Cubalex, 12 May 2021 [please note date*] — On April 25, after suffering constant acts of repression, Luis Manuel Otero made the decision to go on a hunger strike as a protest. On April 30, members of his family reported that he was very weak. On the seventh day of the strike, Luis Manuel Otero declared: “If my body dies, I hope it will continue to be a spark for the freedom of Cuba.”
On May 1st, he was in a precarious state of health when the authorities tried to access his house against his will, as reported on social media. So taking advantage of the early hours of Sunday, May 2, State Security agents entered his home and took him away. He was forcibly hospitalized in the Emergency Center of the General Calixto García University Hospital. Since then he has been isolated and held incommunicado. The only information filtering out about him is what is allowed by State Security.
In this report we analyze the events begore his hunger strike and what has happened to Otero Alcántara since he was imprisoned.
Translated by Tomás A.
*Ed. note: We currently are ’catching up’ on translations of Cubalex and reaching back to earlier months. Please note the dates on these posts. Thank you.
The activist Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva (Courtesy)
Cubalex, 13 May 2021 — The activist Mario Alberto Hernández Leyva of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic was fined yesterday, May 11, for trying to enter the Calixto García hospital to inquire about the health status of Luis Manuel Otero. The activist took with him the response that the Court issued to the Habeas Corpus drafted by Cubalex, following our recommendation, where it was clarified that Otero was not incarcerated against his will, but rather was hospitalized as an ordinary patient.
Not only was he unable to visit the patient, but he was fined for circumventing the security that surrounds Luis Manuel. Mario Alberto was sanctioned under Article 2, subsection h of Decree 141, which specifies that: “Contravening the rules of collective security is subject to a fine and other measures indicated and will be imposed in each case in which: h) security devices to prevent the commission of crimes are destroyed, damaged or disabled, of 100 pesos and the obligation to restore, repair or pay the amount for doing so.” The activist had been arrested along with other members of the Movement on May 3 after trying to corroborate Otero’s state of health in the hospital where he was being kept isolated and incommunicado.
After showing up at the hospital information desk, they were intercepted by State Security agents, who were notified by the hospital’s own employees. They were interrogated, threatened, and told that they were forbidden to go near the hospital. If Luis Manuel Otero is hospitalized voluntarily as an ordinary patient, as the Court has certified, why does this leader of the San Isidro Movement not have access to his phone? Why has each person who has tried to see him ended up fined or detained? Why are such measures applied only to him and his visitors, and not to other patients? What is happening to Luis Manuel Otero? Is he a patient, as the health authorities subordinate to State Security claim, or is he a political prisoner?
Cubalex, 13 May 2021 — On May 8, Yeilis Torres Cruz, a former prosecutor and human rights activist, approached Humberto López, the journalist and member of the Party’s Central Committee, who was on the public street after leaving a rental house in the La Lisa neighborhood of the Coronela, while not in the performance of his official duties, and asked him in a friendly, peaceful manner in a conversational tone of voice, how he was doing, as a form of a greeting, along with another question about his personal life. Humberto López responded by attacking Yeilis and trying to grab her cell phone. This can be seen in the video.
A short time later, Yeilis was shown in another video where she appears with injuries to her face and arms, very nervous and crying, after having had to defend herself from a man who threw her to the ground and took advantage of her plight to try to rip off her cell phone while hitting her in the belly and kicking her arm.
Humberto López touched her genitals while searching for her cell phone, and exposed her buttocks in the middle of the street, a situation that he used to take photos of her half naked, with the intention of disparaging her. Torres Cruz had to go to her house barefoot, because continue reading
her sandals broke trying to flee from the beating that the journalist gave her.
Although State Security agents swarmed her home, she was able to get to the hospital to seek medical help. The doctors acknowledged her injuries, but refused to issue a complete medical report, claiming that they would only do so if requested by the police, after she filed the complaint.
She went to the Police Unit to file a complaint but they refused to accept it.
Yeilis Torres Cruz is currently detained at 100 and Aldabó*, far from her two children, one of them only 6-years-old, for having been officially accused of the crime of assault, after being brutally violated by the State spokesman, Humberto López.
