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==History and background==
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'''Human rights in Cuba''' are under the scrutiny of human rights organizations, which accuse the ]n government of committing systematic human rights abuses against the Cuban people, including ] and unfair trials.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2019-12-06|title=World Report 2020: Rights Trends in Cuba|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/cuba|access-date=2021-02-23|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Everything you need to know about human rights in Cuba|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/cuba/report-cuba/|access-date=2021-02-23|website=www.amnesty.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2011-03-23|title=Cuba releases dissidents Felix Navarro and Jose Ferrer|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12835362|access-date=2021-02-23}}</ref> International human rights organizations such as ] and ] have drawn attention to the actions of the human rights movement and designated members of it as ], such as ]. In addition, the ] led by former statesmen ] of the ], ] of ] and ] of ] was created to support the Cuban dissident movement.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3668018.stm|work=BBC News|title=Havel hails anti-Castro activists |date=September 18, 2004 |access-date=January 5, 2010}}</ref>


==Overview==
Since ] took control of ] in ], allegations of widespread ] have been made against the Cuban government.
Concerns have been expressed about the operation of ]. According to Human Rights Watch, even though Cuba, officially ] until 1992, now "permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, and has allowed several religious-run humanitarian groups to operate, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers".<ref name="hrw1999" /> ] has also been at the center of complaints.<ref name="RWB-Index2008"/><ref name="cubaonline">{{cite web|url=http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |title=Going online in Cuba: Internet under surveillance |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303221407/http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-03}}</ref> According to the report of Human Rights Watch from 2017 the ] continues to rely on arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate critics, independent activists, ], and others. This report added that the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and ], an independent human rights group that lacks official authorization and is therefore considered illegal by the government, received more than 7,900 reports of arbitrary detentions from January through August 2016. This represents the highest monthly average of detentions in the past six years.<ref name="Cuba Events of 2016">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2017/country-chapters/cuba|title=World Report 2017: Rights Trends in Cuba|date=12 January 2017|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref>


Amnesty International's 2017-2018 Annual Report also noted more ], discriminatory layoffs by state agencies and harassments in ] with the aim of making them silent in criticism. Regarding any progress in ], Amnesty International reported that advances in education were undermined by ongoing online and offline censorship. Cuba remained mostly closed to independent human rights monitors.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/americas/cuba/report-cuba/|title=Cuba 2017/2018|publisher=Amnesty International}}</ref>
===Religion===
In the years following the ], the ] suffered persecution. Not only did Castro severely limit its activities, but in ] he confiscated, without compensation, all property held by religious organizations. Hundreds of members of the ], including a ], were permanently expelled from the nation. Cuba was officially ] until ] when the ] agreed to allow religious followers to join the party. In ], ] visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor ]. During his visit, the Pope strongly condemned Castro and his human rights record but encouraged reconciliation. That same year, Cuba approved ] for nineteen foreign priests to take up residence in the country. In addition, other religious groups in Cuba such as the ]ish community are now permitted to hold public services and to import religious materials and ] food for ], as well as to receive ]s and other religious visitors from abroad.


With regard to ], the report added that human rights activists and political activists continued to be ], ] and arbitrarily detained in high numbers. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a Cuban ] which is not officially recognized by the state, recorded 5,155 arbitrary detentions in 2017, in contrast to 9,940 in 2016.
===Political persecution===
Although exact numbers are hard to determine, several scholars have attempted to estimate the number of political killings committed by Fidel Castro's administration.


Cuba is a regional leader in women's rights issues.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-01-06 |title=Cuban women cite gender challenges as they push to open businesses |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/cuban-women-cite-gender-challenges-push-open-businesses-rcna11186 |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Country Fact Sheet {{!}} UN Women Data Hub |url=https://data.unwomen.org/country/cuba |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=data.unwomen.org}}</ref>
The highest estimates are given by R.J. Rummel, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Hawaii. He gives the number of 73,000 as the mid-point estimate of victims of the alleged ] by the Castro administration. His low and high estimates are 35,000 and 141,000 respectively.


== History ==
Dr. ], of the ], cites the following numbers in "The Human Cost of Social Revolution":
{{Politics of Cuba}}
During ], the oppression of the indigenous populations was chronicled at length by clergyman ]. The subsequent transportation of African slaves to the island, which lasted over 300 years, led to ] military intervention and a determination "to put a stop to these abuses".<ref>"Report from the British commissionary judge, Havana, to the Foreign secretary (Lord Stanley)." September 30, 1866. Thomas, Hugh. ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom''. p.1050.</ref> Since Cuba achieved independence in 1902, successive Cuban governments have been criticised and condemned by various groups, both within Cuba and internationally, for human rights violations on the island. During the latter part of the Spanish colonial era in Cuba, human rights on the island became a particular international concern. After a visit to the region in 1898, ] ] estimated that up to 200,000 Cubans had died from starvation and disease within "]", essentially ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hcs.harvard.edu/~rhetoric/proctor.htm|title=Harvard Rhetorical Society|access-date=2006-08-27|archive-date=2011-08-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807060847/http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~rhetoric/proctor.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The concern was a contributory factor in garnering support for the ] in the U.S.


After independence, and following a sustained period of instability, the 1924–33 capitalist government of ] proved to be authoritarian. Machado extended his rule until ] led an uprising called the Revolt of the Sergeants, as part of a coup which deposed Machado in 1933. Batista then became the strongman behind a succession of puppet presidents until he was himself elected president in 1940. According to ], the post-Machado period was marked by violent reprisals, mass lynchings and a deterioration towards corruption and ''gansterismo'' throughout the island.<ref>]. ''Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom''. p.388</ref>
*15,000 to 18,000 executed for counterrevolutionary activities
*1,000 extrajudicial assassinations
*250 disappeared
*500 died in prison for lack of medical attention
*500 murdered in prison by guards
*150 extrajudicial assassinations of women


From 1940, Cuba had a multiparty electoral system until ] (President from 1940 to 1944) staged a coup with military backing on March 10, 1952.<ref name="Bethell-Cuba">{{cite book|title=Cuba|first=Leslie|last=Bethell}}</ref><ref name="Sweig-Inside">{{cite book|title=Inside the Cuban Revolution|first=Julia E.|last=Sweig|year=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01612-5|url=https://archive.org/details/insidecubanrevol00juli}}</ref>
Lago calculated these numbers "using old news accounts, U.S. and Organization of American States records and family histories." Lago's study relies heavily on records of the US State Department and the ]. The US government is hostile to Cuba and the OAS has barred Cuba from participating in the organization since the ].


To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent ]s and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his ] ] to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as ] became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.<ref name="CIA, 1963 P. 1">CIA (1963). Political Murders in Cuba -- Batista Era Compared with Castro Regime</ref><ref name="Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. 1990 P. 63">Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. (1990). Exploring Revolution: Essays on Latin American Insurgency and Revolutionary Theory. Armonk and London: M.E. Sharpe. P. 63 "Estimates of hundreds or perhaps about a thousand deaths due to Batista's terror are also supported by comments made by Fidel Castro and other Batista critics during the war itself."</ref><ref name="Guerra, Lillian 2012 p. 42">Guerra, Lillian (2012). Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959–1971. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 42 "The likely total was probably closer to three to four thousand."</ref><ref>''Conflict, Order, and Peace in the Americas'', by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, 1978, p. 121. "The US-supported Batista regime killed 20,000 Cubans"</ref><ref name="Invisible">''Invisible Latin America'', by Samuel Shapiro, Ayer Publishing, 1963, {{ISBN|0-8369-2521-1}}, pg 77. "All told, Batista's second dictatorship cost the Cuban people some 20,000 dead"</ref><ref name="WGuide">''The World Guide 1997/98: A View from the South'', by University of Texas, 1997, {{ISBN|1-869847-43-1}}, pg 209. "Batista engineered yet another coup, establishing a dictatorial regime, which was responsible for the death of 20,000 Cubans."</ref><ref name="ThirdW">''The Third World in Perspective'', by H.A. Reitsma & J.M.G. Kleinpenning, {{ISBN|0-8476-7450-9}}, pg 344. "Under Batista at least 20,000 people were put to death."</ref>
The cites different sources for its numbers, among them "Cuba, or, the pursuit of freedom" by Hugh Thomas. According to Thomas's estimate there were "perhaps" 5,000 executions by 1970. The author of the Historical Atlas summarises his findings as follows: "The dividing line between those who have an ax to grind and those who don't falls in the 5,000-12,000 range."


On October 6, 1960, Senator ], in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. presidency, decried Batista's relationship with the U.S. government and criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting him:<blockquote>Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years&nbsp;... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete ]—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.<ref name="JFK1960"> from the '']''.</ref></blockquote>In 1958, ''Time'' magazine wrote: "Cuba's fanatic, poorly armed rebels last week tried to smash President Fulgencio Batista with the ultimate weapon of civilian revolutions: the general strike.&nbsp;... Fulgencio Batista got ready for the strike by offering immunity to anyone who killed a striker and by threatening to jail any employer who closed shop." During the strike, militants and youths stole guns, and threw bombs (one of which may have set up a gas-mains fire), after which some people were killed in clashes."<ref name=":4" />
The "Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation" placed the number of political prisoners at "around 400" in 1998. Many of these were subsequently released. In 2001, ] estimated the number of "prisoners of conscience" as being "at least seven," but more were arrested or rearrested in 2002.


According to ''Time'' magazine, "The strike was short-lived: "With the upper hand, Batista drove boldly around the city while his cops proceeded to make their supremacy complete. When a patrol car radioed that it had clashed with rebels and had 'a dead man and a prisoner', the dispatcher ordered: 'Shoot him.' At midafternoon, cops burst into a boardinghouse, grabbed three young men who were leaders of Cuba's lay Catholic Action movement, which sympathizes with Castro. Two hours later their stripped, ]d and bullet-torn bodies were turned over to relatives. Total dead: 43."<ref name=":4">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810279,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090815000127/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,810279,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 15, 2009 |magazine=Time |title=CUBA: Strongman's Round |date=April 21, 1958 |access-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>
Cuba placed a moratorium on the use of ] in 2001 but this ended after three years when, in 2003, three Cubans were executed for a ferry hijacking using automatic weapons that resulted in no injuries.


