Translator: Silvia Suárez – Page 12

Three Cuban Youths are Sentenced to Prison for Conversations Intercepted by State Security G2

Leodán Pérez Colón, 22 years old, was sentenced to five years in jail in Sancti Spíritus for associating to commit a crime and contempt. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, April 4, 2022 — Leodán Pérez Colón, Yoel Castillo Cervantes and Yanderley Quesada Marín, sentenced to several years in jail in Sancti Spíritus for protesting on July 11, did not even set foot on the street that day.

According to the sentencing document, signed on January 18th and accessed by 14ymedio on Monday, it was proven that on that day Pérez Colón, from within his home on July 16th, streamed a video “to his contacts”–not even on social media–in which he referred to leader Miguel Díaz-Canel as a “motherfucker,” “snot-nosed dick,” “son of a bitch,, and “dickhead bastard,” which he, according to the document, “continued for several minutes.”

Along with him were his friends Cristian Enrique García Rodríguez, Ernesto Alexis Rojas Pérez, and José Antonio Rojas Pérez, who were also arrested but not convicted, and who testified against him, as per the judicial document.

That video in particular was used by Cuban national television to smear the protesters. In a post published before the trial of the three detainees, which took place on December 27th, Sancti-Spíritus-based activist Néstor Estévez denounced that the images, as well as the messages used to incriminate the defendants, “came from private audios in a WhatsApp group accessed by G2 after tapping the phones of the group’s members.”

The sentencing document states, in effect, that thanks to “the certifications of the telecommunications company,” Etecsa, “we became aware of the ownership of the telephone lines belonging to the accused, devices which were used by them in the perpetration of these events, and we learned, through the opinions of experts in criminal informatics, of the resources and content published on the internet.” continue reading

As stated in the legal document, 22-year-old Pérez Colón, created a WhatsApp group called “Todos por la libertad” [“Everyone for Freedom”], to which he invited the other two accused, 21-year-old Yoel Castillo and Yoanderley Quesada, 25, who accepted the invitation. In that group, the first convict [Pérez Colón], sent messages “encouraging the use of incendiary bottles named ’molotoff [sic] cocktails’, screws, rocks launched with bows or sharpened forks against members of the Ministry of the Interior and other institutions charged with preserving the social order in the city.”

In this way, the text continues, ” the user named ’Yuma Walter’ to whom he sent a message that said ’I am finding people to form a good team’,” and through Messenger, he wrote to user “Irete Amir Olmo Eleguasito Bernal” telling them ’I am looking for people from Bayamo Kilo 12, this is fire against the PNR, Díaz Canel motherfucker.”

Another group he created on WhatsApp, still according to the sentencing document, is “Todo por la libertad EUA” [“All for Freedom USA”], to which he added “citizens Lisandra Enrique Guerras and Pedro Amir Tanquero Bernal, both of whom live abroad.”

The woman named Lisandra, the sentencing document states, “accessed the group and published several photos in which molotoff [sic] cocktails, screws and bows can be seen and wrote, ’use this, don’t be intimidated, you don’t have weapons, but there are ways, do not allow anyone to be taken, throw arrows at them, stab them with knives, there are more of you than the lot of those police snitches.”

There is no evidence that any of those who were summoned organized any violent acts, except for, as announced in the group, heading “to Villalla’s house, everyone” (as written by Biyaya, the nickname by which Pérez Colón is known). Neither is there any trace of these accusations among those compiled in the list of prisoners maintained by Justicia 11J, according to which Pérez Colón had thrown stones at a nearby MLC (hard currency) store.

Nonetheless, Pérez Colón, who has a history of armed robbery for which he had served several years in jail, was sentenced to a total of five years for associating to commit a crime and contempt, and Quesada Marín and Castillo Cervantes, to two years and one year and ten months, respectively, only for associating to commit a crime (reduced in the cases of Castillo and Pérez for their time served in pre-trial detention.)

In addition, all of their cell phones were confiscated.

In a separate case, 14ymedio also accessed another unpublished sentencing document from Sancti Spíritus, which on October 18th sentenced Luis Mario Niedas Hernández to three years in jail for “contempt of a continuous nature.”

The events described in the document indicate that what he did was to stream three different videos on January 29, July 10 and on the following day, in which he uttered, among other phrases, “that he’d arrest all of them, that the Minister of Culture is shameless, that the State Security agents are State Insecurity and state terrorists,” “that the country’s president is a thief and a demagogue,” or referring to Cuba’s leaders, “that they are freeloaders, shameless, corrupt, they steal all of the country’s resources and deposit them abroad, the sons of bitches that rule this country, who live like capitalists.”

Niedas Hernández, as Sancti-Spíritus-based activist Néstor Estévez explained to this daily, was the only one of the 42 detainees in Sancti Spíritus who truly took to the streets on July 11th.

His sentencing document says that outside his house, he streamed a video where he said, “Díaz-Canel, motherfucker, we want a country, not a farm led by four sons of bitches,” and that, later, “he headed toward nearby buildings located in Olivos I, in the municipality and province of Sancti Spríritus and from there walked toward the multi-family buildings number 2 and 3 located near the Provincial Government offices and began loudly shouting other phrases ’down with Díaz-Canel, Díaz-Canel son of a bitch, I shit on Díaz-Canel, Díaz-Canel motherfucker’.”

In the Nieves-Morejón prison, where he is currently held, Niedas has experienced isolation and mistreatment in punishment cells.

The 31-year-old young man was arrested on July 11th, but he had previously been harassed and pressured for being politically active. He told the story himself in a chronicle published by Yucabyte just days before the protests that Sunday. “My activism, like that of many others, began with the pressures of the regime,” he wrote. “It was enough for me to support the causes defended by Movimiento San Isidro [San Isidro Movement] and 27N (27 November) on social media for all the weight of the arbitrariness of the dictatorship to come down upon me. Because, yes, publishing a simple Facebook post in Cuba that does not have the approval of the government, implies almost the same thing as standing in front of the provincial headquarters of the Communist Party with a sign demanding the president’s resignation. There is no freedom, not even in cyberspace.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Criminal Code Project Will Provide Tools for the Cuban Regime to Legalize Arbitrariness

Cilano highlights that the context for approving the new legislation is clearly marked by the July 11th protests, and its objective is to limit citizen participation. (14ymedio)

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 network which analyzes new norms on the Island as a result of the Constitution approved in 2019.

The document, presented on Wednesday at an online event in which specialists Johanna Cilano and Carlos Hernádez participated from Mexico, highlights the tight control and the opacity of the government on the Island with regard to the Criminal Code. This contrasts with the publicity given, from the highest authorities to provincial-level state press, to the Family Code, which has been out for “popular consultation” since February 1st.

Furthermore, the document denounces the new norms which criminalize activities that are legal in any other country such as practicing independent journalism or associating with others to protest or change a law, as well as leading a civil society, which is not permitted by the Cuban State.

For example, the report mentions Article 143 of the draft norm, which establishes penalties of up to ten years in jail for anyone who receives funding “themselves or as representatives of non-governmental organizations, international institutions, associations or from any natural or legal person of the country or of a foreign State” to “defray activities against the State and its consitutional order.” This, said Johanna Cilano during the presentation, includes paying for mobile phone minutes from outside the country. continue reading

Also, denounced DemoAmlat, “it assaults the right to finance organized civil society, as well as the legitimate limitations to freedom of expression according to the American Convention on Human Rights.”

Cilano highlighted that the context to approve the new legislation is marked by the July 11th protests and its objective is to limit citizen participation in public matters.

As stated in the report, the draft “proves to be a product of the moment, offering the regime tools that will allow it to legalize arbitrariness; deepen criminalization of independent media, journalists and human rights activists; inhibit citizen participation in social activism; censor and promote self-censorship of journalists, activists and defenders of human rights.”