In the last video from her, planned in advance and published today, Yeilis asks the community for support for her family in case the government detained her for political reasons. Which is what happened.
[*a notorious Secret Police torture facility and jail]
Central Havana Municipal Assembly of People’s Power. Solutions from the Communities. (Screen capture)
Cubalex, Julio Ferrer Esq., 2 September 2021 — “The assembly is not in session, during which time governance is by decree, and the approval of laws in the legislative schedule is still pending. To this we add that the president affirms that the country’s institutional framework is being strengthened and reinforced.”
It is necessary to ask Homero Acosta, Secretary of the Council of State, how is it possible that the Municipal Assembly of Central Habana can meet, yet the National Assembly, the highest legislative body in the country, cannot?
Could it be that Covid-19 only represents a danger for national deputies? Is it not convenient for the Cuban government that the highest legislative body should meet? If it did, it would have no option but to comply with the Legislative Schedule and approve the much-announced and long-awaited laws such as that of the claim, before the courts, for violation of constitutional rights, and of Criminal Procedure, and of the one that should implement the right to peaceful demonstration and protest.
The legislative inactivity of the National Assembly allows the authorities to continue enjoying the state of impunity that they have always enjoyed, especially after July 11, 2021. They continue to apply obsolete legal provisions untempered by continue reading
the new Constitution, as is the case with the archaic Criminal Procedure Law, dating back more than 44 years. This law permits holding summary trials without an appearance by a defense attorney, in outright disregard of what is established in article 95, subsection b, of the Constitution.
In my opinion, believe me I wish I were wrong, the Constitution will continue to be disrespected in Cuba by the very authorities who are responsible for asserting the superiority of that Magna Carta. Cuba continues to be governed by decrees, resolutions, agreements, etc., in a manner less democratic, less inclusive, and less participatory for ordinary citizens. Their opinions are not taken into account in the drafting and editing of these decrees and other normative provisions, issued without being prepared in the Legislative Schedule.
And so the President asserts that in this way the country’s institutionality and the “Socialist State of Law” are strengthened and reinforced. This term, which according to him was embodied in the new Constitution, still waits to be defined or conceptualized: at this point we do not know what the “Socialist State of Law” is.
Cubalex, 25 May 2021 — Cubalex monitored acts of harassment against civil society from May 17 to 23, 2021, as well as related news associated with government measures taken during the pandemic, and instances of shortages of products and basic goods. This report also analyzes the selective internet outages that activists and dissidents have suffered, and highlights accounts from the official press of threats, attacks, and violations of rights.
Our organization corroborated the deterioration of the population’s quality of life, which translates into longer periods of power outages, and worsening shortages of food and basic essentials throughout the country, together with the difficulties to get them, such as long lines, even in MLC (hard-currency) stores.
Seventy events were documented during the week of May 17-23, for a total of 201 events that our organization has monitored during the month of May.
On Tuesday the 18th, State Security and the police detained Maykel Osorbo while he was having lunch at his home, arresting him without a shirt or shoes, and as of the date of this report they have kept him in “forced disappearance,” which constitutes a crime under international law.
May 23rd was the day of greatest impact, although the repression was also evident on May 19 and 20, dates that coincided with the anniversary of the death of José Martí and the founding of the Republic.
We followed up on incidents that occurred in 13 of the country’s 15 provinces; 40% of them occurred in Havana.
Cubalex, 20 May 2021 — Cubalex monitored acts of harassment against civil society from May 10 to 16, 2021, as well as related news associated with government measures taken during the pandemic, and instances of shortages of products and basic goods. This report also analyzes the selective internet outages that activists and dissidents have suffered, and highlights accounts from the official press of threats, attacks, and violations of rights.
There has been a deterioration in basic living conditions of the population. Electric power outages have begun to be reported, the range of products sold in MLC (hard-currency) stores has increased, and the frequency of transport between Havana and the provinces has decreased. At the same time, the reported cases of Covid-19 and the difficulties in acquiring food continue to increase.
In one week, our organization documented 35 incidents of repression, including acts of repudiation, home confinement, and arrests; which affected 53 people, 16 of them women.