In 1959, ] and his forces succeeded in displacing Batista from power. At that time there were fundamental changes in the judicial and political process. During this transitional period there were some concerns voiced about ].<ref>The Day After — Cuba: His Brother's Keeper Foreign Policy archive.</ref><ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312142726/http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/castro_year1/castroyr1.ruleoflaw.html |date=March 12, 2013 }} Fidel Castro, by Robert E. Quirk 1993</ref>
In ], ] was working at the Cuban Postal Savings Bank when agents of the Ministry of Communications handed him a card bearing a communist slogan and told him to put it on his worktable. The 23-year-old Valladares refused. Astonished, the agents asked him if he had anything against Castro. Valladares answered that if Castro was a communist, he did.


The "Cuban National Reconciliation movement", a U.S.-based organisation that claims to act as a forum for discussing Cuban society, has detailed what it believes are complex variables when analysing human rights immediately after the revolution. In the 1960s, violent confrontations known as the ] between the Cuban government and armed opposition were ongoing, but had declined by the early 1970s. The group asserts that by the time international human rights movements flourished in the 1970s, the most severe period of repression was over, making non-partisan retrospective assessments of the period difficult. The reconciliation movement also cite the difficulties in assessing accounts of abuses that are commonly split upon partisan lines. According to the group, ] who were often the first to denounce the Cuban government, largely shared an anti-Communist ideology and overlooked violations committed by other regimes, whilst many left leaning observers did not give the claims of Cuban victims due consideration.<ref> Task force report 2003</ref>
Valladares was convicted on a charge of placing bombs in public places and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. His supporters contend that he was never part of the Batista police as alleged by Castro supporters (considering that he was only 19 at the time of the revolution), and that his imprisonment was the result of his vocal opposition to the Castro government. The author ] has called him a "Human Rights Hero."


After coming to power in 1959, Fidel Castro's government built a highly effective machinery of ], according to Human Rights Watch.<ref name="hrw1999">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-01.htm#P348_12349|title=Cuba's repressive machinery|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=1999}}</ref>
Valladares claims to have been tortured and humiliated while on a hunger strike to protest prison abuses; the guards denied him water until he became delirious, and proceeded to urinate in his mouth and on his face. Valladares was released from prison after twenty-two years upon the intercession of France's ] ] ].


As early as September 1959, Vadim Kotchergin (or Kochergin), a ] agent, was seen in Cuba.<ref>British Foreign Office. Chancery American Department, Foreign Office, London September 2, 1959 (2181/59) to British Embassy Havana classified as restricted Released 2000 by among British Foreign Office papers FOREIGN OFFICES FILES FOR CUBA Part 1: Revolution in Cuba "in our letter 1011/59 May 6 we mentioned that a Russian workers' delegation had been invited to participate in the May Day celebrations here, but had been delayed. The interpreter with the party, which arrived later and stayed in Cuba a few days, was called Vadim Kotchergin although he was at the time using what he subsequently claimed was his mother's name of Liston (?). He remained in the background, and did not attract any attention.."</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |publisher=] |title=El campo de entrenamiento "Punto Cero" donde el Partido Comunista de Cuba (PCC) adiestra a terroristas nacionales e internacionales |access-date=2008-01-08 |date=November 7, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071030031149/http://www.canf.org/2005/1es/noticias-de-Cuba/2005-nov-07-el-campo-de-entrenamiento.htm |archive-date=October 30, 2007}} (English title: The training camp "Point Zero" where the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) trained national and international terrorists)<br /> "... Los coroneles soviéticos de la KGB Vadim Kochergin y Victor Simonov (ascendido a general en 1970) fueron entrenadores en "Punto Cero" desde finales de los años 60 del siglo pasado. Uno de los" graduados" por Simonov en este campo de entrenamiento es Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, más conocido como "Carlos El Chacal". Otro "alumno" de esta instalación del terror es el mexicano Rafael Sebastián Guillén, alias "subcomandante Marcos", quien se "graduó" en "Punto Cero" a principio de los años 80."</ref> Jorge Luis Vasquez, a Cuban who was imprisoned in ], states that the East German secret police ] trained the personnel of the ] (MININT).<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.elnuevoherald.com/209/story/112259.html |last=Levitin |first=Michael |title=La Stasi entrenó a la Seguridad cubana |publisher=Nuevo Herald |date=November 4, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080928223044/http://www.elnuevoherald.com/209/story/112259.html |archive-date=September 28, 2008 }}</ref>
On ], ], a Havana court sentenced ], a member of the ], to three years in prison for "spreading enemy propaganda" and "rumour-mongering."


=== Political executions ===
One Cuban doctor, Desi Mendoza, was imprisoned for making statements criticizing Cuba's response to an epidemic of dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba which, according to him, had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza had been fired from his job in a Cuban hospital three years earlier for establishing an independent medical association. He was later released due to ill-health, subject to his leaving the country.
Various estimates have been made in order to ascertain the number of political executions which have been carried out on behalf of the Cuban government since the revolution. During the first two months of 1959, Castro's government executed more than 300 Batista officials,<ref name="APfeb59">{{cite news|last1=Berrellez|first1=Robert|title=True Picture Of Batista Regime's Atrocities In Cuba Begins To Emerge|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1338&dat=19590223&id=NP1XAAAAIBAJ&pg=2501,4729775|access-date=19 March 2017|work=]|agency=]|date=23 February 1959}}</ref> with Latin American historian Thomas E. Skidmore says that there had been 550 executions in the first six months of 1959.<ref name="Atlas">{{Cite web|title=Twentieth Century Atlas - Death Tolls|url=http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat6.htm#Cuba59|access-date=2020-10-14|website=users.erols.com}}</ref> In an April 1961 ] story, the agency stated that about "700 have died before Castro's firing squads" between 1959 and 1961.<ref>{{cite news|title=Seven including ex-Castroite executed|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1961/04/20/Seven-including-ex-Castroite-executed/1205884581438/|access-date=19 March 2017|work=]|date=20 April 1961|language=en}}</ref> ''The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators'' ascertained that there had been 2,113 political executions between the years 1958–67,<ref name="Atlas" /> while British historian ], stated in his study ''Cuba or the pursuit of freedom''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/7230/mcms.html|title=Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom Hugh Thomas|website=longitudebooks.com|access-date=2013-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607162823/http://www.longitudebooks.com/find/p/7230/mcms.html|archive-date=2013-06-07|url-status=dead}}</ref> that "perhaps" 5,000 executions had taken place by 1970.<ref name="Atlas" />


The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 revolution were policemen, politicians and informers for the Batista regime who were accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions enjoyed widespread popular support among the Cuban population. Most scholars agree that those executed were most likely guilty as charged, but their trials did not follow ].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Chase|first=Michelle|editor-first1=Greg|editor-last1=Grandin|editor1-link=Greg Grandin|editor-first2=Joseph|editor-last2=Gilbert|encyclopedia=A Century of Revolution|title=The Trials|url=http://read.dukeupress.edu/content/a-century-of-revolution|access-date=2 October 2015|year=2010|publisher=]|location=Durham, NC|isbn= 978-0822347378|pages=|doi=10.1215/9780822392859}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue25/farber25.htm|title=The Resurrection of Che Guevara|website=nova.wpunj.edu|access-date=2017-02-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111129121500/http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue25/farber25.htm|archive-date=2011-11-29|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Cuban Government justified such measures on the grounds that in Cuba, the application of capital punishment against ] and others followed the same procedure which had previously been followed by the ] during the ]. Some Cuban scholars maintain that if the government had not imposed severe legislation against the torturers, ], and other criminals who had been employed by the Batista regime, the people themselves would have taken justice into their own hands.<ref>Raul Gomez Treto, "Thirty Years of Cuban Revolutionary Penal Law", ''Latin American Perspectives'', Vol. 18, No. 2, Spring, 1991, pp. 114–125</ref>
===Emigration===
From ] through ], some 1.2 million Cubans left the island for the United States , often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In the early years a supposedly large number of those who could claim dual Spanish-Cuban citizenship left for Spain. Over time a number of Cuban Jews were released to Israel in quiet negotiations, the majority of the 10,000 or so Jews who were in Cuba in 1959 have left. During the collapse of the Soviet Union many Cubans managed to stay in very diverse countries, many ending up in the European Union. There are a number of Cuban, some with tenuous allegance to the present Cuban government, in Mexico and Canada.


=== Alleged forced labor camps and abuse of prisoners ===
At times the exodus was tolerated by the Cuban government as a "release valve"; at other times the government has impeded it. Overwhelmingly Cubans in the US claim they left for for political reasons. Others emigrated by way of the ] at ], which is blocked on the Cuban side by barbed-wired fences and landmines. It is estimated that only one of every three or four Cubans who have attempted to escape has been successful. Thousands have died in the attempt or have been captured and imprisoned.
In 1987, a "Tribunal on Cuba" was held in ] in order to present testimonies by former prisoners of ] to the international media. The gathering was sponsored by a US-funded anti-communist group which was named ] and "The Coalition of Committees for the Rights of Man in Cuba". The testimonies which were presented at the tribunal, before an international panel, alleged that a pattern of ] existed in Cuba's prisons and "hard labor camps". The torture consisted of beatings, biological experiments which included dietary restrictions, violent interrogations and extremely unsanitary living conditions. The jury concurred with allegations of arbitrary arrest; sentencing by court martial with no public audience or defender; periods of time which prisoners spent in hard labour camps without sufficient food, clothing or medical care; and the arrest of children who were over nine years old.<ref> Paris April 1986</ref>{{Unreliable source?|sure=y|reason=Resistance International was a US-funded anti-communist organisation, making it an extremely biased source.|date=July 2021}}


=== Political abuse of psychiatry ===
In ] the U.S. government entered into an agreement with the Cuban government to resolve the emigration crisis that created the so-called Mariel Boatlift of the mid ], when Castro opened the docks to anyone who wanted to leave. The result of the negotiations was the Cuban Adjustment Act under which the United States was required to issue 20,000 visas annually to Cubans emigrants. This quota is rarely filled the Cuban government claims that the Bush administration has refused to comply with the act, issuing only 505 visas to Cubans in the first six months of ]. However, this claim does not explain why the Cuba government blocks of certain Cubans with visas.
Although Cuba has been politically connected to the Soviet Union since the United States broke off relations with Cuba shortly after its prime minister ] came to power in 1959, few considerable allegations regarding the ] in that country emerged before the late 1980s.<ref name="Medicine betrayed">{{cite book|title=Medicine betrayed: the participation of doctors in human rights abuses|year=1992|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=1-85649-104-8|pages=74–76|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMTu_oIfVsIC}}</ref>{{rp|74}} ] and ] published reports which alluded to cases of possible unwarranted hospitalization and ill-treatment of political prisoners.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} These reports concerned the Gustavo Machin hospital in ] in the southeast of the country and the major mental hospital in ].<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} In 1977, a report on the alleged abuse of psychiatry in Cuba was published in the United States and it presented cases of ill-treatment in Cuban mental hospitals which dated back to the early 1970s.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} It presents grave allegations which claim that prisoners who end up in the forensic wards of mental hospitals in Santiago de Cuba and Havana are subjected to methods of ill-treatment which include ] without the use of ]s or ].<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} The reported application of ECT in the forensic wards seems, at least in many of the cited cases, not to be an adequate clinical treatment for the diagnosed state of the prisoner—in some cases the prisoners do not seem to have been diagnosed at all.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} Conditions in the forensic wards have been described in repulsive terms and they are apparently in striking contrast to the conditions in the other parts of the mental hospitals that are said to be well-kept and modern.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}}