Similarly, as Reinaldo Escobar analyzed for this daily, the death penalty will continue to be in effect in the new norm as a “latent threat from the regime against opponents,” according to the DemoAmlat report.

The network concludes, in summary, that the draft Criminal Code, “presumed to be approved in April 2022, without public consulation, represents a danger to the citizenry.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Luis Robles, the ‘Young Man with the Placard’, is Sentenced to Five Years in a Cuban Jail

Robles was arrested on December 4, 2020, for protesting in Havana. (Capture)

14ymedio, Havana, 30 March 2022–Activist Luis Robles, the “Young Man with the Placard”, was sentenced to five years in jail for peacefully protesting in the centrally-located Boulevard on San Rafael Street in Havana holding a sign demanding an end to the repression and freedom for Cuban rapper Denis Solís.

According to the judicial sentencing document, accessed by 14ymedio, during the trial it was “proven” that Robles “responded to a call” by Cuban influencer “Alexander Otaola for people to pronounce themselves” against the Solís’s detention, “by police authorities and directors of the State and the Government,” and to “perform any act aimed at destabilizing the internal order, publicly protesting in the street against the Cuban economic and social system.”

The phrases “Freedom. No more repression. #free-Denis [Solís]”, visible on the sign Robles was carrying, “opposed the decisions of the authorities” who determined Solís’s arrest, argued the Provincial Tribunal in Havana, where the activist’s judicial proceedings took place.

The sentence was dated March 28th, the day when authorities notified Robles, but the young man as well as his family members were only able to access the document on Wednesday, his brother Landy Fernández Elizastigui confirmed to this daily. continue reading

In the document, the judges state that the young man maintained a “marked interest in creating a destabilizing environment for the social system and domestic economic development,” arguing that “he began yelling phrases similar to those on his sign and others regarding the decisions made by the country’s leadership to resist the economic blockade to which Cuba has been subjected by the United States.”

Robles moved “from one side to the other to invite the people who were there to follow him and in that way create disorder.” Furthermore, they argue that “the events were manipulated by digital platforms serving the enemy” to “discredit the professional functioning of [Cuban] police authorities.”

The Prosecutor’s Office, during the trial which took place over three and a half months ago, had requested the young man be sentenced to six years in prison for the crimes of resistence and enemy propaganda. On various occasions Robles was denied his request for a change in his pre-trial detention during which he remained in prison.

Robles was arrested on December 4, 2020, for protesting on the Boulevard San Rafael in Havana. He peacefully protested, holding a placard above his head demanding freedom, an end to repression, and the release of controversial rapper Denis Solís.

Three days prior to taking to the streets to peacefully protest, Robles recorded a video which was released much later where he spoke about his thinking, his desires and also the reasons that led him to become a non-conformist.

“We wish with our hearts for a change, a change in the system, a change in the country, because really communism has converted this country into an true hell where it is practically impossible to breathe, not only to breathe air, but also to breathe peace, breathe tranquility,” he declared in the video.

At another point, he said “freedom is the greatest thing one can have in life and ever since these bold-faced communists arrived, they have thwarted all kinds of freedoms, freedoms of free religion, freedoms of a free ideology, freedoms to choose whomever you want, not who they impose upon you.” And he continued: “They’ve taken our freedom of thought, they even want to dictate what we think.”

At the beginning of March, the 29-year-old released a letter in which he reiterated his struggle and his goal, “Freedom for the people of Cuba.” In the missive, Robles returns to the reasons that led him to carry out the peaceful protest for which, today, he is in jail.

“I decided to break the silence because I got tired of seeing how my country is destroyed and the Government does nothing to fix it,” he explained, “because I believe the biggest enemy Cuba has is not abroad but sitting in the presidential seat.”

Thus, he insisted that his action was so that “fear and censorship would not continue governing Cuban society, so that expressing what you think and feel, anywhere, would not be a reason for going to jail, because I want Cuba to be a country for Cubans, no matter their way of thinking, so that the streets of my country would be for everyone and not just for the communists.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Filmmakers, Writers, Artists in Cuba Denounce State ‘Judicial Violence’ in a Letter

July 11 (11J) protesters are violently loaded onto a truck in front of the Cuban Radio and Television Institute in Havana. (EFE/Ernesto Mastracusa)

14ymedio, Havana, 21 March 2022 — To the massive protests of July 11 and 12, 2021, the Cuban government responded “with disproportionate and methodical political and judicial violence, which far exceeds the specific and spontaneous episodes of violence committed during the uprising by a few citizens,” denounced a group of Cuban artists and intellectuals in a letter published on Monday.

So far, the document titled “Manifesto against silence, for justice” has been signed by more than 40 public figures including filmmakers Fernando Pérez and Juan Pin, writer and translator Alex Fleites, historians Alexander Hall and Leonardo Fernández Otaño and journalist Jorge Fernández Era.

The letter constitutes an allegation of the right to protest on the Island. In that sense, it states that “the responsibilities of a protester who damages another’s object or property and those of one who assaults — being an agent of civil order — another citizen are not comparable.”

Following the protests, the regime unleashed “the disproportionate use of violence, which resulted in the immediate death of citizen Diubis Laurencio, home invasions, beatings of protesters and the arrest of more than a thousand citizens.” These acts of repression, they continue, “have been followed by judicial proceedings for more than five hundred citizens, where they have handed down exemplary sentences which, in several cases, exceed twenty years in jail.”

The protesters “have only exercised their right to have rights” as in other parts of the world, they declared in the first of five points directed at the Cuban artist and intellectual community. “In any republic, when excesses are committed during protests, those implicated — be they citizens or state agents — should be processed in a manner that is proportional and which conforms to the law, never punitively.” continue reading

With regard to the trials which have taken place, in a second point, they denounce that “there are disproportionate sentences, violations of the current procedural standards” as well as “an exemplary display of the procedures by the state-run national press.” The goal of this act of the regime, they insist, is to “impede any attempt by people to actively lead the destiny of their country,” and that is why these “public derisions” occur against “all Cuban society, beyond ideological sympathies or political militancies.”

They also advocate for the duty of academics and artists to “condemn the violence and arbitrariness, without double standards,” “without ideological waivers or realpolitik subterfuges,” especially because “the victims of this violence” almost always are people who “are the subjects of our research and works.”

The signatories, which include artists, Tania Bruguera, Camila Rodríguez and Sandra Ceballos, poet Amaury Pacheco and writer Rafael Rojas, defended “the social uprising” through “civil disobedience” which occurred last year as the result of “the government’s poor handling of the economy and the authoritarian manner in which conflict and social-political participation are managed in Cuba.”

Finally, they call for other intellectuals and artists to join their denunciation and insist that prisoners could be “our family members, neighbors, friends. Even us.”

“In this era of digital connectivity, we all know what is happening. Today, no one is unaware of the events, the testimonies and the outcomes,” states the missive, which is also signed by economists Omar Everleny and Pedro Monreal and attorney Eloy Viera.

“The posture of covering up, silence or complacency in the face of punitive processing of the social uprising protesters, rather than defending the vulnerable citizenry and making authorities self-correct, only perpetuate and expand the abuses and conflicts,” they affirm as they conclude the manifesto by demanding the release of the prisoners: “The concrete way to initiate such a procedure–for amnesty or something similar–could be up for debate; its substance is not. The Law cannot subordinate Justice.”

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Six Years in Jail for Yoan de la Cruz for Streaming the July 11 Protests in Cuba

Yoan de la Cruz was nearly isolated in Melena del Sur prison, in Mayabeque, until the day of his trial. (Cubalex)

14ymedio, Havana, March 22, 2022–Yoan de la Cruz, who last July 11th livestreamed the first protests in San Antonio de los Baños, which then spread throughout the country, has been sentenced to six years in prison by a tribunal, according to statements made on Tuesday by his mother, Maribel Cruz, on her Facebook profile.

