this document went to press it
was not clear whether all of them had been subsequently released.
IV. The death penalty
''... We recognize the seriousness of these violent events
in which prison officials lost their lives, and profoundly
regret the pain of all the families affected. We accept
the participation of our six young sons ... for that reason,
we are not asking for impunity, but for rational justice
in which this barbarous penalty of death by firing squad
is exchanged for one less cruel and merciless, allowing
for the government's recognition of the sad prison situation
which compels prisoners to violence, including systematic
self-mutilation.''(43)
Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally
as a violation of the right to life and the right not to be
subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment. Along with
a range of other international organizations, Amnesty International
has regularly urged the Cuban government to abolish it, and
to commute the sentences of those facing capital punishment.
According to investigations carried out by the human rights
organisation Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, the Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y
Reconciliación Nacional CCDHRN,(44) from April 2000 the
Cuban government has instituted a de facto moratorium on the
death penalty.(45) Amnesty International welcomes this as a
positive step away from the executions, generally carried out
by firing squad, that the Cuban government had carried out in
recent decades. Nevertheless, at least 49 people remain under
sentence of death in Cuba, according to CCDHRN records. Amnesty
International calls for the immediate and unconditional commutation
of their sentences and asserts that their right to life cannot
be guaranteed until the death penalty is fully and unconditionally
abolished.
While the Cuban government has made no formal announcement of
the moratorium, press sources quoted Fidel Castro as saying
in November of 2001 that his government was analyzing the possibilty
of abolishing the death penalty: "La pena capital no
será eterna", ''capital punishment will not be eternal,''
he was reported to have said, as ''we have other ideas that
will one day permit us to abolish it.'' According to this account,
Castro added that the reasons behind any eventual decision to
abolish the death penalty would be ''not in order to have more
friends, but because we want to understand the causes that lead
to crimes being committed.''(46)
However, government sources have also reiterated their belief
in the effectiveness of the death penalty as a dissuasive measure
to crime. In June 2001 Justice Minister Roberto Díaz Sotolongo,
was reported to have said that the death penalty deters would-be
drug traffickers from operating in Cuba;(47) and in late 2001,
Cuba's legislature reportedly approved unanimously an expanded
anti-terrorism law that reaffirmed the use of the death penalty
in the most extreme cases.(48)
Recent history of the death penalty in Cuba
The death penalty was prohibited under the Cuban Constitution
of 1940. This constitution was suspended by dictator Fulgencio
Batista during the 1950s; one of the slogans of the opposition
to Batista was a call for it to be reinstated. After Batista
was overthrown and Fidel Castro emerged as head of government,
the use of the death penalty was authorized for a wide range
of ''counter-revolutionary'' offences.(49)
Further decrees and laws passed during the 1960s retained and
on occasion extended the application of the death penalty. In
1973 the Code of Social Defense replaced the previous legislation
but continued to provide for the death penalty as an optional
punishment for a range of counter-revolutionary and common crimes.
This was subsequently replaced by the 1979 Penal Code, Código
Penal, which also retained the penalty for a number of offences.
Following revision in December 1987(50) their number was reduced
somewhat.
It is difficult to obtain reliable information on use of the
death penalty: the Cuban government rarely publicizes statistics
on capital punishment or measures taken with regard to individual
cases.(51) In spite of the difficulty in gaining information,
it appears that in recent years there has been a considerable
decline in the use of the death penalty, particularly as compared
to the years following the revolution.
Cuba's use of the death penalty has long been a subject of international
pressure. According to a human rights delegation to Cuba in
May 1995 led by France-Libertés and Human Rights Watch, President
Castro announced to them his intention to introduce a bill in
the National Assembly for the abolition of the death penalty.
However, he specified that this would be dependent on economic
developments in the country as well as the US embargo against
Cuba.(52)
However, there was little indication of movement in this direction.
In March 1999, Cuba expanded the use of the death penalty by
modifying articles of the penal code to allow for use of the
death penalty for crimes of large scale international drug trafficking,
the corruption of minors and trafficking for prostitution. The
CCDHRN reported that the Cuban government executed at least
21 individuals by firing squad in 1999; it is not clear how
many if any of these were sentenced under the expanded measures.