In August 1981, the Marxist historian Ariel Hidalgo was apprehended and accused of "incitement against the social order, international solidarity and the Socialist State" and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|75}} In September 1981, he was transported from State Security Headquarters to the Carbó-Serviá (forensic) ward of the Havana Psychiatric Hospital and stayed there for several weeks.<ref name="Medicine betrayed" />{{rp|76}}
On ], ], 72 Cuban attempted to leave the Island on a ] era ] named the '']''. In an attempt by the Cuban Navy to stop the tugboat, patrol boats were sent out to interdict the tug. Crewmen and survivors reported that the interdiction vessels rammed the tugboat and sprayed its passengers with high pressure fire hoses, sweeping many overboard. A total of 41 men, women and children drowned after being swept off the tug’s deck, 11 of these were children under the age of 12.


== Contemporary Cuba ==
===Ochoa affair===
In ], General ], once proclaimed "Hero of the Revolution" by Fidel Castro, along with three other high-ranking officers, was brought to trial for drug trafficking. This offense carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, but Ochoa and the others were convicted of ], and promptly executed, largely on the basis of secret evidence. Opponents of the Castro government outside of Cuba expressed skepticism about the arrest and execution of Ochoa. In the opinion of former Brigadier-General Rafael del Pino, who had been a close personal friend of Ochoa since the early days of the revolution, the arrest and execution was an attempt to keep a different high-ranking Cuban official from defecting. Del Pino himself ] from Cuba in ] ].


===Cason affair=== === Political repression ===
{{Further|Cuban dissidents}}
:''Main Article: ]''
In ] ], the government of Cuba arrested dozens of ]s, ]s, and ]s, and charged them with ] due to their alleged contacts with ], head of the U.S. ] in ]. The accused were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 28 years. In all, 75 journalists, librarians, and dissidents were given lengthy sentences averaging 17 years each. Among those sentenced were poet and journalist ], economist ], and ] activist ]. ] described the closed-door trials as "hasty and manifestly unfair."


A 2009 report by ] concluded that "Raúl Castro has kept Cuba's repressive machinery firmly in place...since being handed power by his brother Fidel Castro."<ref name="HRW 2009">{{cite web | url = https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/11/18/cuba-ra-l-castro-imprisons-critics-crushes-dissent | title = New Castro, Same Cuba: Political Prisoners in the Post-Fidel Era | access-date = 2012-02-17 | date = 2009-11-18 | work = Human Rights Watch}}</ref> The report found that "cores 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."
Cuban Foreign Minister ] denied these accusations and responded: "Cuba has the right to defend itself and apply punishment just like other nations do, like the United States punishes those who cooperate with a foreign power to inflict damage on their people and territory."


US government-funded ] classifies Cuba as being "Not Free",<ref name="FH Cuba1">{{cite web | url = http://www.freedomhouse.org/country/cuba | title = Cuba | access-date = 2012-02-17 | work = Freedom House}}</ref> and notes that "Cuba is the only country in the Americas that consistently makes Freedom House's list of the Worst of the Worst: the World's Most Repressive Societies for widespread abuses of ] and ]."<ref name="FH Cuba1"/> The 2017 World Report by Human Rights Watch writes that independent ]s who publish information considered critical of the ] are subject to smear campaigns and arbitrary arrests, as are artists and academics who demand greater ].<ref name="Cuba Events of 2016"/>
During the closed-door trial, evidence was presented that the defendants had received funds from the U.S. Interests Section. Cuban officials claim that the goal of this funding was to undermine the Cuban state, disrupt internal order, and damage the Cuban economy.


] assailed the ] as a capitulation to the Castro's regime]]
Defenders of the actions by the Cuban government point out that other nations have similar laws forbidding citizens from accepting money from foreign governments when it would be applied towards the subversion of domestic political order. For his part, Cason denies offering funds to anyone in Cuba.
A 1999 Human Rights Watch report notes that the Interior Ministry's principal responsibility is to monitor the Cuban population for signs of dissent.<ref name="HRW-Cuba1999-VIII">{{cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-08.htm#P1517_344135|title=VIII. ROUTINE REPRESSION|publisher=Human Rights Watch|year=1999}}</ref> In 1991 two new mechanisms for internal surveillance and control emerged. Communist Party leaders organized the Singular Systems of Vigilance and Protection (Sistema Unico de Vigilancia y Protección, SUVP). Rapid Action Brigades (Brigadas de Acción Rapida, also referred to as Rapid Response Brigades, or Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida) observe and control dissidents.<ref name="HRW-Cuba1999-VIII"/> The government also "maintains academic and labor files (expedientes escolares y laborales) for each citizen, in which officials record actions or statements that may bear on the person's loyalty to the revolution. Before advancing to a new school or position, the individual's record must first be deemed acceptable".<ref name="HRW-Cuba1999-VIII"/>


The opposition movement in Cuba is a widespread collection of individuals and nongovernmental organizations, most of whom are working for the respect of ] on the island.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/cub-summary-eng |website=Amnesty International |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608152653/http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/cub-summary-eng |archive-date=June 8, 2007 |title=Report 2004 {{!}} Cuba}}</ref> Some of the best known Cuban members of the opposition include the ] (recipients of the ] for Freedom of Thought), Human Rights Center and Cuban community leader ], ], and ] nominee and ] winner ], as well as ], and ] "Antúnez."
On ], ], the Cuban government unexpectedly released three dissidents arrested in the March 2003 roundup: opposition leader ], Marcelo Lopez, and Margarito Broche. The action followed a meeting between the ] ambassador and Cuba's foreign minister. In subsequent days four more dissidents were released: poet ], ] , journalist ] , and journalist ]. Seven other prisoners had previously been released for health reasons. Sixty-one of the 75 original inmates remain behind bars.


On October 18, 2019, the ] announced that the United States will impose new ] against ] following its poor ] records and its support of the Venezuelan government. In particular, ] continued detention was brought into notice in a different statement which was issued by the ]. Ferrer, who heads the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), has been kept in detention by the Cuban government and his whereabouts have not been revealed.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/americas/us-levies-new-sanctions-cuba-over-human-rights-venezuela|title=US Levies New Sanctions on Cuba Over Human Rights, Venezuela|access-date=18 October 2019|website=Voice of America|date=18 October 2019 }}</ref>
===Homosexuality===
The Cuban Government established special prison labor camps in ] called ] (MUAP’s). They were designed to eliminate "bourgeois" and "counter-revolutionary" values in certain segments of the Cuban population, of which gay men were one such segment. While the camps were disbanded in ], those who were incarcerated in them continued to be discriminated against by the Cuban government.


=== Censorship ===
In 1979 homosexual acts were decriminalised in Cuba. In 1987 the offence of "homosexual acts in public places" was removed from Cuba's penal code. The 1994 Oscar-nominated film '']'' (nominated for best for Best Foreign Film) is demonstrative of the current climate towards homosexuality which is official indifference towards the issue, but also a lack of protection for one's sexual orientation. Hence, homosexuality can have an adverse impact on a person's professional career in a society where all senior appointments depend on membership in the country's sole legal party.
{{Main|Censorship in Cuba}}


Cuba officially adopted the civil and political rights enumerated in the ] in 1948. One of the key principles in the declaration was the insistence on ]. According to the 1992 ], free speech was allowed "in keeping with the objectives of socialist society" and that artistic creation was allowed "as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, 1992 |url=http://hrlibrary.umn.edu/research/cuba-constitution.html |access-date=October 1, 2023 |website=University of Minnesota Human Right Library}}</ref> The 2019 Cuban constitution removed the language.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cuba's Constitution of 2019 |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Cuba_2019.pdf?lang=en#page=53&zoom=100,624,781 |access-date=October 1, 2023 |website=constituteproject.org}}</ref>
Cuba tolerates neither ] nor gay ]s, nor ] organizations. The ], formed in 1994, was suppressed in 1997 and its members were arrested.


Cuba's ranking was on the bottom of the ] 2008 compiled by the ] (RWB).<ref name="RWB-Index2008">{{cite web|url=http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/cl_en_2008.pdf |title=Press Freedom Index 2008 |publisher=Reporters Without Borders |year=2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303221403/http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/cl_en_2008.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-03 }}</ref> Cuba was named one of the ten most censored countries in the world by the ].<ref name="CPJ-2006"/>
==Indirect repression==
According to ], the Cuban government has broad authority to restrict freedom of speech, association, assembly, press, and movement. Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Díaz Sotolongo once justified such restrictions as similar to laws that Spain uses to protect its monarchy from criticism.