“So that all my friends and family, who have always worried about Yoan, know. Today we learned his sentence: they gave him 6 years. As a mother, I feel like dying, it is very sad and difficult, the feelings for so much injustice, but God is great and one day such great injustice will be paid for,” she wrote. The Prosecutor asked for eight years.

Until the day of his trial, the young man remained nearly isolated in Melena del Sur prison, in Mayabeque province, where he will serve the rest of his sentence.

The sentencing for the 11J protesters in San Antonio de los Baños was delayed by three months. The trial began on December 15th and the sentences were expected last week.

The deployment of a broad operation in the city made some activists think that the sentences would be made public on Wednesday, March 16th, but ultimately it was due to the presence of Cuban Communist Party officials in different zones of Artemisa. continue reading

The case of Yoan de la Cruz led to a broad mobilization on social media of organizations, family and friends since he was arrested on July 23rd. The main argument in his defense was the strictly peaceful presence of the young man.

“They believe they are so big, yet a young man with a little phone in his hand has made the house of cards in which they live tremble,” said one of his friends a few days after his arrest.

“He did not throw a stone, he did not break a glass, he did not hit anyone, did not yell, ‘down with’ anyone. Please release him already,” said another one of the many colleagues who mobilized for his release. “You are making a mother, a grandmother, a family and thousands of friends, suffer.”

De la Cruz’s sentence, as well as those of the other 128 defendants in Havana, show how the regime is enraged with the protesters from the most symbolic places of 11J. These last sentences, made public last week, add up to 1,916 years in jail. The 128 were present in Toyo, where the protesters managed to overturn a patrol car and in La Güinera, where a policeman fatally shot Diubis Laurencio Tejada in the back.

According to estimates from Justicia 11J, which works with Cubalex, there are still 158 outstanding sentences, which should be handed down soon. They have documented 333 notifications affecting 518 people and at least 1,442 were arrested at some point. For all those who have yet to be tried, they demand immediate release.

In contrast, Yoel Sosa Gómez, who managed to escape the island before receiving his sentence, avoided a penalty of five years of correctional labor with internment. The young man from Vegas, Mayabeque, who granted an interview to América TeVé, is the father of a five-year-old girl and fled Cuba by sea. He is now in Miami waiting for his political asylum to be processed.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Prosecutors and Judges, Willing to ‘Trade their Robes for Rifles to Defend Revolutionary Justice’

Officials of Cuban Tribunals confirm feeling threatened by the sharing of their faces on social media. (Capture)

14ymedio, Madrid, 21 March 2022 — Cuban judges confirm feeling threatened for their work on the cases against the July 11 (11J) protesters and assure that they are willing to “trade the robe and dais, if necessary, for a rifle and trench.” The Union of Cuban Jurists (UNJC) held an assembly on Sunday in Havana during which they supported the declaration of its capital branch in which they state that they are victims of “slander and smear campaigns, after presiding over the judicial proceedings associated with the events last July.”

The president of the organization’s Provincial Board of Directors in Havana, Osmín Álvarez Bencomo, maintained that some are discrediting the work of attorneys and prosecutors who, “closely adhered to due process” by taking on these “extremely serious” cases associated with the “collective and violent uprising of a group of people against authorities and the public order with the goal of toppling it.”

According to the Havana jurists’ declaration, as soon as the sentences were made public, some have attempted to discredit the behavior of the judges and prosecutors, most of whom are young. “We categorically reject and will confront any attempt at media manipulation, and we warn that, all those who attempt to subvert justice — administered in the name of the Cuban people — through threats, discrediting or simply making information available, will bear the full weight of the law,” says the text.

Last Friday, the president of the People’s Supreme Court of Cuba, Rubén Remigio Ferro, warned that some people were distributing photos and the full names of the judges and prosecutors who presided over the cases and shared screenshots of these remarks from a tweet. “What moral sampling do they have, who from anonymity or from afar, dare to threaten Cuban judges? What do they intend? Who acts like this, are they even decent and good people? They are mistaken!” he writes. continue reading

Some activists who have shared the photos of officials claim they do not hide under any anonymity. “Here, we don’t hide to demand justice. We publicly accuse those judges and prosecutors of the crime of prevarication because the sentences came ’from above’ and the trials were a farce. We seek penalties,” responded activist Salomé García Bacallao.

The declaration published yesterday echoes these facts and offers support to their colleagues. “To our prosecutors and judges, we say, faced with these threats, Havana’s National Union of Jurists will accompany you permanently during this historic confrontation, which from the Law you are the first line of defense of the homeland. Long live our invincible and eternal Senior Jurist, Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz!” says the text.

Luis Antonio Torres Iríbar, First Secretary of the Party in Havana, confirmed that a campaign has been unleashed against these workers, though the target is not them, but rather, “to destroy the Revolution’s judicial system.”

“There will not be hatred, there will only be justice. We support and endorse the declaration of the Cuban jurists. Revolutionary justice is the guarantor of the Revolution,” claimed the official.

Also present was Ludmila Collazo Rodríguez, Vice President of the People’s Provincial Tribunal of Havana, who, in addition, bemoaned the apparent campaign against the judges and reiterated the close adherence to the law maintained by the jurists, such as, “the principle of popular participation that governs the administration of justice under the principles of impartiality, transparency and an eminently humanistic character.”

She also reiterated that defense attorneys praised the compliance with due process and that the sentences were not yet firm and could be appealed. “Being a prosecutor is a pride and a very difficult task, because responsibility, justice and human sensibility must be treated equally,” declared one prosecutor to the state news outlet Cubadebate, to which she added: “Their questioning of us is not fair. We do our job adhering to justice on behalf of the people to which we belong.”

Last week, the Provincial Tribunal of Havana published six sentences handed down to the July 11th protesters at the corner of Toyo and La Güinera. In these, 128 people were sentenced to a total of 1,916 years in prison, after being convicted of sedition, one of the most serious crimes within the Cuban Criminal Code. Furthermore, those Havana-based judges proved themselves particularly harsh, especially in two of the six proceedings, which included many cases where the penalties exceeded the prosecutors request, which is not very common.

In response to the tribunal’s “cruelty”, dozens of people, family members of the 11J prisoners, announced on Monday the creation of the Association of Mothers and Family Members for Amnesty (AMFA) protected by the right to free association recognized in the Constitution of 2019. “There is nothing more legal and legitimate than the shared defense of those whom we conceived, loved and raised,” says the statement.

The association announced that its objectives are the release of all 11J prisoners, which they consider political, with special emphasis on minors. In addition, they aim to promote amnesty for their family members, promote peaceful activities which will sensitize the population to the situation and seek support among international organizations in solidarity with their cause. They also announced their intent to participate in workshops or activities on legal and constitutional issues and promote assistance among affected families.

“We were not formed as a political organization, but rather a civic association respectful of the law. Despite the harshness and cruelty against our children and family members, we hold out hope that the government will reconsider and revert to respect of a Constitution, conceived and approved under its authority,” they state.

The announcement was made a few days after news broke that J11 protester, Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro’s mother, Yudinela Castro Pérez, was admitted to a Havana hospital following a suicide attempt. Castro, who is out of danger, has become, among the mothers, one of the most active in the fight for her son’s cause, to which authorities have responded by arresting and repressing her.

The arrests linked to protesting the arrests and sentences of the July 11 protesters apply to any citizen. Berta Soler and Ángel Moya were arrested on Sunday, and it is already the ninth consecutive Sunday since they announced in January that they’d resume their outings (suspended during the pandemic) to demand the release of political prisoners, now centered on those detained for 11J.