One of them was the activist Yeilis Cruz who is detained at the 100th and Aldabó station, accused of an attack, after filming the television presenter Humberto López on the street. López himself, director of the program “Hacemos Cuba” (We Make Cuba), presented on this program continue reading
a series of laws, including Law 88, under which 75 journalists were imprisoned in the 2003 Black Spring. A lawyer on his show once again threatened maximum penalties for those who disagree with the government. In addition, the guest spoke of the possibility of trying in absentia or extraditing Cubans who are outside the country who finance, cooperate with or coordinate activities that the country considers to be crimes.
Of the events monitored by Cubalex, 63.3% occurred in Havana, and one part related to the state of isolation in which they are keeping Luis Manuel Otero. Several activists who tried to get to the hospital to inquire about him were arrested, including Adrián Curuneaux, a member of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic (MONR), who is still imprisoned for this reason.
Cubalex, 19 May 2021 — The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression [of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR)] documented a continuation during 2020 of the pattern of restrictions on freedom of expression and access to public information in Cuba.
The annual report issued by the organization indicates that acts of threats, harassment, and persecution had been observed against journalists, dissidents, activists, artists, and teachers who question the regime, or who disseminate information or opinions on issues of public interest. Although these forms of harassment are not new, the IACHR and its Rapporteurship also observed that they have increased during 2020 in the midst of the pandemic.
The provisions of Decree-Law 370 “on the computerization of society in Cuba,” protect a large part of the persecutions against expressions of criticism. This rule criminalizes social media posts and affected dozens of Cuban citizens during the year.
The rapporteur noted that, in addition to the fines limiting freedom of expression in networks, harassment against independent journalists includes intimidation against their families, and confiscation of their work resources.
For example, on January 8, agents of the National Revolutionary Police and the Cuban Intelligence Directorate raided continue reading
the home of CiberCuba reporter Iliana Hernández, in the town of Cojímar, east of Havana. According to the information available, the officers took several of her personal belongings, including her personal computer and her cell phone.
In the second half of the year, the report highlights the release of journalist Roberto Quiñones, a few days after serving a year of imprisonment. The independent journalist complained that in prison he was denied “all the benefits” he was entitled to, in addition to denouncing the overcrowded conditions, poor quality of water and food, and the lack of medical attention. The Cubanet reporter was sentenced on August 7, 2019 by the Guantánamo municipal court to one year in prison for the crimes of resistance to authority and disobedience. The authorities arrested him when he tried to report on a trial in his home province.
It should be added that the Office of the Special Rapporteur learned of complaints of the blocking of certain applications and websites, as well as interference and alteration of mobile-phone data by the government. Many of these events took place in the setting of an agitated social climate and calls for protests, thereby preventing communication and coordination of citizens. The internet cuts were also selective, mostly targeting activists and journalists.
Thus, for example, on November 29 an “intermittent blockade” of social networks and internet services was reported, which would be linked to the events that occurred of the previous days, among which were the eviction and arrests of activists, who remained locked up and on strike as a protest, at the San Isidro Movement headquarters and the artists’ demonstration of in front of the Ministry of Culture.
Cubalex, 25 May 2021 — Cubalex, as one of the signatory organizations, condemns the Cuban government’s repression of the citizen protests registered on July 11, 2021, and which are continuing to occur. Likewise, we urgently call on the administration led by Miguel Díaz-Canel to stop all acts of violence and violations of the human rights of citizens through the use of force, police repression, and the call for confrontation between Cubans.
The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurs call on the Cuban State to cease harassment against artists, journalists, and activists in Cuba.
Cubalex, 14 May 2021 — The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH) and its Special Rapporteurs for Freedom of Expression (RELE) and for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (REDESCA) expressed concern about the escalation of repression against journalists, artists and human rights defenders in Cuba, in particular, members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), beneficiaries of Precautionary Measures, whom they consider to be in a serious and urgent situation of risk of irreparable damage to their rights in Cuba.
Regarding the situation of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the IACHR recognizes hunger strikes as a form of social and peaceful protest, and emphasizes the Cuban State’s obligation to guarantee freedom of expression, the autonomy of individuals, and their right to health and well-being, as well as ensuring access to healthcare, in a consensual manner, without threats, pressure or coercion, to those who choose this form of protest.