According to American group ], the media in Cuba are operated under the supervision of the ] ''Department of Revolutionary Orientation'', which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".<ref name="CPJ-2006">{{cite web|url=http://www.cpj.org/censored/censored_06.html|title=10 most censored countries|publisher=The Committee to Protect Journalists}}</ref>
Cuba's constitution of ] makes human rights subservient to the state's political aims. Article 62 states:


Human rights groups and international organizations{{which|date=July 2021}} believe that these articles subordinate the exercise of freedom of expression to the state. The ] assess that: "It is evident that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression under this article of the Constitution is governed by two fundamental determinants: on the one hand, the preservation and strengthening of the communist State; on the other, the need to muzzle any criticism of the group in power."<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128091641/http://www.fiu.edu/~fcf/IACHR.html#II |date=January 28, 2013 }}</ref> Human rights group ] assert that the universal state ownership of the media means that freedom of expression is restricted. Thus the exercise of the right to freedom of expression is restricted by the lack of means of mass communication falling outside state control.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718170319/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250012006 |date=2008-07-18 }} Amnesty</ref> ] states: "Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the government denies legal status to local human rights groups. Individuals who belong to these groups face systematic harassment, with the government putting up obstacles to impede them from documenting human rights conditions. In addition, international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are barred from sending fact-finding missions to Cuba. It remains one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons."<ref name=HumanRightsWatch>. ]. Retrieved September 6, 2012.</ref>
:None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to what is established in the Constitution and by law, or contrary to the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build socialism and communism. Violations of this principle can be punished by law.
Yet, activists' networks like Eye on Cuba and Cubalog.eu have continued working with the intention to raise awareness about the true situation concerning human and civil rights on the "island of freedom" and appeal to Europe Union and its members to apply responsible approach to Cuba in their foreign policy. Financial support and legal representation is provided by foreign NGOs as part of the EU Cuba Network.<ref name="People in Need">{{cite web|url=https://www.clovekvtisni.cz/en/what-we-do/human-rights-support/cuba |title=Direct aid to the persecuted |work=People in Need}}</ref>


A formal structure and system of reporting news not approved by the government was first attempted in 1993.<ref name="The Miami Herald">{{cite news |title=Dissidents, Reporters Unite to Open News Agency in Cuba |agency=The Miami Herald |publisher=The Miami Herald |date=May 12, 1993 |pages=8A}}</ref> The effort for an independent, uncensored news agency was spearheaded by Cuban human rights activist and then-President of Christian Democratic Movement ].<ref name="The Miami Herald"/> It formally began in May of that year as Members of Civic Democratic Action, an umbrella group of nearly twenty Castro opposition organizations, formed an alliance with the Independent Cuban Journalists Association.<ref name="The Miami Herald"/> The effort ultimately failed.
Another clause in the 1976 Cuban constitition states that anyone suspected of being prone to commit a crime in the future, as a preventive measure, can be sent to jail indefinitely.


A ] report as of October 2006 finds that Internet use is very restricted and under tight surveillance. Access is only possible with government permission and equipment is rationed. E-mail is monitored.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |title=Going online in Cuba: Internet under surveillance |first1=Claire|last1=Voeux|first2=Julien|last2=Pain|publisher=Reporters Without Borders |date=October 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303221407/http://www.rsf.org/IMG/pdf/rapport_gb_md_1.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-03 }}</ref>
In Cuba, it has at times been illegal to buy food from unauthorized sources. Established as early as 1962, food rationing has been condemned by opponents of the Cuban government as a form of control, since people who rely on the Cuban government for food subsidies may have those subsidies reduced or stopped if they are involved in counter-revolutionary activities. The Supply or Ration Book has controlled the amount and the frequency of Cubans' food purchases. In recent years, however, a largely-tolerated ] and ] have arisen. Also, economic reforms have been instituted that allow farmers to sell a portion of their production in ]s. These changes have loosened the previous regime of rationing.


Foreign journalists are systematically expelled from Cuba, e.g. notable journalists of ], Anna Bikont and Seweryn Blumsztahn, were expelled in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2005-05-20|title=CUBA|url=https://cpj.org/2005/05/cuba-3/|access-date=2021-01-20|website=Committee to Protect Journalists|language=en-US}}</ref>
From the age of sixteen (the legal voting age), every citizen must carry an ]. This passport-like I.D. includes a complete personal history, showing present and past addresses, work history, marital status, and number of children. Castro's critics cite this as a form of oppression.


=== Restrictions on assembly ===
Permission from the government is required to move to another home due to the lack of private propetry rights. Jobs also are subject to state control. Travel abroad is highly restricted - almost impossible - for workers in some fields (healthcare, schools, government) as well as for some dissidents. Castro opposition leader ] has been allowed to travel abroad to receive his ], while independent journalist ], permitted to leave Cuba to receive an award, has not been allowed to return.
As of 2005, Human Rights Watch stated that "] is severely restricted in Cuba, and political dissidents are generally prohibited from meeting in large groups."<ref name=HumanRightsWatch/> In 2006, ] stated that "All human rights, civil and professional associations and unions that exist today in Cuba outside the officialdom of the state apparatus and mass organizations controlled by the government are barred from having legal status. This often puts at risk the individuals who belong to these associations of facing harassment, intimidation or criminal charges for activities which constitute the legitimate exercise of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly."<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060518055507/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250012006?open&of=ENG-CUB|date=May 18, 2006}}</ref>


The Cuban authorities only recognize a single national trade union centre, the ] (CTC). The government explicitly prohibits independent trade unions, there is systematic harassment and detention of labor activists, and the leaders of attempted independent unions have been imprisoned. The right to strike is not recognized in law.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2019 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Cuba |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/2019-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/cuba/ |access-date=October 1, 2023 |website=U.S. Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor}}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115220420/http://www.cubaverdad.net/workers_paradise.htm |date=2008-01-15 }} Cuba Verdad. Retrieved September 2012.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080115220355/http://www.cubaverdad.net/independent_trade_unions.htm |date=2008-01-15 }} Cuba Verdad. Retrieved September 2012.</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118040156/http://www.cubaverdad.net/violations_of_social_and_labor.htm |date=2008-01-18 }} Cuba Verdad. Retrieved September 2012.</ref>
Organizations such as the '']'', the Women's Federation, the ], and various student organizations, coerce adults and youth into participating. Many of these organizations require their members to perform "voluntary work" in the fields, to take up sentry duties, and to attend political meetings and rallies. Supporters of the government argue that no one is forced to join these organizations but that, with the emergence of a ] in Cuba, membership confers certain social advantages, thus causing some to feel "pressured" to join if they wish to get ahead.


=== Society ===
In ] an attempt was made by ] and others from the Christian Liberation Movement, operating as the ], to have a national ] using provisions in the ] which provided for ]. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as ], ], ], as well as starting private businesses. The ] was however refused by the National Assembly on the technical grounds that a citizen initiative could not be used to change the constitution.
In 2001 an attempt was made by ] and others from the Christian Liberation Movement, operating as the ], to have a national ] using provisions in the ] which provided for ]. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as ], ], ], as well as starting private businesses. The ] was refused by the National Assembly and in response a referendum was held in support of socialism being a permanent fixture of the constitution, for which the government claimed{{weasel inline|date=July 2021}} 99% voter approval.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}


Another important project is the establishment of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is a coalition of 365 independent civil society groups with the stated aims of "forming a democratic culture", "developing a social movement", strengthening the Assembly's organization, communicating among groups to promote the civil society, using all available means to combat poverty and seeking the betterment of the community's life conditions, developing a true knowledge of Cuba's history, in all its dimensions: economic, social and political, undertaking activities and projects aimed at the protection and conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem, and promoting a true culture on labor rights.<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070615070735/http://www.asambleasociedadcivilcuba.info/Asamblea/Asamblea-en.htm |date=June 15, 2007 }}</ref> The Assembly had its first meeting in May 2005.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cuban-dissidents-cry-freedom/ | work=CBS News | title=Cuban Dissidents Cry 'Freedom' | date=May 20, 2005}}</ref>
==Human rights at Guantanamo Bay==
As a result of the ], the United States obtained a lease on ]. From 2002 the base has been used to house suspected ] and ] prisoners captured in ] and elsewhere in facilities called ], Camp Delta, and Camp Echo. Allegations of mistreatment and torture at the prison camp have been made by former detainees and by international human rights organizations. The U.S. has classified the prisoners held at Camp X-Ray as "illegal combatants" rather than prisoners of war, and claims that the protections afforded by the ]s do not apply. The Bush administration also claims that Cuba retains sovereignty over the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo, and that the prisoners may thus be held indefinitely without the U.S. Constitutional protections that would apply if they were being held on United States territory (see ''Cuban American Bar Ass'n, Inc. v. Christopher'', 43 F.3d 1412 (11th Cir. 1995)).


=== Capital punishment ===
==See also==
{{main|Capital punishment in Cuba}}
*]
Cuba placed a moratorium on the use of ] in 1999. However, an exception was made when, in 2003, three members of a gang of ten were executed for a ferry hijacking. The hijackers were attempting to reach Florida, but ran out of fuel only halfway to their destination. After a two-day stand-off, the ferry was escorted by coast guard patrol boats back to a Cuban port, ostensibly to refuel; when hostages began jumping over the sides of the ship, however, the authorities subdued the hijackers and regained control. Four other men were given life sentences, and the remaining three women involved received 1–5 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2941041.stm |work=] |title=Cuba ferry hijackers executed |date=11 April 2003}}</ref>
*]


=== Acts of repudiation ===
==External links==
{{Main|Acts of repudiation}}
*
Human rights groups including Amnesty International have long been critical of what the Cuban authorities have termed "Acts of repudiation" (''actos de repudio''). These acts occur when large groups of citizens verbally abuse, intimidate and sometimes physically assault and throw stones and other objects at the homes of Cubans who are considered ]. Human rights groups suspect that these acts are often carried out in collusion with the security forces and sometimes involve the ] or the Rapid Response Brigades.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080718170319/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250012006 |date=2008-07-18 }}</ref>
*
*
*
*
* - ]