Conditions
of detention and allegations of cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment of death penalty prisoners
In addition to calling for a full and unconditional abolition
of the death penalty, Amnesty International remains concerned
about the conditions in which death penalty prisoners are kept,
and calls on the government to ensure that prisoners' rights
are respected. The organisation has received worrying reports
from a variety of sources of some death penalty prisoners being
subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
One letter, reportedly from a death penalty prisoner to his
father, details how he was confined in a windowless cell, with
no toilet or running water, and was denied the right to go outside
for months at a time. In July 2000 nongovernmental sources in
Cuba indicated that one death row prisoner had been held in
solitary confinement in a closed cell for 18 months, at a temperature
of approximately 32 degrees centigrade; press reports in September
2001 indicated that five death penalty prisoners were among
those who had reportedly been subjected to conditions amounting
to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in Kilo Ocho prison
in Camagüey province, in overcrowded, unlit and unsanitary cells
with insufficient food.(53) Allegations of beatings by
guards have also been received.
Prisoners on death row are reportedly only entitled to visits
from their family every three months. In some cases even this
has apparently been denied due to alleged bad behaviour by the
prisoner. Amnesty International has also received claims that
correspondence between death row prisoners and their families
has been curtailed.
Family members have also drawn attention to the unacceptable
conditions faced by their sons on death row: ''our sons have
suffered throughout this time hunger, overcrowding, heat and
humidity in the prisons, and above all, ill-treatment and refusal
of medical treatment.''(54)
Family members of death row prisoners have reported being harassed
by the authorities in retribution for their efforts to push
for better treatment of their loved ones. In one instance, the
father of death row prisoner Morlaix Nodal Pozo reported
that he lost his job at the Empresa de Cítrucoc ''El Cerro''
in Ciego de Avila. He said he believed this happened as a result
of having written an open letter, circulated internationally
via unofficial press sources in Cuba, asking for help to stop
his son from being brought before a firing squad.(55)
Allegations of self harm amongst death penalty prisoners
in Cuba
Amnesty International has received numerous reports of self-abuse
amongst death penalty prisoners in Cuba. Jorge Luís Rodríguez
Mir, who is also allegedly schizophrenic and epileptic,
and Ulloa García Manuel Antonio, detained in Camaguey,
have both reportedly mutilated their hands during their confinement.
They are now said to be unable to attend to their basic needs.
In addition, prisoner José Manuel Azán Rojas, arrested
for murder in 1998 and subsequently sentenced to death, allegedly
inflicted irreparable damage on his own eyes in protest at the
sentence; members of his family reportedly say that he is now
totally blind. Furthermore, on 23 September 2000 Héctor Santana
Vega and Reidel Rodríguez Reyes are said to have
injected petrol or a similar fluid into their own knees to protest
the sentences against them; as a result Reidel reportedly required
a leg operation.
V. Recommendations
C That the Cuban Government ratify the International Covenants
on Civil and Political and on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, as well as other fundamental international human rights
mechanisms, as reiterated in the European Union's Common Position.
With regard to prisoners of conscience :
Amnesty International calls on the Cuban government
- to
order the immediate and unconditional release of all those
mentioned above as prisoners of conscience, as well as of
anyone else who is detained or imprisoned solely for having
peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression,
association and assembly;
- to
bring Cuban legislation into line with international human
rights standards, especially the laws relating to the exercise
of the fundamental freedoms mentioned above, so that the
human rights of all Cuban citizens are protected;
- to
provide full judicial guarantees to ensure that, in accordance
with international human rights standards, all detainees
accused of politically-motivated offences have access to
a fair trial, including immediate access to a lawyer of
their choice.
With regard to harassment of dissidents :
Amnesty International urges the Cuban government
- to
put an immediate end to all forms of harassment and intimidation
directed against dissidents who are solely attempting to
exercise their fundamental human rights as set out in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
- that
all Cuban citizens be guaranteed their legitimate rights
to freedom of expression, association and assembly, in accordance
with articles 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and articles 4, 21 and 22 of the American
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man; and that punitive
measures, including detention, taken against individuals
for exercising these rights immediately cease.
- that
independent journalists, independent librarians and others
be permitted to carry out their legitimate work without
interference.
With regard to the death penalty :
Amnesty International welcomes the de facto moratorium on new
death sentences, and calls on the Cuban government
- to
immediately abolish the death penalty from its legal system,
and to reform all laws and legal texts that refer to it
accordingly.
- to
immediately commute the sentences of those on death row
to prison terms.
- to
ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aiming at the abolition
of the death penalty, adopted by the UN General Assembly
in 1989.
