Human Rights Cuba reports:

On the 16th anniversary of the Maleconazo, a large scale protest that took place in Havana in 1994 due to public discontent over food shortages and energy blackouts, Cuba’s repressive forces conducted a massive arrest of human rights activists and independent journalists.

The arrested were detained, beaten, interrogated and later released. This took place yesterday near the U.S. Interests Section building on Cuba’s waterfront known as the Malecon. Among the arrested were human rights activists who wanted to peacefully mark the anniversary and independent journalists who were trying to enter the building to use the internet on their scheduled appointment day and time.

Those arrested were:

• Alfredo Guilleuma “El Viejo Alfredo”, an elderly Human Rights Activist
• Carmelo Rodríguez Rodríguez, Human Rights Activist and member of the Movimiento Línea Dura “Orlando Zapata Tamayo”
• Daniel Anselmo Gonzalez, Independent Journalist and Vice President of the Comision for Assistance to Political Prisoners and their Families (CAPPF)
• Ernesto Rodríguez López, Human Rights Activist
• Enrique Labrada, Human Rights Activist
• Hector Julio Cesar Cedeño, Blogger and Independent Journalist
• Heriberto Liranza Romero, Human Rights Activist and member of the Movimiento Cubano de Jóvenes por la Democracia
• Hermogenes Inocencio Guerrero, Human Rights Activist and Vice President of Naturpaz
• Hidelbrando Chaviano, Blogger and Independent Journalist
• Hugo Damian Prieto Blanco, President of the Movimiento Línea Dura “Orlando Zapata Tamayo”
• Joel Lázaro Carbonell, Blogger and Independent Journalist and President of the Organización de Derechos Humanos Cubanos Libres
• Jose Alberto Alvarez Bravo, Blogger and Independent Journalist
• Juan Carlos Basallo Fregio, Human Rights Activist and member of the Partido Liberal de la República de Cuba
• Juan Mario Rodríguez, Human Rights Activist
• Julio Antonio Rojas Portal, Blogger and Independent Journalist
• Omar Lafita Rojas, Independent Journalist and Attorney
• Roby Gonzalez Torres, Independent Journalist and member of the Comision for Assistance to Political Prisoners and their Families (CAPPF)
• Ruben Carty Lowe, Blogger and Independent Journalist who is the Director of Centro Informativo Cubano
• Silvio Benítez Márquez, Independent Journalist and President of the Partido Liberal de la República de Cuba

Other activists were also detained and arrested whose names were not available at the time this information was reported.

August 4th, 2010 - The “#OZT: I Accuse the Cuban Government” campaign, which has gathered more than 52 thousands signatures worldwide demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all Cuban political prisoners, laments that Castro regime has lost again an opportunity to show its will to change in order to respect the individual freedoms of all Cubans. The recent declarations of Raul Castro, in which he assures that “there will be no impunity” for the “counterrevolutionaries,” whom he brands “enemies of the motherland” is the evident proof that nothing has changed in Cuba with the announcement of the release from prison of 52 peaceful dissidents, of which 32 still remain behind bars while the other 20 have been automatically deported to Spain.

The language used by Castro to refer to these people, who have not committed any other crime than dissenting peacefully of the status quo, shows that there’s not even a hint of a will on the side of the regime to amend a modus operandi that has violated systematically the fundamental rights of all Cubans for more than fifty years.

The “#OZT: I Accuse the Cuban Government” considers scandalous the statement of Raul Castro in which he considers “sacred” the alleged achievements of the regime and in which ha affirms that the defense “of streets and squares” will continue because “it will continue to be the duty of the revolutionaries, and we cannot deprive them of that right.” We consider that these statements are only meant to justify the reproachable “acts of repudiation” and the daily abuse inflicted upon all who don’t share the opinion that the regime pretends to impose on them. This campaign considers that for the process of release of political prisoner to be believable, the Castro regime must abandon its lying and petty outdated rhetoric against the peaceful opposition.

This campaign insists on its demand to the regime to release immediately and unconditionally all Cuban political prisoners, without imposing deportation as the condition to their release. We also insist on reminding democratic governments and NGOs throughout the world to not validate a false and deceitful process of releasing political prisoners, designed to diminish the pressure on the Cuban dictatorship, and that does not guarantee the respect of all human rights for the Cuba population inside and outside of the island.