Moya himself detailed the arrest that occurred at 10:50 am and was released at 11:35 pm with two fines of 10 and 30 pesos, one for not carrying his documents and another for damages, for writing “patria y vida” on the cell wall.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Almost 2,000 Years of Jail Time for 128 of the July 11 (11J) Protesters in Cuba

Moment when several young men overturned a patrol car at the corner of Toyo, Havana, on July 11th (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 17 March 2022 — In contrast to the previous trials of July 11 protesters, in which the final sentences were lower than those sought by the prosecutors, the Diez de Octubre Tribunal in Havana, which tried 33 people on January 31, has been relentless.

Thus, it has sentenced Brandon David Becerra Curbelo, 17 years old at the time of his arrest that Sunday, to 13 years in prison when the prosecutor sought five years without internment.

His sentence is one of 128 made public on Wednesday and reflects the harshness of Cuban tribunals against the 11J protesters. The sentences communicated by the People’s Supreme Court are those related to protests at the corner of Toyo and La Güinera in Havana and the jail time received by the defendants adds to no less than 1,916 years.

The convicted were grouped into six cases, tried between December 14 and February 3 for which 129 people were processed, only one was absolved and another received 4 years, “of correctional labor without internment.”

The note shared by the Supreme Court states that the accused had committed and provoked “grave disturbances and acts of vandalism with the objective of destabilizing public order, collective security, and citizen peace.” continue reading

In the cases of the protests on the corner of Toyo, they state being able to demonstrate that the accused intended to “violently subvert the constitutional order. They launched stones and bottles against several officials, agents of interior order, installations of the National Revolutionary Police, patrol cars; they overturned a motorcycle and cars belonging to the Municipal Assembly of the People’s Power and caused injuries to other people and serious material damage.”

Those protests provided the most iconic image of that day, an overturned patrol car and a young man atop it with a Cuban flag, which has become irrefutable proof for tribunals of violence, which they attribute solely to the protesters.

With regard to the events of La Güinera, the document states that the neighbors accused “went to the streets in that area and called for passers-by and neighbors to join them; they threw stones, sticks, bottles and Molotov cocktails at agents of the Ministry of the Interior and other employees of state institutions who were present, whom they injured. For several hours, those who were tried also surrounded the National Revolutionary Police station in the Capri neighborhood.

The statement did not, at any point, mention the death of the young protester, Diubis Laurencio Tejada, shot in the back by police.

In addition, the tribunal states that the events were organized, despite the fact that the protests occurred spontaneously in San Antonio de los Baños (in the province of Artemisa), and then began to be replicated throughout the rest of the country, encouraged by seeing others on social media. Similarly, it considers their occurrence during the pandemic, when exceptional measures were in place to avoid crowds, an aggravating circumstance.

As is customary, the statement highlights that the procedures adhered closely to the law, despite the numerous claims, by not only opposition groups and human rights organizations, but also international and independent organizations, that they violated rights.

Those who received the harshest sentences were Dayron Martín Rodríguez and Miguel Páez Estiven, sentenced to 30 years in prison; Wilmer Moreno Suárez, to 26; Roberto Pérez Ortega, Luis Frómeta Compet and Asley Nelson Cabrera Puente, to 25 years.

With 23-year jail sentences are Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera, Ángel Hernández Serrano, Yerandis Rillo Pao, Oscar Luis Ortíz Arrovsmeth, Robert Orlando Cairo Díaz, Denis Ojeda Álvarez, Yoandry Reinier Sayu Silva and Yoanky Báez Albornoz.

Lázaro Zamora González, José Luis Sánchez Tito and Frank Aldama Rodríguez, received 22 years in jail; and Roland Vázquez Fleitas, Henry Fernández Pantera and Juan Emilio Pérez Estrada, 21 years.

Finally, Katia Beirut Rodríguez, Fredy Beirut Matos, Alexander Guillermo Martínez Amoroso, Dianyi Liriano Fuentes, Alexis Sosa Ruiz, Orlando Carvajal Cabrera, Jorge Vallejo Venega, Ronald García Sánchez, Alexis Borges Wilson, Donger Soroa González and Alexander Ayllón Carvajal, were sentenced to 20 years.

The list continues naming the many sentenced, in descending order down to 6 years, the shortest of the jail sentences imposed. And finally Nelsón Nestor Rivero Garzón is the only one whose sentence was commuted to correctional labor without internment.

The president of the Spain-based Prisoners Defenders, Javier Larrondo, told the Spanish agency EFE that the sentences were a “barbarity” and were exemplary in nature since the “large majority were peacefully protesting.”

The judgments issued in the first instance may be appealed to the Supreme Court.

On the other hand, the Provincial Tribunal of Havana revoked the sentence of two years of correctional labor without internment for José Díaz Silva, leader of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic (MONR), and arrested him on March 3rd.

According to the sentence, the activist violated the sanction imposed in July 2021, when he threatened a neighbor who entered his yard to steal plantains. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that he has been fined six times and has a “warning” for “meeting with people whose social conduct caused the neighbors discomfort.”

On this subject, Prisoners Defenders stated that “the Cuban regime did not stop until they jailed activist José Díaz Silva.”

COMPLETE LIST OF THOSE SENTENCED

With 30 years in prison: Dayron Martín Rodríguez and Miguel Páez Estiven.

With 26 years in prison: Wilmer Moreno Suárez.

With 25 years in prison: Roberto Pérez Ortega, Luis Frómeta Compet and Asley Nelson Cabrera Puente.

With 23 years in prison: Walnier Luis Aguilar Rivera, Ángel Hernández Serrano, Yerandis Rillo Pao, Oscar Luis Ortíz Arrovsmeth, Robert Orlando Cairo Díaz, Denis Ojeda Álvarez, Yoandry Reinier Sayu Silva and Yoanky Báez Albornoz.

With 22 years in prison: Lázaro Zamora González, José Luis Sánchez Tito and Frank Aldama Rodríguez.

With 21 years in prison: Rolando Vázquez Fleitas, Henry Fernández Pantera and Juan Emilio Pérez Estrada.

With 20 years in prison: Katia Beirut Rodríguez, Fredy Beirut Matos, Alexander Guillermo Martínez Amoroso, Dianyi Liriano Fuentes, Alexis Sosa Ruiz, Orlando Carvajal Cabrera, Jorge Vallejo Venega, Ronald García Sánchez, Alexis Borges Wilson, Donger Soroa González and Alexander Ayllón Carvajal.

With 19 years in prison: Duannis Dabel León Taboada, Adael Jesús Leyva Díaz, Lauren Martínez Ibáñez and Kendry Miranda Cárdenas.

With 18 years in prison: Odet Cruzata Hernández, Reinier Reynoso Valdes, Jesús Enrique Vázquez Cabrera, Marlon Brando Díaz Oliva, Dayán Gustavo Flores Brito, Oscar Bárbaro Bravo Cruzata, Yussuan Villalba Sierra, Ricardo Duque Solís, Francisco Eduardo Soler Castaneda, Elieser Gordín Rojas and Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro.

With 16 years in prison: Carlos Paul Michelena Valdés, Daisy Rodríguez Alfonso, Amaury Leyva Prieto, Kevin Damián Frómeta Castro, Juan Piloto Ferro and Luis Miguel Oña Jiménez.

With 15 years in prison: Felipe Almiral, Elier Padrón Romero, Brusnelvis Adrián Cabrera Gutiérrez, Amalio Álvarez González, Luis Armando Cruz Aguilera, Oriol Hernández Gálvez, Edel Cabrera González, Roberto Ferrer Tamayo and Harol Michel Mena Nuviola.