=== Notable prisoners of conscience ===
]
{{more citations needed|section|date=March 2021}}
* In 1960, ] was convicted on a charge of placing bombs in public places and was sentenced to thirty years in prison.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/juev11/Miami.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304021436/http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2009/junio/juev11/Miami.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-03-04 |title=And when will Miami's terrorist nest be cleared out? |access-date=March 4, 2012 |website=Granma Internacional}}</ref> He and his supporters contend that he was never part of the Batista police as alleged by Castro supporters, and that his imprisonment was the result of his vocal opposition to the Castro government. Valladares claims to have been tortured and humiliated while he was on a ] in order to protest against prison abuses; he claims the guards denied him water until he became delirious, and they proceeded to urinate in his mouth and on his face. Furthermore, he claimed to require the use of a wheelchair following his longest hunger strike. The Cuban government denied both claims, and provided video evidence to ] of Valladares standing and walking.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nieto |first1=Clara |title=Masters of War: Latin America and U.S. Aggression from the Cuban Revolution through the Clinton Years |location=New York, New York |publisher=Seven Stories Press |year=2003 |pages=467–470}}</ref> Valladares was released from prison after serving twenty-two years of his sentence, due in part to the intercession of France's President ]. Conservative author ] has since called Valladares a "Human Rights Hero."
* In 1973, gay writer ] was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of ']' and for publishing abroad to evade ]. He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was re-arrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. After finally escaping from Cuba in the 1980 ], Arenas described the horrors he endured under the Cuban government in his autobiography ''Antes que anochezca'' (1992), English translation ''Before Night Falls'' (1993).
* On August 28, 1998, a Havana court sentenced ], a member of the ], to three years in prison for "spreading enemy propaganda" and "rumour-mongering".
* Desi Mendoza, a Cuban doctor, was imprisoned for making statements criticizing Cuba's response to an ] of ] in ] which he alleged had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza had previously been fired from his job in a Cuban hospital three years earlier for establishing an independent medical association. He was later released due to ill-health, subject to his leaving the country.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250281997?open%26of%3DENG-348 |title=MEDICAL LETTER WRITING ACTION {{!}} Dr Desi MENDOZA Rivero {{!}} CUBA |website=Amnesty International |access-date=2005-09-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060415060951/http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250281997?open&of=ENG-348 |archive-date=2006-04-15 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aaas.org/program/scientific-responsibility-human-rights-law|title=Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights & Law Program|date=17 June 2013|website=AAAS - The World's Largest General Scientific Society}}</ref>
* ], a medical doctor, has been sentenced to prison for 25 years for his non-violent, but vocal opposition to Castro.
* In early 2003, dozens of persons, including independent journalists, librarians and other opponents of the Castro government were jailed after summary ]s, with some sentences in excess of 20 years, on the charge of receiving money from the United States in order to carry out anti-government activities.
* An ] report, , calls for the "Cuban authorities to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally" and to "revoke all legislation that restricts freedom of expression, assembly and association, and to put a halt to all actions to harass and intimidate dissidents, journalists, and ]s".
* ] was reported to have been released from prison in April 2007 after serving his full sentence of 17 years and 34 days for having, at the age of 25, shouted slogans against Fidel Castro. García Antúnez was convicted of sabotage after authorities accused him of setting fire to sugar cane fields, sabotage, spreading "enemy propaganda", and being in illegal possession of a weapon.<ref>{{cite news |title=Castro opponent free after 17 years in jail | date=April 24, 2007
|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2331960920070423 | work=Reuters | access-date = 2007-04-24 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAMR250032001!Open |title=Insufficient medical care for Jorge Luis García Pérez |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112015238/http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engAMR250032001%21Open |archive-date=January 12, 2007 |website=Amnesty International }}</ref>
* Dr. Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, whom Amnesty International had declared "a prisoner of conscience" and demanded that he be released "immediately and without conditions".
* On September 2, 2020, ], ] and ] urged the Cuban government to immediately release ] and independent journalist, Roberto Quiñones Haces. Following the trial in August 2019 and he was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for resistance and disobedience concerning his work as an independent journalist.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/09/gobierno-cubano-debe-liberar-al-periodista-y-preso-de-conciencia-roberto-quinones-haces/|title= Cuba: Government must release journalist and prisoner of conscience Roberto Quiñones Haces|access-date=2 September 2020|website= Amnesty International|date= 2 September 2020}}</ref>

=== Travel and emigration ===

As of January 14, 2013, all Cuban government-imposed travel restrictions and controls have been abolished.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/internacionales/275273-reforma-migratoria-favorece-militantes-cubanos/|title=Reforma migratoria también favorece a los militantes cubanos|date=January 23, 2013|website=El Nuevo Diario|access-date=January 16, 2017|archive-date=January 18, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118050741/http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/internacionales/275273-reforma-migratoria-favorece-militantes-cubanos/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know|last=Sweig|first=Julia|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|location=New York, NY|pages=264–265}}</ref> Since that date, any Cuban citizen, with a valid passport, can leave the country subject to administrative restrictions imposed by the government. Students need the permission to travel from their school, workers from their employer. Both are controlled by the government. Visa requirements for Cuban citizens are more than the administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Cuba often incorporating (in violation of human rights) these requirement of proof of authorization to travel (Schengen countries EU).
Some of the requirements of third countries like financial self sufficiency and financial ties to the country (property, income) can not be met by Cubans due to the site economic situation. Few Cubans have the (proven ) income to show they can pay for travel and stay. Most need a sponsor.
In 2014, Cuban citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 61 countries and territories, ranking the Cuban passport 69th in the world. Persons holding dual Spanish and Cuban citizenships are now allowed to travel freely, using their Spanish passport in lieu of a visa for countries normally requiring a visa for the Cuban passport. Moreover, ever since that date, the Cuban government extended the allowable time abroad from 11 to 24 months, allowing Cubans who return within the 24-month time frame to retain their status and benefits of "Cuban Resident of the Interior". Should the citizen remain out of Cuba for more than 24 months, then his status would change to "Cuban Resident of the Exterior" and he would lose his privileges within. By this change, there is no longer such a thing as "illegal" or "unauthorized" travel, and therefore persons who leave Cuba via unconventional means (boats etc.) are no longer violating Cuban law, and therefore not subject to detention or imprisonment.

Prior to January 13, 2013, Cuban citizens could not travel abroad, leave or return to Cuba without first obtaining official permission along with applying for a government issued passport and travel visa, which was often denied.<ref name="travel">{{cite web|url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/01/18/cuba12207.htm|title=Essential Background: Overview of human rights issues in Cuba |website=Human Rights Watch |date=31 December 2005}}</ref> Unauthorized travel abroad had sometimes resulted in criminal prosecution. It was common, in those days, that certain citizens who were authorized travel (primarily medical personnel and other professionals deemed essential to the country) were not permitted to take their children with them overseas. In the event that Cuban doctors defect to the United States when they are sent to a "mission" out of Cuba to any foreign country, any children left behind would not be allowed to join their defector parent for a minimum of ten years, even if they had received a foreign visa, and regardless of their age.<ref name="travel"/> Castro opposition leader ] has been allowed to travel abroad to receive his ], but ] was not.<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=2005-12-14 |title=Ladies in White stopped from collecting EU award |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/dec/14/cuba.eu |access-date=2023-10-01 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

From 1959 through 1993, some 1.2 million Cubans (about 10% of the current population) left the island for the United States,<ref name="census.gov">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/000797.html |title=Arquivo.pt |access-date=2013-07-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090709154810/http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/000797.html |archive-date=2009-07-09 }}</ref> often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In the early years, a number of those who could claim dual Spanish-Cuban citizenship left for ]. Over time a number of ] were allowed to emigrate to ] after quiet negotiations; the majority of the 10,000 or so Jews who were in Cuba in 1959 have left. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Cubans now reside in a diverse number of countries, some ending up in countries of the ]. A large number of Cubans live in ] and ].

At times the exodus was tolerated by the Cuban government as a "release valve"; at other times the government has impeded it. Some Cubans left for economic reasons and some for political ones. Others emigrated by way of the ] at ], which is blocked on the Cuban (land) side by barbed-wired fences and land mines.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In 1995 the US government entered into an agreement with the Cuban government to resolve the emigration crisis that created the ] of 1980, when Castro opened the docks to anyone who wanted to leave. The result of the negotiations was an agreement under which the United States was required to issue 20,000 visas annually to Cuban emigrants. This quota is rarely filled; the ] refused to comply with the act, issuing only 505 visas to Cubans in the first six months of 2003. It also blocked some Cubans who have visas.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

On July 13, 1994, 72 Cubans attempted to leave the Island on a ] era ] named the '']''. In an attempt by the Cuban Navy to stop the tugboat, patrol boats were sent out to intercept the tug. Crewmen and survivors reported that the Cuban interception vessels rammed the tugboat and sprayed its passengers with high-pressure fire hoses, sweeping many overboard.<ref>{{cite news |title=Survivor of ''13 de Marzo'' tugboat sinking arrives in exile |url=http://fiu.edu/~fcf/13mar.html |access-date=October 27, 2022 |work=Tampa Bay Online |date=May 26, 1999 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429171534/http://fiu.edu/~fcf/13mar.html |archive-date=April 29, 2009 |via=Florida International Univ. |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Amnesty International |date=June 30, 1997 |title=Cuba: The sinking of the "13 de Marzo" Tugboat on 13 July 1994|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/|url-status=live |access-date=September 13, 2024 |website=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006044025/https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr25/013/1997/en/ |archive-date=October 6, 2022}}</ref>

The US Coast Guard reported that the interceptions in high seas have been characterized as violent confrontations with authorities and by the deaths of immigrants. According to the same authorities, the Cubans are taken to the US on speed boats by a network of criminals specialized in human trafficking, former drug traffickers, based in southern Florida which now find contraband of humans more lucrative than drugs. These criminals charge 8 to 12 thousand dollars per person, overcrowding the small vessels. The majority of those that attempt to emigrate are individuals that have relatives in the United States, others who do not qualify to be considered as legal immigrants in the US, or those who do not want to wait their turn in the annual quota, assigned under the migratory treaties for legal immigrants <ref name="Gomez">{{cite web |date=February 2006 | url = https://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/46114 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130210071227/http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/message/46114 | url-status = dead | archive-date = February 10, 2013 | title =Washington's Weapon to Create a Migratory Crisis | publisher =AIN{{Clarify|date=September 2024|reason=What is AIN?}} }}</ref>

Since November 1966, the ] provides automatic permanent residency for almost all Cubans arriving legally or illegally after one year and one day in the US. No immigrant from any other nation has this privilege. Controversy over this policy centers around the loss of Cuba's scientists, professionals, technicians and other skilled individuals, but it has also prompted concerns of a migratory crisis.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

At the end of the 2005 fiscal year which ended September 30, the US Coast Guard Service reported having intercepted 2,712 Cubans at sea, more than double the 1,225 reported in 2004<ref name="Gomez"/> The figure for 2005 is the third highest of Cubans intercepted in the Florida straights during the last 12 years. The highest had been reported in 1993 with 3,656 and 1994 when over 30,000 Cubans emigrated illegally due to the so-called migratory crisis between the two countries.<ref name="Gomez"/>

The 1994 and 1995 migratory accords signed between Havana and Washington, and which emerged due to the crisis in August 1994, are still in effect. These accords force the US to return all those intercepted at sea by US authorities to Cuba, except the cases in which political persecution can be proven to justify exile in the United States.<ref>{{Cite web |title=8/28/00: Fact Sheet: Cuba-U.S. Migration Accord |url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/regions/wha/cuba/fs_000828_migration_accord.html |access-date=2023-10-01 |website=1997-2001.state.gov}}</ref>

The accords were designed to discourage those who would consider emigrating illegally by sea but the Bush administration has not complied with Washington's part of the agreements.{{Citation needed|date=March 2012}} Although the Coast Guard says that only 2.5 percent of the Cubans intercepted are granted political asylum, the public understanding, the public perception in Cuba and among the Cuban community in Miami, is not the same. And since that is not the perception, more and more people continue to illegally leave the island by sea causing fatal consequences. According to studies carried out by Cuban experts on the island, it is estimated that at least 15 percent of those that attempt to cross the sea die before reaching the US.<ref name="Gomez"/>

However, figures of those fleeing other Latin American or Caribbean countries of origin compare similarly with those of Cuba. During the 2005 fiscal year, 3,612 Dominicans were picked up at high seas attempting to illegally reach the US (900 more than Cubans intercepted) and in 2004, 3,229 Haitians were also picked up (2,000 more than the 1,225 Cubans that fiscal year). The Brazilian daily ''O Globo'' published an article on illegal immigrants in the US, quoting official sources, pointing out that during the first semester of 2005, 27,396 Brazilians were stopped from illegally crossing US borders, an average of 4,556 per month and 152 a day. In 2004, a total of 1,160,000 foreigners, were stopped when attempting to illegally enter the US, 93 percent of them (close to 1,080,000) were Mexicans.<ref name="Gomez"/>

=== Education ===
{{Main|Education in Cuba}}
Education in Cuba is free at all levels and led by the Ministry for Education. In 1961 the government nationalized all private educational institutions and introduced a state-directed education system.