Faced with the uncertainty and lack of transparency in Otero Alcántara’s case, they call on the international community to follow his case with particular attention. The regional body also referred to increased State control over demonstrations involving the participation of dissidents, who are detained and violently repressed, and called on the State to:
Recognize and protect the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, without discrimination for reasons of political opinion.
Cease acts of persecution against those who exercise the right to free of expression.
Effectively protect the right of all artists, without discrimination, to participate in cultural life and benefit from the moral and material interests in their works.
Cubalex, 27 May 2021 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), ARTICLE 19 Office for Central America and the Caribbean, and CUBALEX today demand the release of Mary Karla Ares Pérez, detained since April 30 in relation to her journalistic work.
Ares is being held in the Western Women’s Prison in Guatao, without trial, subjected to interrogations and deprivation, and in violation of her basic guarantees of due process. She was transferred yesterday, May 26, to the outskirts of the province of Havana, far from her place of residence, which will affect family visits and access to a lawyer due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Mary Karla, a journalist for the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP), broadcast live on Facebook the arrests made by police officers and State Security agents of people who were participating in a peaceful protest over the isolation to which Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), was subjected, after he had declared a hunger strike.
During this coverage, agents of the State Security Department (DSE) in civilian clothes, agents of the National Revolutionary Police and of the Prevention Troops, detained her on Obispo Street, in the Habana Vieja municipality, Havana province. They transferred her to the police unit of the Centro Habana municipality, and from there to the unit located in Playa.
This citizen journalist is subject to an investigative process, accused of the crimes of Public Disorder, and Resistance, punishable by three and five years of imprisonment, respectively. According to information provided by her family, she has been denied legal assistance.
Maykel remained in the middle of the street with his handcuffs hanging from his wrist, an image that has become an icon and evidence of the State’s repression of its citizens.
Cubalex, 3 June 2021 — On May 18 Maykel Castillo was arrested while he was at his house having lunch. They took him away without a shirt or shoes, and for 13 days he was in “forced disappearance.” The people close to him who went to ask about him at the police station were denied information–the police claimed that Castillo was not registered in the system. His whereabouts were unknown until May 31, when it was learned that he had been transferred to 5-y-Medio Prison in Pinar del Río.
During this time neither State Security nor the police released information about Maykel or the reasons for his arrest. The political police even went to his house and seized his cell phones without a search warrant or a record of expropriation.
On April 4, as the musician was about to arrive at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, the police carried out a forced detention, without legal justification and in violation of his right to move freely. After being confined in his home for days by agents of State Security, the San Isidro neighborhood intervened so that they would not take him away, blocking the patrol; Maykel remained in the middle of the street with his handcuffs hanging from his wrist, an image that has become an icon and evidence of the State’s continue reading
repression of its citizens.
According to the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) the act was committed on April 4, 2021, when Maykel Castillo interfered in the action of the police. But it was not until May 18 (44 days later) that he was arrested and transferred to the Investigative Body of the MININT, decreeing the prosecutor’s precautionary measure of provisional imprisonment.
He was transferred on May 31 from Havana to the province of Pinar del Río, without knowing the reasons for his relocation, in the midst of an unprecedented health crisis on the island and scarcity of resources. Being far from his place of residence makes it difficult to have access to his lawyer and his family visits, due to the closure of provinces with Covid-19 restrictions.
It is striking that Cubadebate’s account asserts that the crimes for which he is being prosecuted are: Attack, Public Disorders, and Evasion of Prisoners or Detainees. But when the First Criminal Chamber of the People’s Provincial Court of Havana issued a judicial Resolution on May 24, 2021, it acknowledged that it had carefully examined the Preparatory Phase File 24/21 OEI-DCSE for the crimes of Attack, Resistance, and Contempt. The file was opened almost a month after the event occurred, all of which leaves room for a question: Who is lying, judges Alennis Vázquez Flores, Zamira Narrero Morgado, Greta Bernal Vila, Liliam Portel Gil, and ZeydaTorres Medina or Cubadebate, the official state information medium?