Our campaign will attempt to deliver our Declaration, and the accompanying more than 52,000 signatures supporting freedom for all Cuban political prisoners and respect for human rights in Cuba; at the Cuban mission to the UN in New York City, the Archdiocese of Miami and the Spanish consulate in that city, and the Cuban consulates in Barcelona and Montréal today.

Yesterday, we attempted delivery at the Cuban embassy in Madrid, and were denied access to it.

We will update regularly with reports, photos and video as they become available. You can follow the action in New York City live (in Spanish) on Actualidad 1020.

Washington, D.C., July 13, 2010—The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) welcomes the decision by the government of Cuba to release seven persons who had been deprived of their liberty since 2003. According to the information received, those released were taken to Spain, and others reportedly may be released as well.

In October 2006, the IACHR adopted its Report on the Merits in Case 12.476, in which it recommended that the State of Cuba immediately and unconditionally release 75 dissidents, members of the opposition, human rights activists, and independent journalists who had been arrested in March 2003 for exercising their right to freedom of expression. All the dissidents who were released are victims named in that Report on the Merits.

The IACHR encourages the State of Cuba to continue with the process of release of all political prisoners. Likewise, the Commission reiterates that, as it recommended in the Merits Report in Case 12.476, Cuba must overturn their convictions and bring its procedural norms in line with applicable international standards for due process, so that persons who turn to the courts to determine their rights and responsibilities can count on the minimum legal guarantees to exercise their defense.

The IACHR calls upon the State to undertake all necessary reforms in accordance with its international human rights obligations and to implement a process of democratic normalization. The IACHR remains at the disposal of the State of Cuba to assist in this process.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who act in a personal capacity, without representing a particular country, and who are elected by the OAS General Assembly.

Useful links
Press Release 33/10: IACHR Concerned about Situation of Guillermo Fariñas in Cuba
Press Release 22/10: IACHR Condemns Death of Orlando Zapata in Cuba
Merits Report, Case No. 12.476, Cuba
IACHR Press Office
IACHR Web site


(Source: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights).

New York City, July 11, 2010—PEN American Center President Kwame Anthony Appiah* hailed the news that journalist Normando Hernández González was freed from prison yesterday morning in Cuba, calling the release “a very hopeful sign” and “an enormous relief to PEN and to all those around the world who have followed his ordeal.”

Hernández was arrested on March 18, 2003, one of 75 writers and activists jailed in a major crackdown on dissent, and sentenced to 25 years in prison for reporting on the conditions of state-run services in Cuba and for criticizing the government’s management of issues such as tourism, agriculture, fishing, and cultural affairs. Held in deplorable prison conditions, he was hospitalized repeatedly over the past seven years. As his health declined, PEN mounted an increasingly urgent campaign on his behalf, awarding Hernández the 2007 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and pressing the Cuban government to provide him adequate medical care and grant him a humanitarian release.

Hernández’s release yesterday is part of an announced agreement between Cuban authorities and the Catholic Church to free 52 political prisoners, all jailed since the March 2003 crackdown. He will reportedly fly to Spain with his wife and daughter on Tuesday.

“We are enormously relieved that Normando Hernandez Gonzalez is free and reunited with his family, and that he will soon find refuge and the medical treatment he so desperately needs in Spain,” Appiah said. “After a seven-year ordeal that undermined his health and brought endless anguish to his family, he deserves this respite. We salute his endurance and courage, and the endurance and courage of all those who have been jailed in Cuba in violation of their right to freedom of expression. We will be working to ensure that they, too, are released.”

PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information on PEN’s work, please visit www.pen.org.

Raul Castro Government Continues to Criminalize Dissent

July 8, 2010

(Washington, DC) - The plan to release a group of Cuban political prisoners is a positive step, but the Cuban government should release all political prisoners, Human Rights Watch said today. Cuba should also dismantle its authoritarian laws and practices, which continue to deprive Cubans of their most basic rights, Human Rights Watch said.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Havana announced on July 7, 2010, that the Cuban government would release five political prisoners on the condition that they relocate to Spain with their families, and that an additional 47 political prisoners arrested in 2003 would be released in three to four months.

