14ymedio, Havana, 2 October 2019 — A new organization has emerged to give continuity to the work carried out for decades by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN). That is the stated purpose of the Cuban Center for Human Rights (CCDH).
In its founding statement it is stated that the objective of the “small group is to collect the testimonies of the human rights violations that the Cuban dictatorial regime carries out throughout the Island; as well as to relate the social problems and those that are becoming the ’coyuntural’ (temporary) crisis the country is currently experiencing. “
At the head of this organization, as coordinator, is Kirenia Yalit Núñez Pérez, who was formerly Elizardo Sánchez’s assistant at the CCDHRN. Performing the work of supervisor is the former political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello.
In its first report, dated October 1, the CCDH reports in a different way the number and names of political prisoners, arrests, raids, immigration regulations and harassment. It also comments on different problems related to the current crisis in the country.
Speaking to 14ymedio Roque Cabello insisted on how essential it is to maintain the presentation of a periodic report on human rights violations in Cuba. “We are not trying to replace what the CCDHRN was doing but to maintain the principle that this be done from within the Island. This is important for all of the opposition and for that part of the world that cares about us.”
The Center will have its physical headquarters in Roque’s house, located at number 260 Goss Street between Milagro and Santa Catalina in the capital district of Santos Suárez, where it will be open from Monday to Friday during office hours.
Roque Cabello explained that at the end of each month there will be a report with all the complaints or at least most of them and she added: “At this time we cannot wait for people to hear about the facts of the individual complaints as they appear on social networks, without an entity with enough credibility to group them.”
The sources of information to prepare these monthly reports are the same as the CCDHRN’s were, explains Roque Cabello, thanks to the fact that Kirenia Núñez, who is in charge of the work, worked five years with Elizardo and has all that documentation. “The role that I play is to monitor the complaints to prevent the spreading of false news. I have also made my house and my telephone number (+53 76406821) available to this project.”
The information will be distributed by email to those who appear in the database of the CCDHRN, but the Center has the aspiration to enable a web page as soon as it has the resources, so that it can be visited by the general public.
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