****
(1) See, inter alia,
"Do we get an answer?", Amnesty:
journal of the AMNESTY movement, an international movement
for freedom of opinion and religion,
No. 9, 18 October 1961, p. 4.
(2) See, inter alia,
"David Salvador (Cuba)", Amnesty
International Bulletin, No. 7, April
1964 and Amnesty International "Card
Scheme" newsletter, October 1966,
p. 2; and "Huber Matos Benites (Cuba), Amnesty
International Newsletter, Vol. I,
No. 12, December 1971, pp. 3-4.
(3) See, inter alia,
"'Kid' Gavilan (Cuba)", Amnesty
International "Card Scheme" newsletter,
August 1965, pp. 4-5 and "Mario Greenough Hylton (Cuba)",
Monthly newsletter from Amnesty International
postcards for prisoners campaign,
June 1968, p.4.
(4) See, inter alia,
Cuba chapter, Amnesty International
Report 1975-1976.
(5) See the Cuba chapters of annual Amnesty
International Reports, the earliest
of which covered 1975-1976.
(6) See, inter alia,
"An eye-witness report on the Cuban tribunals,"
Amnesty: journal of the AMNESTY movement,
an international movement for freedom of opinion and religion,
No. 13, 18 December 1961, pp. 2 and 6. Also "Visit to
Cuba", Eustomy: quarterly journal
of Amnesty International, No. 6, April
1965, pp. 1-2.
(7) See, inter alia,
"Castro's personal intervention in the trial of Rolando
Cubelas", Amnesty International
Bulletin, No. 15, May 1966.
(8) See, inter alia,
Cuba chapter, Amnesty International
Report 1978.
(9) Amnesty International designates
as prisoners of conscience those who are detained for their
political, religious or other conscientiously held beliefs
or because of their ethnic origin, sex, colour, language,
national or social origin, economic status, birth or other
status, who have not used or advocated violence.
(10) See inter alia Amnesty International, "Cuba:
short term detention and harassment of dissidents" (AMR
25/04/00), March 2000.
(11) See inter alia articles
75.u, 88.g and 137 of the Constitución
de la República de Cuba of 1976, modified
in 1992.
(12) In February 1996, four people were killed when the Cuban
Air Force shot down two small planes flown by members of a
Cuban exile group set up to rescue "rafters" trying
to escape Cuba by sea and based in Florida, usa. The
Cuban Government claimed that the planes had entered Cuban
airspace without authorization and that warnings had been
given before they were shot down. It said that this and previous
incursions were provocative and criticized the us authorities
for failing to take steps to prevent them. In
response to the shooting-down of the planes, us President
Bill Clinton signed the Helms-Burton Act which extended the
us trade embargo on Cuba, in place since 1962, by seeking
to take action against foreign companies investing in Cuba.
Most other governments strongly opposed the Helms-Burton Act
because of its extraterritorial nature. See Amnesty International
Annual Report 1997.
(13) The ACP Group was formed
in 1975, and currently incorporates 48
African countries as well as 16 from the Caribbean and 14
from the Pacific.
(14) The Cotonou Agreement is a twenty-year
trade accord signed on 21 June 2000 between the European Community
and African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, replacing
the Lomé Convention of 1975. The stated objectives include
"to promote and expedite the economic, cultural and social
development of the ACP States, with a view to contributing
to peace and security and to promoting a stable and democratic
political environment" (The Cotonou Agreement, 21 June
2000, article 1.)
(15) See ACP-EU 3194/01/fin., Resolution on
accession by Cuba to the new ACP-EU Agreement, March 2001.
(16) EU/CUBA: Council notes positive signs in
Cuba but confirms common position; Brussels, 10/12/2001 (Agence
Europe).
(17) Please note that these are unofficial translations
to English of the articles of the penal code.
(18) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Political prisoners in need of medical attention, AI
Index: AMR 25/040/1999, October 1999.
(19) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
short term detention and harassment of dissidents, AI
Index: AMR 25/004/2000, March 2000.
(20) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Political prisoners in need of medical attention, AI
Index AMR 25/040/1999, October 1999.
(21) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Current prisoners of conscience must be released. AI
Index: AMR 25/036/1999, September 1999.
(22) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Prisoner of conscience: new convictions
overshadow releases, AI Index: AMR
25/021/2000, October 2000.