"While we are relieved for these prisoners and their families, the fact remains that scores of political prisoners locked up under Raul Castro continue to languish in Cuba's prisons," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch. "So long as Cuba's draconian laws and sham trials remain in place, they will continue to restock the prison cells with new generations of innocent Cubans who dare to exercise their basic rights."

The political prisoners expected to be released are among 75 journalists, human rights defenders, labor activists, and other peaceful dissidents arrested in a massive crackdown by the Cuban government in March 2003. All 75 were tried in closed, summary trials that violated their most basic due process rights, and sentenced to an average of 19 years in prison.

Since taking over control of the government from Fidel Castro in July 2006, Raul Castro has incarcerated scores of political prisoners. The government has relied largely on a provision of the Criminal Code that allows authorities to imprison individuals without ever having committed a crime, on the allegation that they are "dangerous" and might commit one in the future. A recent Human Rights Watch report, "New Castro, Same Cuba," documented more than 40 cases of dissidents who have been imprisoned for "dangerousness" under the Raul Castro government, in addition to scores more sentenced for laws criminalizing free expression and association.

The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), a respected human rights group that is not recognized by the Cuban government, has been able to document 167 cases of current political prisoners. Because Human Rights Watch has been able to document additional cases of people imprisoned for "dangerousness," Human Rights Watch believes the number of political prisoners is even higher.

Previous efforts by religious, civil, and political leaders to negotiate with the Cuban government have led to the release of some political prisoners. Reverend Jesse Jackson convinced Fidel Castro to release 26 political prisoners in 1984, and Human Rights Watch's Vivanco secured the release of six in 1995. Talks with Bill Richardson led to the release of three dissidents in 1996, and Jimmy Carter's 2002 visit prompted the release of one more. The visit of Pope John Paul II in 1998, after which more than 80 jailed dissidents were released, was the most successful of these efforts.

"The international community needs to pressure Cuba to go beyond the periodic release of jailed dissidents and instead dismantle the repressive laws, courts, and security forces that put them in prison in the first place," Vivanco said.

In the past, the Cuban government has released political prisoners on parole (licencia extrapenal) rather than releasing them unconditionally. By granting them parole only, the Cuban government leaves open the possibility of returning dissidents to prison to serve out their sentences in the future, intimidating them to keep them from exercising their fundamental rights.

Furthermore, in recent instances such as the February 2008 release of four political prisoners, the Cuban government has forced dissidents to choose between staying in prison and being exiled to Spain, which fundamentally violates their rights as Cuban citizens. Public statements of those involved in the negotiations for the planned releases suggest that the first five prisoners to be released were presented with a similar choice. Human Rights Watch recommend that all prisoners, including those from the group of 75, be released unconditionally and be allowed to stay in Cuba with their families.

The announcement of the prisoners' upcoming release came in the context of the 134-day hunger strike of the Cuban journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who was calling for the release of 26 political prisoners suffering from severe health problems. Fariñas began his hunger strike on February 24, the day after a political prisoner, Orlando Zapata Tamayo, died following his own 85-day hunger strike. Fariñas reportedly ended his hunger strike on July 8, following the announcement of the release.

Efforts by the US government to press for change in Cuba by imposing a sweeping embargo have proven to be a costly and misguided failure, Human Rights Watch said. The embargo has inflicted severe hardship on the Cuban population as a whole, while doing nothing to improve the human rights situation in Cuba. Rather than isolating Cuba, the policy has isolated the United States, alienating Washington's potential allies on this issue.

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Thursday he would visit Cuba next week to speak about human rights and support mediation efforts launched by the Roman Catholic Church.

“I will be visiting Cuba Monday and Tuesday,” he told Cadena Ser radio, adding that the aim was to “pursue every effort at dialogue to improve the human rights situation and the process of reform” on the communist-ruled island.

Moratinos singled out the recent successes of the Church with regard to political prisoners, saying, “I am convinced there will be positive results with regard to human rights” in Cuba.