=== Healthcare ===
{{Main|Healthcare of Cuba}}
The Cuban government operates on national health system and assumes full fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens.<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120530063729/http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/review/review_summer_02/txt677cuba.html |date=2012-05-30 }} The Cuban Paradox</ref> The government prohibits any private alternatives to the national health system. In 1976, Cuba's healthcare program was enshrined in Article 50 of the revised constitution which states, "Everyone has the ] protection and care". Healthcare in Cuba is also free,<ref>{{cite web |date=19 April 2017 |title=Why an American went to Cuba for cancer care |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-39640165 |access-date=27 January 2023 |website=BBC News}}</ref> although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.<ref>{{cite news |author=Editorial |date=16 May 2015 |title=Be more libre |website=economist.com |url=https://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21651216-transformation-economy-needs-happen-much-faster-be-more-libre |access-date=20 May 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=The Committee Office, House of Commons |date=28 March 2001 |title=Cuban Health Care Systems and its implications for the NHS Plan |url=http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhealth/30/30ap91.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821213607/http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhealth/30/30ap91.htm |archive-date=21 August 2013 |access-date=19 July 2013 |publisher=Select Committee on Health}}</ref>

However, there is no right to privacy, or a patient's informed consent, or the right to protest or sue a doctor or clinic for malpractice.<ref name="Hirschfeld">{{cite journal|url=http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/media/pdf/Article-Hirschfeld-Press.pdf |title=Re-examining the Cuban Health Care System: Towards a Qualitative Critique |first=Katherine |last=Hirschfeld |journal=Cuban Affairs |volume=2 |issue=3 |date=July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090317225912/http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/media/pdf/Article-Hirschfeld-Press.pdf |archive-date=2009-03-17 }}</ref><ref name="Hirschfeld-since1898">{{Cite book |last=Hirschfeld |first=Katherine |url=http://archive.org/details/healthpoliticsre0000hirs |title=Health, politics, and revolution in Cuba since 1898 |date=2007 |publisher=New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-7658-0344-3}}</ref> Many Cubans complain about politics in medical treatment and health care decision-making.<ref name="Hirschfeld"/>

After spending nine months in Cuban clinics, anthropologist Katherine Hirschfeld wrote "My increased awareness of Cuba's criminalization of dissent raised a very provocative question: to what extent is the favorable international image of the Cuban health care system maintained by the state's practice of suppressing dissent and covertly intimidating or imprisoning would-be critics?"<ref name="Hirschfeld"/>{{undue weight inline|date=April 2022}}

Family doctors are expected to keep records of their patients' "political integration."<ref name="Hirschfeld-since1898"/> Epidemiological surveillance has become juxtaposed with political surveillance.<ref name="Hirschfeld-since1898"/>

=== Religious freedom ===
{{Main|Religion in Cuba}}
In the years following the ], the activities of the ] were severely limited and in 1961 all property held by religious organizations was confiscated without compensation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Crahan |first=Margaret E. |date=1979 |title=Salvation through Christ or Marx: Religion in Revolutionary Cuba |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/165694 |journal=Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=156–184 |doi=10.2307/165694 |jstor=165694 |issn=0022-1937}}</ref> Hundreds of members of the ], including a ], were permanently expelled from the nation. The Cuban leadership was officially ] until 1992 when the ] agreed to allow religious followers to join the party. In 1998, ] visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor ] and
] were issued for nineteen foreign priests taking up residence in the country. In addition, other religious groups in Cuba such as the ]ish community are now permitted to hold public services and to import religious materials and ] food for ], as well as to receive ]s and other religious visitors from abroad. In October 2008, Cuba marked the opening of a ] Cathedral in Havana in a ceremony attended by Raúl Castro, Vice President ], Parliament leader ], and other figures.<ref name="Orthodox Cathedral">"Raúl Castro Attends Dedication of Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana". 20 Oct. 2008. Retrieved 14 Apr. 2009. ''Cuban News Agency''. {{cite web|url=http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1020asisteraul.htm |title=Raúl Castro Attends Dedication of Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana |access-date=2009-04-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024082557/http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2008/1020asisteraul.htm |archive-date=2008-10-24 }}</ref> The Cuban press noted that the cathedral was the first of its kind in Latin America.<ref name="Orthodox Cathedral" />

In 2022, Freedom House rated Cuba's religious freedom as 3 out of 4,<ref></ref> noting that religious freedom has improved over the past decade.

A 2023 report found that documented Freedom of Religion violations more than doubled from 272 in 2021 to 657 in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.csw.org.uk/2023/02/06/press/5930/article.htm|title=Cuba: Documented religious freedom violations more than double in 2022|website=www.csw.org.uk}}</ref>

=== Rights of women ===
{{Main|Women in Cuba}}
Cuba is a regional front-runner in women's rights.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Acosta |first=Nelson |date=2022-07-22 |title=Cuba approves law change that opens door to gay marriage, other family rights |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-approves-law-change-that-opens-door-gay-marriage-other-family-rights-2022-07-22/ |access-date=2022-12-06}}</ref> With respect to reproductive rights, Cuban women have up to two years of maternity leave and free access to abortion.<ref name=":3" />

Women head almost 50% of households in Cuba.<ref name=":3" /> Sixty percent of Cuban professionals are women.<ref name=":3" /> Cuban women also have high representation in the country, with women holding 48.9% of the parliamentary seats in the ].<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060909163705/http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_CUB.html |date=2006-09-09 }} United Nations Development report.</ref>

=== Torture ===
In 2005 a group of culture personalities, including several ] laureates, have signed an appeal on '']'' in defense of Cuba, claiming that "the government of the US has no moral authority to elect itself as the judge over human rights in Cuba, where there has not been a single case of disappearance, torture or extrajudicial execution since 1959, and where despite the economic blockade, there are levels of health, education and culture that are internationally recognised." The appeal is signed, for example, by ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ], ] and ].<ref>, The Guardian, March 26, 2005</ref>

== Race relations ==
{{Main|Racism in Cuba}}
Esteban Morales Dominguez has pointed to ] in his book '']'' ({{lang|es|Fundación Fernando Ortiz}}). ''Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba'' discusses the ] prevalent in communist Cuba.<ref>{{cite book|title=Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary|author=Cuba Mark Q. Sawyer University of California, Los Angeles}}</ref>

], writing in the '']'', describes race as a "social bomb" and he says, "If the Cuban government were to permit black Cubans to organize and raise their problems before &nbsp;... totalitarianism would fall".<ref name="barrier">{{cite news|url=http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part4/index.html|title=A barrier for Cuba's blacks|newspaper=Miami Herald}}</ref> ], who has authored extensively on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore, the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead".<ref name="barrier"/> He says that a new generation of black Cubans are looking at politics in another way.<ref name="barrier"/>

], a well-known Afro-Cuban human rights and democracy activist who was imprisoned for 17 years, in an interview with the Florida-based<ref name="directorio">{{cite web|url=http://www.directorio.org/mediacoverage/note.php?note_id=1546 |title=Cuban former political prisoner Jorge Luis García Perez Antúnez: I felt death was very close several times |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090429182538/http://www.directorio.org/mediacoverage/note.php?note_id=1546 |archive-date=2009-04-29 }}</ref> '']'' states "The authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the revolution. During the trial, the color of my skin aggravated the situation. Later when I was mistreated in prison by guards, they always referred to me as being black".<ref name="directorio"/>

Despite these barriers however, Cuba has oftentimes been praised for advances of the Cuban Revolution in the areas of racial equality. During his leadership, Castro abolished segregation in businesses and public spaces while also ushering in egalitarian reforms in areas such as employment, wages, social security, and education. The proportion of high school graduates was actually higher among blacks than among whites in Cuba, whereas the opposite was true in both Brazil and the United States.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=A Lesson From Cuba on Race|url=https://globalhealth.washington.edu/sites/default/files/Fuente%20A%20Lesson%20From%20Cuba%20on%20Race%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times131117.pdf|access-date=2021-03-07}}</ref> In the area of life expectancy, The life expectancy of nonwhite Cubans was only one year lower
than that of whites; life expectancy was basically identical for all racial groups. A powerful indicator of social wellbeing, linked to access to health services (as reflected, particularly, in infant mortality), nutrition and education, the Cuban race gap in life expectancy was significantly lower than those found in more affluent multiracial societies such as Brazil (about 6.7 years) and the United States (about 6.3 years) during the same period.<ref name=":1" /> Because of these social reforms the Afro Cuban population is the healthiest longest living black population in the world.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Fidel Castro's Legacy On Race Relations In Cuba And Abroad|url=https://www.npr.org/2016/12/03/504274605/fidel-castros-legacy-on-race-relations-in-cuba-and-abroad|access-date=2021-03-07|website=NPR.org|language=en}}</ref> In the area of national leadership the vestiges of the pre revolutionary era are still visible when it comes to the question of colour, with Afro Cubans having yet to achieve parity when it comes to representation. Nevertheless, reforms have been introduced since in the 1970s when Castro "worked to increase the number of Afro-Cuban political representatives, with the percentage of Black members on the Council of State expanding from 12.9% in 1976 to 25.8% by 2003".<ref>{{Cite web|last=Glassman|first=Naomi|date=2021-03-07|title=Revolutionary Racism : Afro‑Cubans in an Era of Economic Change|url=https://www.cetri.be/Revolutionary-Racism-Afro‑Cubans|access-date=2021-03-07|website=Centre tricontinental|language=en}}</ref>