With 14 years in prison: Adán Kiubel Castillo Echevarría, Adrián Oljales Mora, Yunaiky de la Caridad Linares Rodríguez, Juan Carlos Morales Herrera, Amaury Fernández Martínez, Carlos Alberto Hernández Pérez, Andrius López Fragosa, Osvaldo Lugo Pita, Juan Walberto Verdecia Rodríguez and Lázaro Noel Urgelles Fajardo.

With 13 years in prison: Yunior García Vizcay, Carlos Luis Águila Socarrás, Adonay López López, Julián Yasmany Díaz Mena, Eduardo Álvarez Rigal, and Brandon David Becerra Curbelo.

With 12 years in prison: Karen Vázquez Pérez, Franyer Abad Dumet, José Luis Castillo Bolaños, Yan Carlos Martínez Bonne, Freidel Ramírez Castillo, Jarolkis Suárez Rojas, Idael Naranjo Pérez, Jesús Ramón Rodríguez Pérez, Yosney Emilio Román Rodríguez, Raudel Saborín González, Yasiel Arnaldo Córdova Rodríguez, Rafael Jesús Núñez Echenique, Elyán Seguí Cruz, Mackyani Yosney Román Rodríguez, Alejaime Lambert Reyes, Rolier Salazar González and Yurema Ramos Abad.

With 11 years in prison: Jaimel Alcide Firdó Rodríguez, Alejandro Bécquer Arias, Arielvis Rill Baró, Yaquelín Castillo García and José Luis Castillo de la Torre.

With 10 years in prison: Leoalys de la Caridad Valera Vázquez, Yunan González Terry, Raynel Mayet Frómeta, Brayan Piloto Pupo, Giuseppe Belaunzarán Guada, Santiago Vázquez León, Lázaro Daniel Cremé Bueno, Dayán Jesús Ramírez Rondón, Germán Barrenechea Echavarría and Eris Diógenes Mejías Vinent.

With 9 years in prison: Frank Daniel Roy Sotolongo, Yassell Guerra Campos, Marco Antonio Alfonso Breto and Liliana Oropesa Ferrer.

With 8 years in prison: Dariel Cruz García, Juan Yanier Antomarchi Núñez, Yurileydis Soler Abad, Félix Jesús Armada García, Eloy Bárbaro Cardoso Pedroso, Yoilán Limonta Mojena, Yosnel Daniel Castro Fernández and Frandy González León.

With 7 years in prison: Rubis Carlos Vicet Padilla, Emy Yoslán Román Rodríguez, Yensi Jorge Machado González and Wilfredo Limonta Mesa.

With 6 years in prison: José Antonio González Guerrero and Yeinier Ibáñez Boudet.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Instigating a Crime in the Draft Cuban Criminal Code / Cubalex

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 of the National Assembly of the People’s Power (ANPP). In the first section, the minimum jail sentence increases from three to six months, while the maximum remains the same. The penal framework is reduced, but the severity increased. Regarding the fine, it remains unchanged, however in the draft, the tribunal may decide to impose both sanctions: deprivation of liberty and a fine, simultaneously. The new Article 268 on instigation of a crime is read as follows in the Draft Criminal Code:

1. Whosoever, falling outside the case aforementioned in subparagraph c) of Article 145, publicly incites to commit a particular crime, incurs a penalty of deprivation of liberty for six months to one year or a fine between one hundred and three hundred quotas or both.

2. If the instigation is effective, the penalty imposed will correspond with the crime committed, if it is a higher penalty than the one referenced in the previous section.

3. If the instigation is to violate a law, or a legal disposition, or a measure adopted by the authorities, or citizen duties related to defense of the Homeland, production, services or education, the penalty imposed will be as described in section 1, with its lower and upper limits reduced by one-third.

4. If the facts mentioned in previous sections occur via social media or other social communications channels, the lower and upper limits of the penalties applied for each case will increase by one-half. One section that did not undergo any changes is that, if the instigation is effective, the sanction that corresponds to the crime committed will be imposed, if it is higher than that mentioned in the previous section.

The third section was combined with the fourth, increasing the possible motives for inciting civil disobedience, such as the case of non-compliance with “the duties of citizens related to defending the Homeland, production, services, or education,” which in the current Criminal Code are continue reading

included in section 4 of Article 202.

In this case, the minimum sanction in the penal framework also increases from one to four months and the maximum from three to eight. The fine also increases between 67 and 150 quotas. In the current code the maximum fine cannot exceed 100 quotas. Similarly, the tribunal may apply both sanctions.

In the draft, the fourth section contains completely new content: committing the crime using social media or other social communications channels. In this case the penalty is described in the third section, which, in turn, references the penalty in section one (six months to one year), with the lower and upper limits increased by one-half. The new criminal framework will be between nine months (lower limit) and a year and a half (upper limit) deprivation of liberty. The fine will also increase between 150 and 450 quotas and the tribunal may impose both sanctions.

We can conclude that sections 3 and 4 criminalize civil disobedience and freedom of expression. It is one way of preventing peaceful social protests because generally civil disobedience raises the awareness of the citizenry regarding the consequences of an unjust law, inviting them to mobilize to put an end to it.

The criminalization of civil disobedience also means the violation of the right to freedom of conscience (the law clashes with its most fundamental ethical principles and one feels the moral need to fight it, as remaining quiet before an injustice is incompatible with its conscience, freedom of expression, transmitting a message of denouncement against the unjust law and political participation).

Within instigation of a crime, campaigns against legal norms on social media, such as those conducted against Decree 349 and Decree Laws 370, 389, and 35 will be criminalized.

This entry, first appeared on Cubalex as Instigación a delinquir en el Anteproyecto del Código Penal cubano.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

Prosecutors Seek Up to 16 Years in Prison for July 11th (11J) Protesters in Cuba

Activist Yoandris Gutiéreez Vargas, tried in Bayamo for the July 11th protests. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, March 14, 2022–The Prosecutor’s Office of Bayamo, in the province of Granma, scheduled for last Friday the sentencing of the July 11th protesters processed in the last known trial. For the group of 17 people, accused of assault, resistance, public disorder, contempt and damages caused by alleged “acts of vandalism” against military personnel and vehicles of the Ministry of the Interior, it seeks up to 16 years in prison, informed Radio Television Martí.

Among those processed is activist Yoandris Gutiérrez Vargas, a member of independent organization Impacto Juvenil Republicano [Youth Republican Impact], who is currently in the Mangas de Bayamo prison facing an 11-year sentence. Last October the opponent spent one week on a hunger strike to denounce mistreatment in jail and the “unjust” accusations against him.

According to the legal NGO, Cubalex, the activist is denied family visits, the conjugal pavilion, and his telephone use is restricted. “He is under the most severe regimen, in an isolation cell,” they denounced on their list ahead of the trial.

Before Las Mangas prison, and since his arrest two days after the July protests, he was held in a jail in the municipality of Yara, from where he was transferred on October 18th.

Spokesperson for the Republican Party of Cuba, Geiler Flores Fonseca declared on Radio Television Marti that the July 11th protesters went out to express “all that they had kept within their hearts, and it was to demand freedom.” continue reading

In his judgement, the sentences sought by the Prosecutor’s office are “excessive” and referred to Yoandris Gutiérrez as a “loyal defender of human rights and a loyal truthseeker,” said Flores.

The Prosecutor’s Office of Bayamo accused them of committing assault, resistance, public disorder, contempt and damages; they allegedly committed “acts of vandalism” against military personnel and vehicles of the Ministry of the Interior.

Flores Fonseca maintains that “several protesters” attacked the Ministry vehicle because inside it were personnel dressed as civilians who began attacking protesters. “They simply tried to defend themselves,” added the opponent.