Last month Havana released an ailing political prisoner, Ariel Sigler, and transferred 12 other detainees to facilities in their home provinces following unprecedented dialogue between Cuban President Raul Castro and Roman Catholic Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

Shortly afterwards Vatican Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti described evolving relations between Roman Catholic Church and Cuba as “very positive,” on a visit commemorating the 75th anniversary of ties.

Jailed dissident physician Darsi Ferrer was also released in June after serving 11 months of a 15-month jail sentence for illegally purchasing construction materials — charges his family said were trumped up.

Imprisoned several times for heading protest movements, Ferrer in April went on a three-week hunger strike to demand a fair trial and medical attention. His cause was taken up by several Western nations.

Moratinos said that another dissident, Guillermo Farinas, was in a serious condition after launching a hunger strike four months ago to secure the release of 26 sick detainees.

Farinas stopped taking food the day after leading dissident Orlando Zapata died on February 23 as the result of an 85-day hunger strike.

The Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission (CCDHRN) — an outlawed but tolerated group — estimates there are some 200 political prisoners in the Caribbean nation of more than 11 million people.

Cuban authorities consider them a threat to national security, and claim the prisoners are “mercenaries” on Washington’s pay, out to smear the Cuban government.

During its just-ended tenure of the European Union’s rotating presidency, Spain urged that full relations with Cuba be restored, but it met with resistance from other countries in the 27-nation bloc.

EU foreign ministers decided to look at the question again in September.

The “common position” at present is to insist that Cuba make progress on human rights and democracy before ties are normalized, diplomats said.

Spain has argued that the EU position has yielded few results since it was adopted in 1996 and should be abandoned.

(Source Human Rights in Cuba.)

The Canadian Press reports that Manfred Nowak, the U.N.'s independent torture investigator, "is deeply disappointed by Cuba's decision to block him from visiting the country for the first time."

[...]the Cuban government informed him it was unable to accommodate his visit before the end of his term on Oct. 30.

Nowak said Wednesday that he had received a "clear invitation" from the government earlier this year and had hoped to investigate allegations of torture and ill-treatment in the communist country.

The U.N.-appointed human rights expert has made several fruitless attempts to visit the island since 2005.

Cuban Ambassador in Geneva Rodolfo Reyes Rodriguez declined to comment, saying he was awaiting instructions on the matter from Havana.

UPDATE: This is being reposted to include six more names added by Masferrer to his initial post. The update was based on a Diario de Cuba article.
Marc Masferrer reports that:

Reina Luisa Tamayo Dánger’s husband, José Marino Ortiz, denounced on a phone interview to Miami-based journalist Nelson Rubio the constant harassment his family suffers. Asked about his opinion on the negotiations between the regime and the Catholic Church, José Marino, stated that “the Cuban government never sympathized with the Catholic Church. It expelled 600 priests, and those left behind had to follow the governmental line.” He stated that it is “all a game”, and asked the Catholic Church to demand the final release of all political prisoners, not just The 26 [gravely ill prisoners], “by one stroke of the pen” from the government.

Marino praised the fact that Ladies in White can now march without being harassed in Havana, and wondered why Reina Luisa; however, cannot.

Further details of what happened this weekend, were offered in a phone interview by Reina Luisa herself to #OZT I accuse the Cuban government. Reina told us that on this past Sunday, that marked “the three month anniversary of the murder” of her son by the regime; she went to church, and after Mass she waited to be at least 10 to 15 meters from the temple to say “Zapata vive. Tres meses.” [Zapata lives. Three months]. They, Reina her family and another opposition activist, were immediately surrounded and harassed by government mobs all the way to her home.

They “blocked the only access point to her home, and that is why only one other opposition activist was able to get through.” They went out, and saw that “the mob had assembled at a place called La Güira” on the road to the actual town [Banes]. However, she and her companions went the other way toward the cemetery to visit Orlando’s tomb without incident.

A few hours later, an opposition activist who lives next to the family, went out to buy some food from the town. He was attacked by female members of the government mob who beat him with umbrellas, and called him, in an effort to humiliate him, “[Reina Luisa’s] slave.”