== Black Spring ==
{{Main|Black Spring (Cuba)}}
In March 2003, the government of Cuba arrested dozens of people (including self-identified journalists and ]s), and charged them with ] due to their alleged cooperation with ], head of the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hermanos.org/docs/tmh032103.html|title=35 Cuban dissidents arrested |date=20 March 2003 |first=Nancy |last=San Martin |work=The Miami Herald}}</ref> The accused were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 28 years. In all, 75 people were given lengthy sentences averaging 17 years each. Among those sentenced were ], ], and ]. ] described the trials as "hasty and manifestly unfair."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=10678 |title=Welcome to Amnesty International USA's Online Action Center! |website=Amnesty International USA |access-date=2004-05-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040427121421/http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2 |archive-date=2004-04-27 }}</ref>

Cuban Foreign Minister ] denied these accusations and responded: "Cuba has the right to defend itself and apply punishment just like other nations do, like the United States punishes those who cooperate with a foreign power to inflict damage on their people and territory."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/2004/marzo/25cmconferencia.htm |title=Cuba Responds to Rough Lies on 75 Imprisoned Mercenaries |access-date=2004-09-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050108055623/http://www.ain.cubaweb.cu/2004/marzo/25cmconferencia.htm |archive-date=2005-01-08 }}</ref>

During the trial, evidence was presented that the defendants had received funds from the U.S. Interests Section. Cuban officials claim that the goal of this funding was to undermine the Cuban state, disrupt internal order, and damage the Cuban economy. For his part, Cason denies offering funds to anyone in Cuba.

On November 29, 2004, the Cuban government released three of those arrested in March 2003: ], ], and ]. The action followed a meeting between the Spanish ambassador and Cuba's foreign minister.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4053581.stm | work=BBC News | title=Cuba frees political dissidents | date=November 29, 2004}}</ref> In subsequent days four more dissidents were released: ], ],<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4055647.stm | work=BBC News | title=Cuba releases leading dissident | date=November 30, 2004}}</ref> ]<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4063617.stm | work=BBC News | title=Cuba frees sixth jailed dissident | date=December 2, 2004}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4074191.stm | work=BBC News | title=Cuba frees dissident journalist | date=December 6, 2004 | first=Stephen | last=Gibbs}}</ref> Seven other prisoners had previously been released for health reasons.

== LGBT rights in Cuba ==
{{Main|LGBT rights in Cuba|Military Units to Aid Production}}

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Cuba have evolved significantly over time, from widespread discrimination in most of the 20th century to what are now considered some of the most progressive LGBT policies in Latin America.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=Cuba approves same-sex marriage in historic turnabout |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/24/cuba-same-sex-marriage-referendum/ |access-date=2022-10-01 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

=== Discrimination ===
Thousands of ]s, ], conscientious objectors, and dissidents were forced to conduct their compulsory military service in the 1960s at UMAP camps, where they were subject to political "]".<ref name="Hirschfeld-since1898" /><ref>{{cite book|title=World Police Encyclopedia|author=Dilip K. Das, Michael Palmiotto|page=217}}</ref> Military commanders brutalized the inmates.<ref name="Lumsden">{{cite book|title=Machos, Maricones, and Gays |first=Ian |last=Lumsden |pages=70–72}}</ref> Carlos Alberto Montaner says "Camps of forced labour were instituted with all speed to "correct" such deviations&nbsp;... Verbal and physical mistreatment, shaved heads, work from dawn to dusk, hammocks, dirt floors, scarce food&nbsp;... The camps became increasingly crowded as the methods of arrest became more expedient".<ref name="Hirschfeld-since1898" />

In the late 1960s, because of "revolutionary social hygiene", the Castro government claimed to cleanse the arts of "fraudulent sodomitic" writers and "sick effeminate" dancers.<ref name="Lumsden" /> Additionally, men with long hair were locked up and their hair was cut.<ref name="Lumsden" />

Castro is reported to once have asserted that, "in the country, there are no homosexuals", before claiming in 1992 that homosexuality is a "natural human tendency that must simply be respected".<ref name="Tatchell"> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020821192118/http://www.galha.org/glh/213/cuba.html |date=2002-08-21 }}, Peter Tatchell (2002), published in the "Gay and Lesbian Humanist", Spring 2002. An earlier version was published in a slightly edited form as , in ], Friday Review, 8 June 2001.</ref> Another source reports Castro as having denounced "maricones" ("]") as "agents of imperialism".<ref>{{cite book |last=Llovio-Menéndez |first=José Luis |title=Insider: My Hidden Life as a Revolutionary in Cuba |location=New York |publisher=Bantam Books |date=1988 |pages= |isbn=9780553051148 |url=https://archive.org/details/insidermyhiddenl00llov/page/156 }}</ref> Castro has also reportedly asserted that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people".<ref>{{cite book |last=Lockwood |first=Lee |title=Castro's Cuba, Cuba's Fidel |page=124 |edition=3 |date=October 1990 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=0-8133-1086-5}}</ref>

=== 21st century reforms ===
Cuba has made reforms in the 21st century,<ref>{{cite web |last=Israel |first=Esteban |url=http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000021/002197.htm |title=Castro's niece fights for new revolution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822022909/http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000021/002197.htm |archive-date=2006-08-22 |agency=] |date=2006-07-03}}</ref> particularly via the successful ].<ref name=":2" />

In 2003, Carlos Sanchez of the ] issued a report on the status of gay people in Cuba which claimed that the Cuban government no longer imposes any legal punishments on its gay citizens, that there is a greater level of tolerance among Cubans for gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and that the Cuban government was open to endorsing a gay and lesbian rights plank at the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID%3D1%26FileCategory%3D10%26ZoneID%3D5%26FileID%3D26 |title=Carlos Sanchez, ILGA LAC rep tells us about his cuban experience |access-date=2006-03-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628192450/http://www.ilga.org/news_results.asp?LanguageID=1&FileCategory=10&ZoneID=5&FileID=26 |archive-date=2006-06-28 }}</ref> Since 2005 ] for transgender individuals are free under law, and are paid for by the government.<ref name="sexchange">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN06395397|title=Cuba approves sex change operations|work=Reuters|date=June 6, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42693 |title=HEALTH-CUBA: Free Sex Change Operations Approved |publisher=Inter Press Service |date=June 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612094759/http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42693 |archive-date=2010-06-12 }}</ref> Also ] now has a "lively and vibrant" gay and lesbian scene.<ref>{{cite news |title=Havana rights |work=The Guardian |url=http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/calvin_tucker/2007/03/the_street_scene_was_entertain.html |date=2007-03-28 | location=London | first=Calvin | last=Tucker | access-date=May 4, 2010}}</ref>

In a 2010 interview with Mexican newspaper ''La Jornada'', the ], Fidel Castro, called the persecution of homosexuals whilst he was in power "a great injustice, great injustice!" Taking responsibility for the persecution, he said, "If anyone is responsible, it's me&nbsp;... We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments I was not able to deal with that matter . I found myself immersed, principally, in the ], in the war, in policy questions." Castro personally believed that the negative treatment of gays in Cuba arose out of the country's pre-revolutionary attitudes toward homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite news
| title = Fidel Castro takes blame for 1960s gay persecution
| newspaper = The Globe and Mail
| publisher = Reuters
| date = 31 August 2010
| url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/fidel-castro-takes-blame-for-1960s-gay-persecution/article1691613/
| access-date = 31 August 2010}}</ref>

], daughter of ] ], has been pushing for lesbian rights with the pro-lesbian government sponsored ] which she leads. Mariela has stated her father fully supports her initiatives, saying that her father has overcome his initial homophobia to support his daughter.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7314845.stm | work=BBC News | first=Michael | last=Voss | title=Castro champions gay rights in Cuba | date=March 27, 2008 | quote=I've seen changes in my father since I was a child. I saw him as macho and homophobic. But as I have grown and changed as a person, so I have seen him change.}}</ref>

The passage of the 2022 Family Code referendum legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex parents.<ref name=":2" /> Cuba now has one of the most progressive stances on LGBT rights of among Latin American countries.<ref name=":2" />

== United Nations Human Rights Commission ==
Cuban human rights have been repeatedly discussed and debated in the ] since the Cuban Revolution. It would become a recurring flashpoint in the backdrop of international dynamic during the ] and into the years following.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

The organized and sustained international effort launched by prominent Cuban dissident groups (e.g. Miami's Center for Human Rights,<ref name="Verdeja">Sam Verdeja, Guillermo Martinez, '''' (2012). p. 241, {{ISBN|1935806203}}.</ref> UNIDAD Cubana,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Emergency intervention of world leaders urged in favor of Cuban political prisoners|url=http://www.cubdest.org/0312/c0307marthae.html|access-date=2020-10-14|website=www.cubdest.org}}</ref> ], and others) and affiliated ] (such as ]) made their way to the UNHRC and would become a growing presence in ]. These groups sometimes represented a spectrum of different Cuban interests, such as ] (e.g. ] movements, parties, and organizations)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/172070/files/E_CN.4_1995_INF.1-EN.pdf|title=United Nations Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-First Session, E/CN.4/1995/INF.1|publisher=United Nations|date=9 March 1995|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/169318/files/E_CN.4_1995_Misc.2-ES.pdf|title=United Nations Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, Fifty-First Session, E/CN.4/1995/MISC.2|publisher=United Nations|date=10 February 1995|access-date=June 26, 2019}}</ref> and education (e.g. the International Association of Educators for World Peace),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/1996/19960412.hrcn733.html|title=Commission begins consideration of rights of indigenous peoples; Press Release HR/CN/733|publisher=]|date=April 12, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/236707/files/E_CN.4_Sub.2_1996_Misc.1-ES.pdf|title=Commission on Human Rights; Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Forty-Eighth Session, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1996/Misc.1|date=9 August 1996|access-date=June 25, 2019}}</ref> that coalesced around the issue of human rights. An influential force credited with crafting and spearheading the international Cuban human rights effort, particularly in the ], was activist and Cuban community leader ].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hamilton|first=Robert|date=2018-10-01|title=Ros-Lehtinen, other community leaders salute Jesús Permuy|url=https://communitynewspapers.com/coral-gables-news/ros-lehtinen-other-community-leaders-salute-jesus-permuy/|access-date=2020-10-14|website=Miami's Community News|language=en-US}}</ref> ]'s profile of the Cuban Christian Democrat Movement stated that Permuy spearheaded the international diplomatic strategy to call out the Castro regime's human rights abuses and work with other ]ic governments to withhold international support until governmental changes were made to address human rights abuses.<ref name="Ducassi">{{cite news|first1=Jay|last1=Ducassi|title=Exile Group Fights Castro With Words|work=The Miami Herald|date=June 17, 1984|pages=1B}}</ref> Though the coalition's NGO-driven human rights effort for Cuba initially struggled to gain traction in the UNHRC, their influence gradually grew, especially as key groups secured Consultative Status which significantly expanded their resources and exposure there.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Congressional Record House Articles|url=https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/2017/10/11/house-section/article/H7959-4|access-date=2020-10-14|website=www.congress.gov}}</ref> A significant turning point in these efforts came in 1984 when Permuy's Miami-based Center for Human Rights successfully lobbied to have Cuba's diplomatic representative, Luis Sola Vila, removed from a key subcommittee of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and replaced with a representative from ], a Christian-Democratic ally in opposition of the Castro government.<ref name="Ducassi"/> Another key moment came in 1987 when US President ] appointed ], former Cuban political prisoner of 22 years, as the US Ambassador to the commission. By 1992, there had been a substantial change in Geneva as the UNHRC representatives had shifted from initial rejection, then indifference and towards embrace of the anti-Castro Cuban human rights movement's diplomatic efforts.<ref>{{cite news|first1=Juan O.|last1=Tamayo|title=Exiles' Message Embraced at U.N.|work=The Miami Herald|date=March 3, 1992|pages=7A}}</ref>