It is important to remember that the IACHR (The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; in Spanish, CIDH), issued a precautionary measure on February 11, 2021 as stated in Resolution 14/2021 in favor of the members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), among whom is Maykel Castillo. The IACHR asked the Cuban State to adopt the necessary measures to protect their rights against acts of risk attributable to the Cuban authorities themselves and to guarantee that they can carry out their activities as human rights defenders — everything that is being violated by his arrest and submission to an unjustified criminal process.
Cubalex, 28 May 2021 — The six protesters arrested during the peaceful protest on April 30 on Obispo Street in Old Havana have already been transferred to remote prisons, outside the capital and in different provinces from Pinar del Río to Matanzas.
Yuisán Cancio Vera was transferred to the Pinar del Río provincial penitentiary and Thais Mailén Franco to the Occidente women’s prison in Guatao, on the outskirts of Havana province in the La Lisa municipality, on May 22.
On Friday, May 21, Inti Soto Romero was transferred to the Guanajay prison, in the province of Artemisa, but this was not communicated to his family until the 24th, when they went to visit him at the headquarters of the Department of State Security, Villa Marista.
On May 26, ICLEP (Cuban Institute for Freedom of Speech and Press) announced that Mary Karla Ares González, citizen journalist and member of the Network in Defense of Human Rights, was continue reading
being transferred to the Occidente women’s prison, in Guatao, in La Lisa, as confirmed later by her father to Cubalex.
Another journalist Esteban Rodríguez, a collaborator of ADNCuba media, was transferred to the Valle Grande penitentiary, far from the city, in the La Lisa municipality, on May 26.
Luis Ángel Cuza Alfonso has been transferred to the Combinado del Sur Prison, in Matanzas Province.
Seclusion in other provinces, or far from their place of residence, in this case Havana, in the midst of mobility restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will make it difficult for lawyers and families to access the imprisoned activists, which itself is a form of punishment.
All the protesters face the same charges of public disorder (Article 228) and resistance (Article 159 of the Penal Code), with sentences ranging from 3 months to 5 years imprisonment. Requests to change pretrial confinement measures were rejected by the court.
The lawyer for the protestors has not had access to the files during the preparatory phase. On May 9, an appeal was filed against the denial of habeas corpus issued by the Provincial People’s Court of Havana. The TSJ (Supreme Court of Justice) does not usually respond to urgent appeals.
From Cubalex, we demand the immediate freedom of the Obispo protesters.
Cubalex, 2 June 2021 — Cubalex monitored the acts of harassment against civil society from May 24 to 31, 2021, as well as background news associated with the government measures applied during the pandemic, and events of shortages of products and basic goods. This report also breaks down the selective internet outages that activists and dissidents have suffered; and highlights the threats, attacks and violations of rights from the official press or profiles related to the government.
During the week, 68 events were recorded, for a total of 269 events that our organization has monitored during the month.
Of the repressive events, 92% were against members of independent civil society and 70 people in total were affected, 28 of them women. Five of Obispo’s protesters were transferred to prison, three were sent to prisons in provinces other than their places of residence, which will make access difficult for their families and lawyers. Meanwhile the reporter Mary Karla Ares, who covered the protest, was released on May 31st, but continues to be under investigation.
CUBALEX, 29 June 2021 — Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior (MININT) announced the launch of five new services aimed at individuals through its web portal. From Cubalex we observe with concern that:
1. These services can only be accessed from Cuba (the page does not open abroad). This is an example of discrimination and an illegitimate limit of access to personal information. For example, if you started a procedure on the island and then travel, you cannot follow up remotely on your case, violating the principle of proactive transparency.
2. The information can only be accessed after having created a user account, unjustifiably forcing the subject to enter personal data that violates privacy.
3. The data required, merely for registration, is sensitive information that violates the fundamental right to the protection of personal data of its holders.
4. On the legislative agenda for 2021 is the Decree Law on Protection continue reading
of Personal Data, scheduled for February 2021, but so far the content and scope of the regulation is unknown. The State has failed to meet its own schedule. According to international standards, only name and email should be requested for this registration. But this page also requests: identity card, volume and folio.
* Cubalex objects that there is information requested that should not be required to create an account and to access personal information held by the State. And that there are no legal or institutional mechanisms for the management and protection of this information, which can lead to serious violations of rights, and impunity for the subjects obliged to safeguard it.
