Cadal praises the work of Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the repression
14ymedio, Havana, 9 July 2024 — The former ambassador of Switzerland to Cuba, Mauro Reina, who publicly condemned the police repression during the protests of 11 July 2021 (11J), received the Award for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights on Tuesday. From Buenos Aires, where the Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (Cadal) has its headquarters, he celebrated the support of the people who were “democratic referents” during the demonstrations and who ended up in “forced exile.”
Reina, born in 1964, resident on the Island from 2019 to 2023, witnessed the repressive wave of the regime after 11J. He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks they face in their freedom and security.”
Cadal remembers the series of messages sent on the social network X by the Embassy of Switzerland in Havana after the protests. The first of them, published on July 15, expressed the Embassy’s “concern” over the events and unambiguously demanded respect for “freedom of assembly and expression.” It was one of the first institutions to call for the release of political prisoners and to directly ask the authorities for an “inclusive dialogue” with the protesters.
He dedicated his prize to the “Cubans who fight for a better future despite the risks to their freedom and security”
The Embassy also publicly lamented the exile of jurist Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada, a “close contact” of the diplomatic headquarters. In the same message it condemned the stampede of professionals and citizens who, due to their opposition to the regime, had felt forced to leave the country.
Fernández, who was until recently in the Academics at Risk Program of Harvard University, congratulated Reina on the award and said he had been an “example” of a diplomat committed “to his responsibilities to his government and to his respect and sensitivity for the problems of the Cuban people.” He also pointed out that Reina had developed his work in the diplomatic context of Havana, where it is uncommon for diplomats to ask the regime to account for its actions against human rights.
Maintaining the balance and decorum inherent in his profession, Fernández said that Reina understood “the pains and greatness of the Cuban people,” and he kept abreast of the political events that he had experienced on the Island.
Reina also received praise from the journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa, a resident of Spain, who congratulated him for accompanying those who “were pushing to change the course of life in Cuba.” He agreed with Fernández that it was “a gesture that very few foreign diplomats in Cuba have the courage to carry out.”
Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion”
Finally, Manuel Cuesta Morúa, vice president of the opposition platform D Frente, applauded Reina’s “tireless discretion” and his “sensitivity to the great problems faced by Cuba and the issues of democratization and civil society.” He stressed the tact of the diplomat when transmitting the vision of his Government without losing his close relationship with the opponents, which he expressed “openly” at all times.
In an interview given on Monday to the Argentine journalist Jorge Elías, Reina explained that “in human rights issues, neutrality does not play any role.” He described his days in Havana as “very interesting and sometimes difficult.” Relations between Cuba and Switzerland, he alleged, are “quite intense,” so that any support for the opposition was a delicate issue. He assured that at all times, during his mission, he had been supported by the Swiss authorities. He assessed the current situation of the country as a “multidimensional crisis” because the authorities do not want to give up their “dogmas.”
Born in Lugano and graduated in Law from the University of Geneva, Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana. Since August 2023, he has been Ambassador of the Swiss diplomatic mission in Denmark.
Reina has been a diplomat in Buenos Aires, Madrid, Bern, Rome, Kazakhstan, Havana and Denmark
Since 2003, Cadal has awarded the Prize for Diplomacy Committed to Human Rights to 16 diplomats who have resided in Cuba for some time and have stood out for their firm position in the face of the regime’s abuses. The organization also presented a special prize to the Chilean writer Jorge Edwards, whose book, Persona Non Grata can be read as the chronicle of a diplomat carrying out his work in a dictatorship.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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