In addition to Yoandris Gutiérrez Vargas, the following were also tried in Bayamo: Abel Quevedo Miranda, Ariel Axel López Ramírez, Bryan Eladio Vega Véliz, Carlos Rafael Ramírez Quiñones, Emmanuel López Martínez, Javier Rafael Paneque Oliva, Jenry Osmar Sánchez Aparicio, Jorge Iván Díaz Puig, Juan Alberto Matos Masó, Levys González Piedra, Luis Arnaldo Leyva Pérez, Maikol Fabián Figueredo Carbonell, Rafael Cutiño Bazán, Ricardo Fernández Osorio, Roberto Sosa Cabrera and Yoel Consuegra Ávila.

As in previous cases, the trials have not been reported by state press and most family members of the defendants opt for silence, evidence of the pressure from the regime to silence their testimonies.

According to the Attorney General, the July 11th protests have resulted in criminal proceedings against 790 people, facing sentences of up to 30 years in jail.

Recently, writer María Cristina Garrido Garrido and her sister were sentenced to 7 and 3 years in jail, after participating in the protests in the municipality of San José de Las Lajas, in Mayabeque province, and a young woman, Reyna Yacnara Barreto Batista, went to prison in Camagüey, to serve the four years of correctional labor with internment to which she was sentenced for protesting on July 11th.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cubans Berta Soler and Angel Moya are Detained Again on Sunday, for the Seventh Consecutive Week

Photo taken by Ángel Moya from his home to document the surveillance by State Security. (Facebook)

EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 7 March 2022 — Ladies in White leader, Berta Soler, and her husband activist Ángel Moya were once again detained for several hours on Sunday, as he confirmed on Monday.

“They imposed a fine of 7.50 pesos for being undocumented and they confined me to a cell until they released me at 11:20 pm in the street of the Ladies in White national headquarters,” wrote Moya on his Facebook account.

The two activists were detained on Sunday when they attempted to go out once again, for the seventh consecutive week, to demand the release of all those arrested in relation to the antigovernment protests of July 11th.

As they explained, the detention took place outside the headquarters of the Ladies in White in the Lawton area of Havana.

“[Berta and Ángel] have been detained and disappeared at 11:16 this morning at Calle E and Porvenir in Lawton as they went out to the street to exercise their right to freedom,” denounced Ladies in White member Lourdes Esquivel Vieyto on social media on Sunday.

According to Moya, both were transferred to different detention centers, where they were held in the cells for more than ten hours. continue reading

Since the Ladies in White announced that they would protest each Sunday, as they did before the pandemic, demanding the release of those detained for the antigovernment protests on July 11th, they have been arrested every week.

The Ladies in White movement emerged in 2003 as a result of the wave of Cuban government repression known as the Black Spring. Two years later, they received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the European Parliament.

The EU and NGOs such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International criticized that wave of politically motivated arrests. Cuban authorities, however, alleged that it was an attack on national sovereignty on orders of the United States.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Justice System Condemns Writer Maria Cristina Garrido to 7 Years in Prison

Writer and activist María Cristina Garrido has been sentenced to 7 years in prison; the prosecutor had sought a 15-year sentence. Text on hand: No more violence against women. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, March 10, 2022–Writer María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez and her sister Angélica, who protested on July 11th (11J) in San José de las Lajas (Mayabeque), have been sentenced to 7 and 3 years in prison, respectively, according to Michel Valladares Cala, the first woman’s husband and director of the Republican Party of Cuba in Pinar del Río.

In a Facebook post, Valladares accused Gervasio Escalona Escalona, who he described as a “PNR (National Revolutionary Police) henchman,” of fabricating the assault charge, of which his wife was convicted. According to his testimony, officials who presided over the trial confirmed that the writer was not in the presumed location of the events on the night of the 11th. The agent affirmed that Garrido Rodríguez, who was accused of assault, contempt, resistance, public disorder, and organizing to commit a crime, hit him in the back.

Ángel Mesa was arrested in Guanajay, Artemisa, and on Wednesday received a 12-year prison sentence. (Facebook)

Forty-one-year-old María Cristina and 39-year-old Angélica Garrido Rodríguez were tried at the end of January and the prosecutor sought 15 and 10 years for them, respectively.

At the time, Valladares Cala described the proceedings as a “circus,” in which he says the prosecutors exposed contradictions in the testimony offered by the police officers. “They have not said a single truth, pure lies, pure contradictions among them,” stated Valladares who said, however, that the attorneys, “are doing a good job.”

In the last few hours, they also handed sentences to other protesters in Guanajay, Artemisa, of which only that of Ángel Mesa is known; he was sentenced to 12 years in jail for assault.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Women of July 11th, Forgotten on March 8th

The number of Cuban women imprisoned for their activism grew significantly following the protests on July 11th.

14ymedio, Havana, 8 March 2022 — Every year on March 8th, the state press is filled with the faces of women wielding rifles, in front of a classroom, or leading a state-owned business, but nothing is said of the political prisoners. The number of Cuban women incarcerated for their activism grew significantly following the protests on July 11th (11J). Today we remember eight of them, forgotten during the official celebrations of International Women’s Day.

At the beginning of this month, activist Saily Navarro received some bitter news. After being tried for public disorder, assault, and contempt, the 35-year-old from Matanzas was sentenced to 8 years in prison. A member of the Ladies in White and the Cuba Decide platform, Navarro’s “crime” on July 12th, 2021 was to demand, in front of the municipal police station in Perico, the immediate release of those who were arrested on the previous day.

The blow is doubly difficult for the dissident’s family as her father, former Black Spring political prisoner Felix Navarro, one of the few among the 75 convicted in March 2003 who refused to abandon the island, was also tried at the same time and sentenced to nine years behind bars. Saily Navarro has spent almost two decades of her life experiencing repression in the flesh, first for being the opponent’s daughter and now for her own activism.

They did not arrest Yudinela Castro on July 11th, she didn’t even take to the streets that day due to her delicate state of health. But in the days following the popular protests, they snatched from this woman — who suffers from leukemia and who has relapsed more than once — what is most precious to her. Her young son, Rowland Jesús Castillo Castro, was arrested for participating in the protests and now faces a 12-year jail sentence.

At the end of February, Castro was arrested by political police in an attempt to curb her activism. They transferred her to the 100 y Aldabó prison in Havana and they charged her with contempt, according to the denouncements of several activists. Her arrest seeks to prevent the indignation of the 11J mothers from crystallizing into a demanding movement, which will put the regime in check as occurred once before with the Ladies in White. continue reading

Two nearly identical faces were seen among the defendants in the Tribunal of Placetas, Villa Clara last September. They are sisters Lisdany and Lidianis Rodríguez Isaac, for whom the prosecutor sought sentences of ten years in prison for their participation in the 11J protests. These 22-year-old twins have been in the Guamajal prison, a precautionary measure imposed while they are being processed for the alleged crimes of public disorder, contempt and two counts of assault.

Liadinis’s daughter, only three years old, believes her mother has gone to work where they make sweets and cookies. She waits for her each day, while her grandmother makes up stories of a delayed return. The women’s mother, along with their triplet sister, confirmed that the most “serious” thing they did was to shout “patria y vida” in the streets of their community.

The lettered are not safe from repression either. At the end of January, in San José de las Lajas, Mayabeque, the prosecutor sought 15 years in prison for writer María Cristina Garrido Rodríguez. Garrido’s husband, Michel Valladares Cala, described the trial as a “circus”, in which “they did not tell a single truth, pure lies, pure contradiction among themselves,” he said, alluding to the behavior of the prosecutors and their witnesses.

The writer was tried for the crimes of assault, contempt, resistance, public disorder, and organizing to commit a crime. Those in charge of Ilíada Ediciones, which published her book, Examen del Tiempo [The Test of Time], launched an initiative so that all proceeds from the sale of the book will support the author, “long ago converted into an activist for the defense of human rights and women’s rights in Cuba,” stated the editors.