Cubalex, 30 June 2021 — After spending the first 6 days after his arrival on the island in an isolation center, the artist Hamlet Lavastida, from the 27N [27th November] group, has been jailed in the Villa Marista State Security Investigation Unit. The artist has been under investigation since June 26 on the charge of instigation to commit a crime, file number 42/2021.
According to his friend, the writer Katherine Bisquet, his file is currently in the Attorney General’s Office. The criminal investigator in charge explained to Bisquet that yesterday a second procedural term began, also 72 hours long, pending the Order of the Prosecutor’s response. Lavastida will then be able to appoint a lawyer in the event that the case proceeds. Meanwhile he continues to be interrogated, without legal counsel, due to this investigative procedure.
Regarding this, we denounce the interrogation of Lavastida without the presence of a lawyer to advise him not to incriminate himself, and thus guarantee that he is not subjected to coercion to force him to testify.
This term of 7 days that they have imposed before he can obtain a lawyer is continue reading
a violation of the right to defense and of the Constitution itself.
We point to ARTICLE 95: In criminal proceedings people have the following guarantees, among others:
b) to have legal assistance from the beginning of the process;
c) to be presumed innocent until a final judgment is issued against them;
d) not to be victimized by violence or coercion of any kind to be forced to testify;
e) not to testify against oneself.
“The evidence” for which Hamlet is being investigated is a conversation on the private chat of the 27N group’s Telegram, illegally monitored and disclosed by Humberto López in the National Newscast.
In that (we repeat) private conversation, Hamlet mentions the idea of marking [existing Cuban] banknotes with stamps designed with the acronyms MSI and 27N, in order to extend their brand. “This idea was not followed up as a civic action by the 27N group, and was never made public by any member, including Lavastida,” explains Bisquet. We emphasize that the current Penal Code does not deem the act of writing on or marking bills a crime.
The act of using as evidence private conversations that were published in the media violates ARTICLE 48 of the Constitution: “All persons have the right to the respect of their personal and family privacy, their own image and voice, their honor and personal identity.”
By exposing these confidential chats, the press media, led by the Party, also violated the Privacy of Correspondence guaranteed in article 289 of the Cuban Penal Code. In the event that this crime is committed by “a public official or employee, with abuse of their position, the penalty is deprivation of liberty from six months to two years or a fine of two hundred to five hundred shares*.” Under the Cuban legal framework, it is Humberto, as a member of the Party’s Central Committee, who should answer to the law.
Therefore, our organization emphasizes that this evidence must be excluded for violating the Law of Criminal Procedure and constitutional rights. Section C of Article 95 provides that each person, as a guarantee of legal security, enjoys due process both in the judicial and administrative spheres and, consequently, enjoys the right to offer relevant evidence and request the exclusion of what has been obtained in violation of established law.
Also, having been broadcast in the press means a possible influence on the judges who saw that NTV program (also available online), which can prejudice Lavastida.
As to the crime for which he is being investigated, “instigation to commit a crime,” it was an idea that Lavastida expressed in a closed environment that never came to fruition. A private comment, even one linked to a future commission of a crime, should not be sanctioned if it is not consummated. In law, preparatory acts are generally not sanctioned, unless they are related to crimes against the security of the State.
Cubalex agrees with and shares this fragment of legal analysis published by Katherine Bisquet:
“Article 125 of the Criminal Code recognizes that the act of ’inciting another or others, by word or in writing, PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, is punishable as an act preparatory to executing any of the crimes’ included within the title of crimes against the security of the State.
“But if this article were applied to Hamlet’s idea of marking currency, the Cuban authorities would have to charge him with a different crime than Article 202’s Instigation to commit a crime. To apply article 125 to Lavastida they would have to accuse him of one of the crimes designed to protect the security of the Cuban state. And this would confirm that accusing Hamlet of a crime against the security of the State for offering the idea of marking bills with the logos of the civic groups MSI and 27N would be about politically motivated repression.”
Hamlet Lavastida is today a prisoner of conscience.
*Translator’s note: Cuba’s Penal Code sets fines as a number of ’quotas’ or shares, with the value of one share defined in a separate section. In this way, the value of all fines in the code can be adjusted with a single change.