(23) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Prisoner of conscience José Orlando González Bridón, AI
Index 25/006/2001, June 2001.
(24) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Political prisoners in need of medical
attention, AI Index 25/040/1999, October
1999.
(25) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Current prisoners of conscience must be released, AI
Index: AMR 25/036/1999, September 1999.
(26) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Urgent
Action, Leonardo Bruzón Avila, AI
Index: AMR 25/007/2001, September 2001.
(27) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
New wave of political oppression, AI
Index: AMR 25/001/2001, January 2001.
(28) Quoted in "'Estamos haciendo lo que
Cuba necesita...', afirma ex presa política," CubaNet,
8 November 2001. Unofficial translation.
(29) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Current prisoners of conscience must be released, AI
Index: AMR 25/036/1999, September 1999.
(30) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International
Cuba: Current prisoners of conscience must be released, AI
Index: AMR 25/036/1999, September 1999.
(31) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
New wave of political oppression, AI
Index: AMR 25/001/2001, January 2001.
(32) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Prisoner of conscience: new convictions
overshadow releases, AI Index: AMR
25/021/2000, October 2000.
(33) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Prisoner of conscience: new convictions
overshadow releases, AI Index: AMR
25/021/2000, October 2000.
(34) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
Prisoner of conscience: new convictions
overshadow releases, AI Index: AMR
25/021/2000, October 2000.
(35) Quoted in "Epistolas," Disidente
Universal de Puerto Rico, No. 170,
August 2001. Unofficial translation to English.
(36) See, inter alia,
Amnesty International Cuba:
short term detention and harassment of dissidents, AI
Index: AMR 25/004/2000, March 2000.
(37) See also CUBA: Prisoners of conscience:
New convictions overshadow releases, AI Index: AMR 25/21/00,
October 2000 and CUBA: Eleven remain in detention following
government crackdown on dissent during the Ibero-American
Summit in Havana, AI Index: AMR 25/02/00, January 2000.
(38) Unofficial translation to English. See,
inter alia,
"El 'Yo Acuso' de
Martiza Lugo Triunfa en Ginebra,' Boletín
del CCPDH No. 35-36, spring-summer
2001; also Revista Hispano Cubana
summer 2001.
(39) See Amnesty International Urgent
Action 229/01 (AI Index AMR 25/007/2001 of 12 August 2001
and AMR 25/015/2001 of 13 September 2001.)
(40) The project is named after Cuban
historical figure Father Felix Varela, a pro-independence
priest.
(41) These brigades were first set up in 1991,
to discourage crime and counter-revolutionary activities.
(42) See Infoburo,
"Autoridades Cubanas aumentan represión en enero,"
6 February 2002.
(43) Quote from the parents of a group of six
men sentenced to death in Cuba after a violent escape attempt
in which several prison guards were reportedly killed. Published
in "Reclaman por ayuda familiares de condenados a muerte,"
Fragua: publicación de los ex-prisioneros
y combatientes políticos cubanos,
June 2000, p.3. Unofficial translation.
(44) This is an unofficial human rights group
tolerated by the government and well-known internationally.
(45) Inter alia, "Podemos
afirmar que, desde mediados del año 2000, el gobierno de Cuba
ha estado aplicando una moratoria en la ejecuciones de condenados
a muerte," Notimex,
9 January 2002.
(46) "Exhortan a
gobierno Cubano a conmutar penas. Dos. CCDHRN," Notimex,
9 January 2002.
Unofficial translation.
(47) "Ministro Cubano
ve en pena de muerte mensaje disuasorio para narcos",
EFE, 26 June 2001.
(48) "Cuba Toughens Anti-Terrorism Law,"
Associated Press,
20 December 2001.
(49) Law 425 of 7 July 1959.
(50) Law no. 62 of 1987.
(51) One exception was
former General Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez, executed along with
three officers from the armed forces and the Ministry of the
Interior in 1989, after a military tribunal convicted them
on drug and corruption charges.
(52) Human Rights Watch, Cuba's
Repressive Machinery: human rights forty years after the revolution,
June 1999, p. 136.
(53) "Presos de
Kilo Ocho denuncian actos de tortura en su contra," Cuba
Net Independiente,
25 September 2001.
(54) Letter from parents, published in CubaNet
Independiente, 26 May 2000.
(55) See CubaNet
9 August 2000.
AI-index: AMR
25/002/2002 20/05/2002
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