The Beirut family was especially shaken on that July 12th day. Exen Beirut took to the streets to join the claims of freedom in La Güinera, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the Cuban capital of Havana. In the following days, police hunted protesters, house to house, and arrested him. His sister Katia Beirut and her father Fredi protested his arrest in the street and they too were arrested.

Since then, the young woman has been in jail and although her and her father’s trial was held in December in the People’s Municipal Tribunal of 10 de Octubre, they are still awaiting their sentence. The prosecutor’s request amounted to 20 years in jail. The siblings’ mother believes the Cuban regime seeks to “tear down” and “destroy” her family.

Home has become a prison for Gabriela Zequeira Hernández, a 17-year-old sentenced to eight months in prison for participating in the 11J protests. Arrested for her behavior on that day, her case became an example of Cuban minors being arrested and international pressure made it possible for her to return home on July 24th, under house arrest.

The second-year accounting student at the Andrés Luján technical school of San Miguel del Padrón spent several days in the Women’s Prison of Occidente, known as El Guatao, and must complete an 8-month sentence. It will take much longer than that for her to forget the violence she suffered the day of her arrest. “The officials grabbed me so hard to put me in the patrol car that they hurt me, they treated me like I was any old thing,” she recalls.

They went to get 24-year-old Yunaiky de la Caridad López Rodríguez at her house ten days after the protests of J11, when she took to the streets in the municipality of Diez de Octubre in Havana. She disappeared for two days and her mother, Niurka Rodríguez García, went from prison to prison looking for her.

Also imprisoned in El Guatao, López Rodríguez is one of the few women convicted of sedition in a trial held on January 31st, sentenced to 17 years in prison.

None of these eight names will be repeated on Tuesday, during the celebrations in state-run organizations. They are the women excluded from the headlines and microphones. They are the Cuban women who have paid a high price for exercising their civil right to protest.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuban Artist Otero Alcantara, Very Weak After Ending His Hunger Strike in Prison

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara during his hunger and thirst strike in November 2020. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2022 — Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a prisoner at the maximum-security prison of Guanajay being held without trial since his arrest eight months ago, is weak after ending his hunger strike which lasted over two months.

As of now, curator Claudia Genlui, who published news of the artist on Wednesday on her Facebook profile, states that the leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) will change his “strategy” and accept visits to the prison, phone calls, and provisions from outside, which he had rejected in protest of his unjust incarceration.

This change, says Genlui, whose source is the activist’s attorney who was able to visit him after a four-hour wait, “does not mean he changes his position with regard to other things: he will not leave the country just because an agent of the Cuban state wants him to, but rather when he decides; he is willing to face trial and accept the consequences; he continues to declare his innocence and supports all those who have left Cuba for any reason.”

“Although it has been 16 days since he ended the hunger strike, he continues to be held in punishment ’corridor 25’, with those who do not have the right to phone calls,” continued the curator. “Luis has lost a lot of weight, he doesn’t go out to take sun because his strength is limited and he is weak. Next Thursday, if Luis Manuel does not communicate with his family, the attorney will file an appeal with the prosecutor to demand that he be transferred to the general population. continue reading

On January 18th, Otero Alcántara went on a hunger strike for the second time since he’s been in Guanajay, after being held in isolation. In solidarity with the artist, activists, and opponents in Cuba and abroad published daily texts with the hashtag #DiarioParaLuisma.

Similarly, the Government of the United States repeatedly requested his immediate release and raised concern that he is held in a maximum-security prison, “without formal charges or a trial date.”

The artist has been in jail since July 11th, when he was arrested before he was able to join the spontaneous anti-government protests, and is accused of public disorder, instigating a crime, and contempt.

These charges were imposed for the events of April 2021 when he assisted a birthday party in which neighbors from the area where he lives ended up singing Patria y Vida. Although he was free and awaiting trial, he was arrested and jailed on the day of the nationwide protests.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Cuba: ‘The Excessive Sentences for July 11th Protestors are an Injustice and They Must Be Reversed’

Alberto Reyes was ordained in 1996 at the same site where, as a baby, he was baptized. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 5 March 2022 — Since September 2019, Catholic priest Alberto Reyes Pías (born 1967) serves 10 towns in the municipality of Esmeralda, 120 kilometers from the provincial capital, Camagüey. Masses, baptisms, visiting the sick, and above all, listening to problems consumes part of his daily life. Furthermore, he is engaged in rebuilding the church and expanding the parish spaces and has found time to write very critical texts on the political regime, which resulted in an act of repudiation.

He dropped out of university to become a priest when he was already enrolled in his fourth year of medical school. His transition was filled with angst, as he recounts in his book Hágase mi voluntad [My Will Be Done]. He was ordained in 1996 at the same site where, as a baby, he was baptized.

Escobar. Since the practice of religion was decriminalized in the 90s, clashes are defined by the political posture of certain priests or religious leaders. The question is whether behind that act of repudiation which you suffered here on the 15th of November there are any anti-religious traces.

Reyes. One of the things they repeated relentlessly in school was that religion is the opium of the people. They explained to us that religion strays from reality, that it does not deal with social issues, and only believes in eternal life. It’s ironic because I get the impression that in Cuba, there are many people who from a position of power, would give what they don’t have for religion to be, at this moment, the opium of the people.

When motivated by faith a priest raises his voice against injustice and in favor of values, when he defends people’s human dignity, problems arise. If faith in Cuba is circumscribed to less controversial topics, for example, charity, service of others, or along those lines, the Government would remain in the lead, then there would be no problem. Nonetheless, when someone practices charity in an area where the Government cannot or does not want to participate, then there are problems. We only need to remember how the authorities reacted when people, on their own, mobilized support for those affected by a tornado in Havana.

There is a passage in the Gospel which reminds me of the attitude of the Communist Party. Some disciples tell Jesus that upon seeing some people expelling demons in his name, they forbade it, “because they were not one of us.” Jesus responded, “Well, you did wrong.” continue reading

If the Church were neutral in all matters, there would be no problem, but then it would be renouncing its own identity and that is non-negotiable.

Escobar. One of the most difficult situations today in Cuba is that of hundreds of people who have been sentenced to years in jail for demonstrating peacefully on July 11th. What has been your position with respect to that?

Reyes. What they did was exercise their right to protest. The sentences, aside from being notoriously excessive, had the intention of intimidating the nonconformists. It is clearly an injustice.

This must be reversed, especially taking into consideration that among those convicted are some very young people, for whom jail time may ruin their lives forever, hijack their youth, and destroy their humanity.

It would be a very magnanimous gesture on the part of the Government to simply say, “this will be reversed.” It will be reviewed because it is wrong.

Escobar. And what can the Church do to promote this review?

Reyes. The first thing the Church has done is what it always does: accompany. It has contacted the prisoners’ families, it has listened and helped to the extent possible. I think that by its prophetic nature, which means speaking in the name of God, the Church’s role is to denounce because for God this should be wrong and what is wrong must be denounced. We may or may not be heard, but it must be said. Silence is not the attitude.

The Church has been willing to accompany the families in legal proceedings, but many are afraid to speak, to protest, to stand up, because they have been terrorized with the well-known phrase, “if you speak it will be worse.” The family knows their children, their relatives are at the mercy of the authorities who enjoy total impunity. They can do anything and nothing will happen. That fear of “what if something happens to them,” encloses them in a circle of silence and that is how the impunity of the authorities grows.

There are very courageous women who have decided to dress in black as a sign of protest. As did the mothers and wives of prisoners during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. History repeats itself.

Escobar. A single priest in the town of Esmeralda can do a lot, but is there any initiative to convene more clergymen in this denunciation, in this protest?

