English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 30 November 2022 — There are at least three ways to analyze Cuba’s new Penal Code that comes into force this first of December. The first is paralyzing and ends in the acceptance of the idea that everything a citizen does that deviates one millimeter from what is convenient for the … Continue reading “Fears Are Justified as Cuba’s New Penal Code Takes Effect”
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 November 2022 — The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) denounced the “systematic repression of the independent press in Cuba”, in a resolution published during its 78th General Assembly in Madrid from 27 to 30 October. The document exposes the “incessant harassment” by the Cuban government of anyone who defends freedom of the … Continue reading “IAPA Asks for Suspension of New Cuban Penal Code Which Punishes Press Freedom”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 2 June 2022 — Cuba registered 185 public protests in May, 108 less than in the previous month, according to the report of the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) released this Wednesday. The report ties this “decrease” with the entry into force of the Island’s new Penal Code, with its “greater … Continue reading “Decrease of Protests in Cuba Coincides with Approval of the New Penal Code”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 20 May 2022 — The recently approved Penal Code punishes with sentences of up to ten years the citizen “who arbitrarily exercises any right or freedom recognized in the Constitution of the Republic” if that exercise has as its purpose “to change, totally or partially, the Constitution of the Republic or … Continue reading “Cuba: The Power Behind the Penal Code”
14ymedio, Havana, 18 May 2022 — The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) has been forceful in criticizing the Cuban Penal Code approved last Sunday in an extraordinary session, and has insisted that it returns the Island to “dark ages, when officials distanced themselves from the people through abuses and privileges.” In a statement made public this Wednesday, … Continue reading “Press Association Compares Cuban Penal Code to ‘Absolutist Privileges, Typical of Monarchies’”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Generation Y, Havana, 17 May 2022 — The new Cuban Penal Code, recently approved by the National Assembly and which will enter into force in the coming days, is a detailed compendium of the main fears of the ruling party. Like any authoritarian model, the island’s regime is forced to break down each prohibition … Continue reading “Cuba: A Penal Code to Bind Us All”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 31 January 2022 — The death penalty, by firing squad, appears as one of the applicable sanctions in 28 articles of Cuba’s new Penal Code, still pending approval. Also included among the main sanctions are deprivation of liberty, correctional work with and without internment, home confinement, service for the benefit of … Continue reading “Cuba’s New Penal Code Maintains the Right to Kill”
14ymedio, Havana, 20 October 2021 — The Cuban Government will eliminate “pre-criminal dangerousness,” a legal definition that it has been used for years to imprison opponents. The elimination of this ’crime’ has been demanded by international organizations including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Rubén Remigio Ferro, president of the People’s Supreme Court, said on Tuesday on … Continue reading “‘Pre-criminal Dangerousness’ is Removed from the Cuban Penal Code, but ‘Regulation’ — Being Forbidden to Leave the Country — is Legalized”
14ymedio, Madrid, 21 July 2023 — The long speech this Thursday by the president of the People’s Supreme Court, Rubén Remigio Ferro, before the National Assembly of People’s Power, to present the Law of the Military Criminal Code, had its most prominent moment in the argument made by the official for the death penalty on … Continue reading “Revalidating the Death Penalty in Cuba To ‘Defend the Revolution in the Face of Very Serious Threats’”
Cubalex, 20 October 2022 — The Cuban government wants nothing to escape its supervision. Nothing, that might shake its power, has been left unregulated or uncriminalized. Why should this Code worry us as a society? #1 It categorizes criminal behaviour in a broad, ambiguous and discretionary manner. #2 There are around 32 ’crimes’ which threaten … Continue reading “Why Should This Code Worry Us as a Society? / Cubalex”
14ymedio, Yoani Sánchez, Havana, 27 September 2022 — María Julia, a 67-year-old from Camagüey, never read the full text of the Family Code put to a referendum this Sunday in Cuba, but she voted Yes because in the nucleus of the Communist Party of which she is a member called to “support the Revolution and … Continue reading “The Yes and No Vote on Cuba’s Family Code, Keys to a Referendum with Victory and Punishment”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 September 2022 — The Cuban government has called on the population to vote yes in the referendum on the Family Code held this Sunday. Far from the monolithic opinion that has been imposed in the official discourse — and maybe in private — voting is like a Russian doll for those who … Continue reading “Cuba: Are You Voting on the Family Code?”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 15 May 2022 — On Sunday, Cuba’s National Assembly of the People’s Power (ANPP) approved, in an extraordinary session, Cuba’s new Criminal Code, which includes penalties of up to three years for those who insult senior public officials and prohibits foreign financing for media outlets. The delegates approved the project in … Continue reading “Cuban Parliament Approves a Criminal Code which Prohibits External Support for Independent Press”
14ymedio, Madrid, 23 March 2022 — If, as predicted, the draft of Cuba’s new Criminal Code is approved as is, independent activists and journalists will be “extremely exposed” to the arbitrariness of State Security. That point is stressed in a report published by the Observatorio Legislativo de Cuba [Cuba’s Legislative Observatory], an initiative of the Demo Amlat … Continue reading “Criminal Code Project Will Provide Tools for the Cuban Regime to Legalize Arbitrariness”
Cubalex, Laritza Diversent, 11 March 2022 — Instigating a crime is a crime against public order which appears in Article 202 of the Island’s current Criminal Code. However, this would undergo notable changes, according to the draft of the new Criminal Code, which will go into effect in April 2022, after approval by the delegates … Continue reading “Instigating a Crime in the Draft Cuban Criminal Code / Cubalex”
