Cuba has adopted a pattern of arbitrary detention, intimidation and torture as a way to quell new protests against the regime, according to a report by the NGO Human Rights Watch that analyzed the dictatorship’s response to the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021.
The document was released this Monday (11), completing one year of the acts, which ended with the death of a protester and the arrest of more than 1,400 people, of whom less than 400 have already been tried – summed up, the convictions reach 1,916 years.
In a virtually unprecedented mobilization, the so-called 11J was triggered by months of frustration with the worsening that the Covid pandemic has imposed on Cuba’s chronic problems, such as the lack of freedoms, shortages and difficulties in accessing health care. The regime brutally repressed the acts, and attempts to replicate them were thwarted by arrests, intimidation and pressure for opponents to go into exile.
The HRW report takes stock of the abuses committed by the dictatorship over the past year — from the lack of punishment for the death of Diubis Laurencio Tejeda, 36, to the fact that 700 people are still deprived of their liberty. To this day there are restrictions on internet access and spying on electronic messaging services of hundreds of people allegedly involved in the protests.
The entity investigated 155 cases of individuals who suffered abuse and, in the document, presents the detailed history of 14 of them. In Cuba, 170 people were interviewed, including victims, family members, lawyers, human rights activists and journalists. Even with restricted access, there was consultation of lawsuits, research by local NGOs and videos recorded on the day of the protests and throughout the year.
According to HRW, those responsible for the abuses are the Armed Forces, the police and the brigade specialized in repression known as “black berets”. The leader of the dictatorship, Miguel DÃaz-Canel, says there are no political prisoners on the island and says that the convictions are for crimes against state security and for collaboration with foreign forces. from the USA.
Among the cases analyzed by the NGO is that of independent artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, 34, who participated in the video for the song “Pátria y Vida”, one of the anthems of the protests. He was arrested on the 11th and taken to the Villa Marista detention center, but only had access to a lawyer on August 5th.
According to the artist, the regime offered his freedom in exchange for a promise that he would leave the country, a common practice of the dictatorship. Otero refused and was tried on May 31, being sentenced to 5 years in prison — the sentence is being served at the Guanajay prison.
The report brings the balance of sentences given to more than 380 protesters and activists, including some minors. As with Otero, in most cases the detainees were not visited or had contact with an outsider for days or months, and access to lawyers was also regulated.
During interrogations, it was common for agents to intimidate family members by threatening them. Many trials took place behind closed doors and without the right to defense. Most of the charges were defined as incitement to public disorder and contempt — singing “Pátria y Vida” or hurling insults at the regime were framed as such. The NGO points out disproportionate penalties for the alleged crimes.
Another outstanding case was that of sisters MarÃa Cristina, 39, and Angélica Garrido RodrÃguez, 41, from Quivicán. The first is an activist and the second is a housewife, and both took to the streets at 11J. As some of their friends were detained in the protests, they decided to visit them in prison the next day, when they were also arrested, accused of causing disturbances.
MarÃa Cristina told her husband, on a brief visit he was able to make months later, that she was hit by agents who shouted “Viva, Fidel.” She and her sister were tried on January 21 and received sentences of seven and three years in prison, respectively.
The episodes of ill-treatment recorded by Human Rights Watch also include abusive processes and physical and psychological torture. According to the entity, the balance of a year of the demonstrations suggests the existence of a pattern that demonstrates a plan to prevent new protests, punish those who promote them and provoke fear among those who are willing to take to the streets.
The repression has been even tougher since the approval of the new Penal Code, in May, which includes determinations considered vague for those who receive remittances from abroad.