Reyes. Whenever I think that the ideal thing would be for as many people as possible to join me, I recall the fable of the hummingbird who, faced with a fire in the forest, while all the animals fled in fear, the small bird went to the river and sucked up all the water it could to throw it on the flames. I invite, I encourage others, but without failing to do my duty. I am not alone in that purpose, but I hope more people will join.

Escobar. As a priest, what advice do you give those young people who debate that dilemma of continuing to live here with little hope for a future or leaving the Island at any cost?

Reyes. That is a very complicated topic. It hurts me very much that people see the need to emigrate, especially young people who can’t find, in their land, the tangible possibility of a future. My first impulse is to tell them, “stay and fight,” but I understand that we only have one life to live and people want to self-actualize; all of a sudden years pass and they don’t achieve anything.

I knew a young man who graduated with a degree in architecture. Everyone made glowing comments about his professional ability, but one day I found out he was at his grandfather’s farm operating machinery to clean rice. When I asked him why he did that he responded that, there, he earned in a day what, as an architect, he earned in one month. I remember I told him that Cuba would change and he only asked me, “When?” That occurred more than 20 years ago.

No one wants their children to go through the same thing. Since I can’t guarantee anyone here a future for their children, I lose all arguments asking them to stay. I can’t even provide an example of “the failure” of those who have left.

Escobar. In some religious circles, obeying the State is promoted as a norm. How can that be fulfilled under a dictatorship?

Reyes. Peter, the apostle, clearly said that God must be obeyed before men. For his part, Paul said, “pray and obey the authorities,” but the Church promotes obeying authorities when the laws defend values. It doesn’t matter to which political spectrum a citizen belongs, he should stop when the traffic signal demands it; that law defends a value, defends life. When a law goes against a value, obedience is not required. An example is the Family Code, which in my judgment, goes above basic family values, for that reason, there is no obligation to obey it, but rather there is an obligation to oppose it. That is the Church’s social doctrine.

Escobar. What, in your judgment, are the main points in which the Code contradicts human values?

Reyes. It is an extensive topic, so I will only center on the fact that not recognizing a family’s right to educate their own children according to their own criteria and principles. If a child in a family is being abused, clearly there should be a way to protect him or her, and it is that way in almost the whole world, but the family has the right to educate their own children in the way they consider best. The child must be respected, but parents may impose that he or she must eat or inject a medication. Sometimes I jokingly say that if one day a child enthusiastically asks his parents to take him to the dentist, perhaps it would be best if they take him to the psychiatrist. The idea that the family cannot signal to the child what to the State seems incorrect is somewhat of a catastrophe.

Escobar. How does a priest react when he is faced, in the flesh, with officials who put the Government policies into practice?

Reyes. I cannot forget that they are my brothers and that one thing is what I think is wrong and another is their person, their life. For me, principles are also non-negotiable. I try to communicate with them, pray for them. I must extend a hand again and again; if they bite it or they spit on it, that is their problem. They can count on me in their time of need, whether they need medicine or my blood, I will offer it without fanfare.

Escobar. Among those that are dissatisfied with the Government are some who believe that they can advise, “from within the Revolution,” to improve its management; others propose a confrontation without a truce and there is no shortage of those who insist on proposing a dialogue among all parties. Where do you stand?

Reyes. My tendency is toward dialogue, but what do I mean by dialogue? This is a totalitarian system with centralized power which has hijacked the freedom of the [Cuban] people. Dialogue is so that this situation will change with the goal of having a democratic, pluralistic country where the communist government isn’t the only option, and to make a reality for Cuba that wonderful phrase, “with everyone, for the good of everyone.”

A dialogue will make sense if it is to accomplish that, but before that, the government must demonstrate it has the authentic will to make that happen. I am a witness to their lack of will, every time I’ve asked to meet with them, the reply has always been that they will not meet me.

I reject violence and confrontation, but my great fear is that it is the only path left to change things; that the time will come when we will have not just another July 11th, but that this time it be brutal.

The government’s error is insisting on “no one will get me out.” However, that is forgetting that the people get tired. The ideal thing would be that from their seat of power they take the initiative to democratize the country and do it peacefully. Without the government’s willingness to dialogue, Cuba will continue to be an island on the run, it will continue to be a powder keg without knowing when it will explode. They should realize that they will also be better off when this change occurs.

Escobar. And what, of all this, do we leave to God?

Reyes. It is often repeated that the solution for Cuba lies in political and economic change, but it is not possible without spiritual change. Many biblical texts state that God, through the prophets, criticizes the people for abandoning Him and have gone after the baals, the false idols. I think the Cuban people abandoned Yahweh, God the Father, many years ago and without Him, following their idols, tried to build a society that claimed to be prosperous and marvelous.

In the 5th century San Augustine said, “when one flees from God, everything flees from you.” If God is not in the new Cuba, another dictatorship awaits, with the social injustice and all the ills created by that ill-fated revolution. These people need God, which does not mean that everyone must go to mass on Sunday (though that would be magnificent.) But it is absolutely necessary for the [Cuban] people to open their hearts to God.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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Interrogated and Threatened for Delivering Flowers to the Ukrainian Embassy in Cuba

Iryna Bilyk, third secretary of the Ukrainian consulate in Havana, along with activist Pablo Enrique (Twitter/@Dicotomia7)

14ymedio, Havana, 27 February 2022 — Cuban Pablo Enrique was detained on Saturday by State Security for leaving flowers at the Ukrainian Embassy in Havana, in solidarity with the country facing a Russian invasion.

As confirmed to this daily, he was taken to the Seventh Police Unit of the National Revolutionary Police, where he was met by three agents. There, he received, “many threats” and a second warning letter. “They are sick with hate,” declared Enrique, who introduces himself as a Christian and a human rights activist.

“Upon my arrival, the Sepsa Guards [Specialized Protection Services, S.A.] who provide security to diplomatic headquarters did not allow me to move,” recounted Enrique himself on his Twitter account as he neared the Ukrainian diplomatic headquarters, located on Fifth Avenue, in the Miramar neighborhood of Havana.

There, he stated that diplomat Iryna Bilyk, third secretary of the Ukrainian Consulate, had to come out and escort him, “as they did not allow me to hang (neither on the fence nor to place on the floor, nor even on a tree in front of the headquarters) a small bouquet of roses I took as a show of solidarity.” The flowers, he concluded with an image, “reached their final destination, and are now within the diplomatic headquarters.”

While the Cuban Government has aligned itself with Russia and has blamed the war on the United States and NATO, civic organizations and everyday Cubans have shown their support for Ukraine.

On Thursday, a group of activists issued a public declaration in solidarity with the Ukrainian people, which can be signed by anyone who desires, to date has received 300 signatures.

Promoted by Giselle González, Claudio Gaitán, Fernando Almeyda, Leo Fernández, Saily González and Magdiel Jorge Castro, the text breaks from the regime, condemning “an imperialist war that seeks to further destabilize a country which has the right to self-determination.”

Family members of July 11th prisoners also came out in favor of Ukraine recently. Pedro López, whose daughter-in-law’s brother, Andy García Lorenzo, was sentenced to seven years in prison in Santa Clara, declared on his social media that he’d just called the Ukrainian embassy in Cuba “to show our family’s solidarity with the people of Ukraine and to make clear that the cowardly position of the Cuban Government does not represent the sentiment of our beautiful, peace-loving people.”

In his post, he also published the phone numbers of the diplomatic headquarters and asked for freedom for García Lorenzo and the rest of the political prisoners.

In charge of Ukrainian business in Cuba, Oleksandr Kalinchuk on Friday had requested that Cubans take to the street to show their support for Ukraine. “We can change the position of the Cuban Government, we can change the joint situation,” he declared on AmericaTV.

Translated by: Silvia Suárez

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