Cuba’s Systematic Repression of July 2021 Demonstrators
The 36-page report, “Prison or Exile: Cuba’s Systematic Repression of July 2021 Demonstrators,” documents a wide range of human rights violations committed in the context of the protests, including arbitrary detention, abuse-ridden prosecutions, and torture. The government’s repression and its apparent unwillingness to address the underlying problems that drove Cubans to the streets, including limited access to food and medicine, have generated a human rights crisis that dramatically increased the number of people leaving the country.
This report shows how Raúl Castro has kept Cuba’s repressive machinery firmly in place and fully active since being handed power by his brother Fidel Castro. Scores of political prisoners arrested under Fidel continue to languish in prison, and Raúl has used draconian laws and sham trials to incarcerate scores more who have dared to exercise their fundamental rights.
The High Cost of U.S. and Cuban Travel Restrictions
This 69-page report shows how the travel policies of both countries infringe upon the internationally recognized right to freedom of movement, which includes the right to leave and return to one’s own country. In the case of parents and children forced to reside in different countries, the policies also violate the international prohibition on the involuntary separation of families.
Multi-party democracies remain stable throughout most of Latin America and the Caribbean, with the notable exception of Cuba, where the government of Fidel Castro celebrated its fortieth anniversary in power with no sign of a significant political opening on the horizon.
Over the past forty years, Cuba has developed a highly effective machinery of repression. The denial of basic civil and political rights is written into Cuban law. In the name of legality, armed security forces, aided by state-controlled mass organizations, silence dissent with heavy prison terms, threats of prosecution, harassment, or exile.
The most significant human rights event in Cuba in the past months was the visit of Pope John Paul II in late January. While the pontiff's visit forced the Cuban government to make some concessions, there has been a lack of genuine human rights reform in Cuba.
To facilitate its full integration into the world community—and thus the world economy—the Cuban government is trying to improve its human rights image.
Revisited Threats to Freedom of Expression Continue in Miami’s Cuban Exile Community
In 1992, we released a report (see B407) documenting instances of harassment and intimidation against members of the Miami Cuban exile community who expressed moderate political views regarding the government of Fidel Castro or relations with Cuba. In addition to intimidation by private actors, the report found significant responsibility by the U.S. government at all levels.
In early August 1994, hundreds of Cubans began leaving their country by boat, heading north toward the United States ninety miles away. Initially, the drama of these perilous journeys was localized, and the influx was treated as just a South Florida news story. The flow of Cubans had rapidly become an exodus, and their story of danger and desperation an international news event. For the U.S.
This report provides an update on the human rights situation in Cuba. Again this last year, Human Rights Watch/Americas (formerly Americas Watch) has been handicapped in monitoring Cuba because of the regime's refusal to allow us to visit the country, to conduct inquiries and talk to victims, and to engage in a dialogue with the authorities.
Cubans are all too familiar with their government’s perennial campaigns to “perfect” all aspects of Cuban society. Yet after more than three decades in power, Fidel Castro’s government has succeeded in perfecting nothing so much as its pervasive system of control.
Attacks Against Independent Associations March 1990- February 1991
President Fidel Castro's dismissive attitude toward the resolution on Cuban human rights abuses adopted last year by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) reflects the latest chapter in a continuing and disappointing deterioration in Cuban human rights over the past three years.
As Cuba approaches the 36th anniversary of its revolution, it is engaged in an extended crackdown on independent peaceful activity and its human rights practices continue to be subject to the whim of the executive. Among the targets of this crackdown are newly-emerged human rights groups, whose establishment in recent years had given the appearance of greater openness in Cuba.
