14ymedio, Havana, 9 November2020 — October 10, National Culture Day in Cuba, has been designated as one of the most repressive days of the past month, according to the most recent report issued by the Cuban Center for Human Rights. The independent organization also reports arbitrary arrests, repression against religious figures and acts of corruption, among others.
The report, was prepared under the supervision of the government opponent Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello with the cooperation of the Cuban Prisoners Defenders organization. It details a list of 78 political prisoners who meet the international requirements to be declared Prisoners of Conscience, and in addition 29 other convicted persons who are under house arrest or on parole.
On another list of prisoners is data corresponding to another 30 political prisoners with convictions motivated by political acts and/or acts against State Security which include cases of terrorism and espionage.
In October, the cases of three new political prisoners were registered. Meanwhile, five were released, four of them for having completed their sentence and one on parole.
There were 84 arrests and a total of 169 victims of harassment, including those under surveillance, summoned and persecuted.
October 10 and 31 were designated as the most aggressive dates against opponents, activists and independent journalists, while October 20, National Culture Day, stood out for the repression of artists who have publicly expressed their disagreements with the government.
The authors of the analysis note that “the information offered does not cover everything that happens in the matter of human rights violations in the country,” because although progress has been made in coordinating with some provinces, organizations and individuals in particular, numerous events that are not reported.
Along with the data offered, the economic and social situation is also analyzed and the most important events are highlighted. Among them is the return to normality in several provinces with regards to the pandemic; also the official information on the frequently-postponed elimination of the dual currency; and the different reactions to the creation of stores that sell only in freely convertible currency.
What happened in the religious sphere also stands out not only in the Protestant churches, “which have been subjected on numerous occasions to harassment by the regime and even to the arrest of their pastors”; but also the words of priests of the Catholic Church that have gone viral on social networks.
Additionally, the article entitled “Rights that citizens have under Cuban regulations,” taken from Bulletin 24 of the Corriente Agramontista organization, authored by lawyer José Ernesto Morales Estrada, is included here.
Finally, the report summarizes different events related to social problems where there are accidents, landslides, murders, acts of corruption, evictions from homes and the acute shortages of food and material goods that affects Cuban families.
The Cuban Center for Human Rights was formed in October 2019 to give continuity to the work that had been carried out for decades by the Cuban Commission on Human rRights and National Reconciliation. In its founding declaration it expressed the objective to be a “small group collecting the testimonies of violations of human rights by the dictatorial Cuban regime throughout the Island.”
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