Shortly after that, the mobs retreated and some opposition leaders were able to reach the house. Last night they were able to celebrate an evening of remembrance honoring martyrs Pedro Luis Boitel, on the 38th anniversary of his death [after a 53 day long hunger strike in prison]; and Orlando Zapata Tamayo, Reina Luisa’s son, who died after an 85 day long hunger strike on 23 Februry 2010.

CNN's David Ariosto reports on the many times denounced and well documented situation of Cubans whom the regime considers "illegal immigrants" within the very own borders of the nation.  Since the mid-nineties the Cuban government has practiced a systematic yet selective and discriminatory policy of internal exile by barring citizens of the provinces from being in the Cuban capital, La Habana, unless they are there in official functions.

What the article does not mention is that this policy is applied especially to opposition activists as shown recently in the cases of independent journalist Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias, and before with some members of the Ladies in White, and the most recent martyr of Cuba's peaceful struggle for freedom, Orlando Zapata Tamayo.  It is also, applied unevenly, as the article shows, on the basis of race. Those Cubans of darker complexion are much more likely to be stopped by a police officer (who almost nine times out of ten is himself an "oriental" or  a person from Oriente, the Eastern provinces) and summarily deported to their places of origin.

Article 13.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes that every individual "has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state."

By Laritza Diversent*

In Cuba, there are several forms of expression. The most peculiar one if when you want to criticize the political system. There are several steps you need to follow. First, you need to look around the place where you are. Second, know with whom you are trying to have a dialogue. And third, you need to converse quietly, using signs and codewords.

To many, this may seem like an exaggeration. Some even ask if it is simply fear, or if it is really forbidden to criticize the socialist system. The truth is that many Cubans are afraid to speak up; others protect themselves with aliases and those who speak openly, are taking a risk.

The current criminal statues protect State’s leaders, officials and institutions against negative expressions and opinion from the citizenry. In other words, in Cuba, criticism can be a crime.

The Penal Code includes several criminal provisions that protect people’s honor in general: defamation, libel and slander, and insult. However, the provision of “disrespect” offers exclusive protection to the authorities, in addition to those covered by the previously mentioned crimes.

The criminal provision applies a penalty of a fine or prison from 3 months up to 1 year to whomever “threatens, smears, libels, insults, reviles, or through any other mean defiles or offends, verbally or in writing, the dignity or decorum of an authority, public official, or its agents or assistants, in the course of performing their duties or on occasion or because of their duties.”

Orlando Zapata Tamayo’s initial sentence was for committing this crime. A prisoner of conscience, who died in prison after 86 days on hunger strike, he was sentenced to three years in prison because this crime is considered aggravated when is committed against the president, the members of the Council of State and Minister and the National Assembly. It is a common crime strongly tied to politics.

That means that mocking Fidel Castro or calling the president of the National Assembly a cynic could be interpreted by police as a crime of disrespect.

Don’t they say that in Cuba there is democracy? Then why can public figures not be criticized by the citizens?

But that’s not all. There are Supreme Court rulings stating that inspectors from the departments of Architecture and Urban Planning, Public Health and the night-shift security officers working for the Ministry of the Interior are also protected by this criminal provision of disrespect. What’s more, members of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDRs) are also privileged with the protection of this norm, since they are considered authority’s assistants.

Whoever thinks that if they criticize the government without making a reference to a specific official they can avoid the potential judicial sentence is wrong. The criminal legislation also includes sentences for those who publicly defame, denigrates or despise the institutions of the Republic, the political, masses or social organizations in the country, or the heroes and martyrs of the homeland.

I know it sounds like a joke, but it is not. It is legally prohibited to criticize the historical leaders, the government, the parliament the CDR’s, the Cuban Workers Union and every single organization created by the communists.

Coded-talk will continue to be a form of conversation in Cuba, as long as we have crime definitions that attack freedom of expression. We will continue to have those whispers stuck in our throats, choking us and preventing the people from raising its voice against those who repress them.

*This article by independent jurist and journalist Laritza Diversent first appeared in Spanish at http://www.desdelahabana.net/?p=2709.  It was translated by Mailyn Salabarria, and revised by #OZT I Accuse the Cuban government Campaign.