Since 1990, the United States itself has presented various resolutions to the annual ] criticizing Cuba's human rights record. The proposals and subsequent diplomatic disagreements have been described as a "nearly annual ritual".<ref name="Herald"> Miami Herald April 19, 2001</ref> Long-term consensus between Latin American nations has not emerged.<ref name = "coha-OAS-UNHRC"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719182937/http://www.coha.org/2005/05/02/cuba-the-un-human-rights-commission-and-the-oas-race/ |date=2008-07-19 }} Council on Hemispheric Affairs</ref> The resolutions were passed 1990–1997, but were rejected in 1998.<ref name="Herald"/> Subsequent efforts by the U.S. have succeeded by narrow voting margins. In the Americas, some governments back the criticism, others oppose it, seeing it as a cynical manipulation of a serious human rights issue in order to promote the isolation of the island and to justify the decades-old embargo.<ref name = "coha-OAS-UNHRC"/> European Union nations have universally voted against Cuba since 1990, though requests that the resolution should contain references to the negative effects of the economic embargo have been made.<ref> Miami Herald 2000</ref>

== Cuban human rights groups ==
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== See also ==
{{Portal|Cuba}}
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== References ==
{{Reflist|33em}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* on ]

{{North America in topic|Human rights in}}
{{Cuba topics}}

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Human rights in Cuba are under the scrutiny of human rights organizations, which accuse the Cuban government of committing systematic human rights abuses against the Cuban people, including arbitrary imprisonment and unfair trials. International human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have drawn attention to the actions of the human rights movement and designated members of it as prisoners of conscience, such as Óscar Elías Biscet. In addition, the International Committee for Democracy in Cuba led by former statesmen Václav Havel of the Czech Republic, José María Aznar of Spain and Patricio Aylwin of Chile was created to support the Cuban dissident movement.

Overview

Concerns have been expressed about the operation of due process. According to Human Rights Watch, even though Cuba, officially atheist until 1992, now "permits greater opportunities for religious expression than it did in past years, and has allowed several religious-run humanitarian groups to operate, the government still maintains tight control on religious institutions, affiliated groups, and individual believers". Censorship in Cuba has also been at the center of complaints. According to the report of Human Rights Watch from 2017 the government continues to rely on arbitrary detention to harass and intimidate critics, independent activists, political opponents, and others. This report added that the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, an independent human rights group that lacks official authorization and is therefore considered illegal by the government, received more than 7,900 reports of arbitrary detentions from January through August 2016. This represents the highest monthly average of detentions in the past six years.

Amnesty International's 2017-2018 Annual Report also noted more arbitrary detentions, discriminatory layoffs by state agencies and harassments in self-employment with the aim of making them silent in criticism. Regarding any progress in education, Amnesty International reported that advances in education were undermined by ongoing online and offline censorship. Cuba remained mostly closed to independent human rights monitors.

With regard to arbitrary arrests and detentions, the report added that human rights activists and political activists continued to be harassed, intimidated and arbitrarily detained in high numbers. The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, a Cuban NGO which is not officially recognized by the state, recorded 5,155 arbitrary detentions in 2017, in contrast to 9,940 in 2016.

Cuba is a regional leader in women's rights issues.

History

Politics of Cuba
Constitution
Communist Party
8th term
National Assembly
9th term
Elections and referendums
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

Related topics
flag Cuba portal

During Spanish colonization, the oppression of the indigenous populations was chronicled at length by clergyman Bartolomé de las Casas. The subsequent transportation of African slaves to the island, which lasted over 300 years, led to British military intervention and a determination "to put a stop to these abuses". Since Cuba achieved independence in 1902, successive Cuban governments have been criticised and condemned by various groups, both within Cuba and internationally, for human rights violations on the island. During the latter part of the Spanish colonial era in Cuba, human rights on the island became a particular international concern. After a visit to the region in 1898, U.S. Senator Redfield Proctor estimated that up to 200,000 Cubans had died from starvation and disease within "Spanish forts", essentially concentration camps. The concern was a contributory factor in garnering support for the Spanish–American War in the U.S.

After independence, and following a sustained period of instability, the 1924–33 capitalist government of Gerardo Machado proved to be authoritarian. Machado extended his rule until Fulgencio Batista led an uprising called the Revolt of the Sergeants, as part of a coup which deposed Machado in 1933. Batista then became the strongman behind a succession of puppet presidents until he was himself elected president in 1940. According to Hugh Thomas, the post-Machado period was marked by violent reprisals, mass lynchings and a deterioration towards corruption and gansterismo throughout the island.

From 1940, Cuba had a multiparty electoral system until Fulgencio Batista (President from 1940 to 1944) staged a coup with military backing on March 10, 1952.

To quell the growing discontent amongst the populace—which was subsequently displayed through frequent student riots and demonstrations—Batista established tighter censorship of the media, while also utilizing his Bureau for the Repression of Communist Activities secret police to carry out wide-scale violence, torture and public executions. These murders mounted in 1957, as socialist ideas became more influential. Many people were killed, with estimates ranging from hundreds to about 20,000 people killed.

On October 6, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy, in the midst of his campaign for the U.S. presidency, decried Batista's relationship with the U.S. government and criticized the Eisenhower administration for supporting him:

Fulgencio Batista murdered 20,000 Cubans in seven years ... and he turned Democratic Cuba into a complete police state—destroying every individual liberty. Yet our aid to his regime, and the ineptness of our policies, enabled Batista to invoke the name of the United States in support of his reign of terror. Administration spokesmen publicly praised Batista—hailed him as a staunch ally and a good friend—at a time when Batista was murdering thousands, destroying the last vestiges of freedom, and stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the Cuban people, and we failed to press for free elections.

In 1958, Time magazine wrote: "Cuba's fanatic, poorly armed rebels last week tried to smash President Fulgencio Batista with the ultimate weapon of civilian revolutions: the general strike. ... Fulgencio Batista got ready for the strike by offering immunity to anyone who killed a striker and by threatening to jail any employer who closed shop." During the strike, militants and youths stole guns, and threw bombs (one of which may have set up a gas-mains fire), after which some people were killed in clashes."

According to Time magazine, "The strike was short-lived: "With the upper hand, Batista drove boldly around the city while his cops proceeded to make their supremacy complete. When a patrol car radioed that it had clashed with rebels and had 'a dead man and a prisoner', the dispatcher ordered: 'Shoot him.' At midafternoon, cops burst into a boardinghouse, grabbed three young men who were leaders of Cuba's lay Catholic Action movement, which sympathizes with Castro. Two hours later their stripped, tortured and bullet-torn bodies were turned over to relatives. Total dead: 43."

In 1959, Fidel Castro and his forces succeeded in displacing Batista from power. At that time there were fundamental changes in the judicial and political process. During this transitional period there were some concerns voiced about due process.

The "Cuban National Reconciliation movement", a U.S.-based organisation that claims to act as a forum for discussing Cuban society, has detailed what it believes are complex variables when analysing human rights immediately after the revolution. In the 1960s, violent confrontations known as the Escambray Rebellion between the Cuban government and armed opposition were ongoing, but had declined by the early 1970s. The group asserts that by the time international human rights movements flourished in the 1970s, the most severe period of repression was over, making non-partisan retrospective assessments of the period difficult. The reconciliation movement also cite the difficulties in assessing accounts of abuses that are commonly split upon partisan lines. According to the group, Cuban exiles who were often the first to denounce the Cuban government, largely shared an anti-Communist ideology and overlooked violations committed by other regimes, whilst many left leaning observers did not give the claims of Cuban victims due consideration.

After coming to power in 1959, Fidel Castro's government built a highly effective machinery of repression, according to Human Rights Watch.

As early as September 1959, Vadim Kotchergin (or Kochergin), a KGB agent, was seen in Cuba. Jorge Luis Vasquez, a Cuban who was imprisoned in East Germany, states that the East German secret police Stasi trained the personnel of the Cuban Interior Ministry (MININT).

Political executions

Various estimates have been made in order to ascertain the number of political executions which have been carried out on behalf of the Cuban government since the revolution. During the first two months of 1959, Castro's government executed more than 300 Batista officials, with Latin American historian Thomas E. Skidmore says that there had been 550 executions in the first six months of 1959. In an April 1961 UPI story, the agency stated that about "700 have died before Castro's firing squads" between 1959 and 1961. The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators ascertained that there had been 2,113 political executions between the years 1958–67, while British historian Hugh Thomas, stated in his study Cuba or the pursuit of freedom that "perhaps" 5,000 executions had taken place by 1970.

The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 revolution were policemen, politicians and informers for the Batista regime who were accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions enjoyed widespread popular support among the Cuban population. Most scholars agree that those executed were most likely guilty as charged, but their trials did not follow due process. The Cuban Government justified such measures on the grounds that in Cuba, the application of capital punishment against war criminals and others followed the same procedure which had previously been followed by the Allies during the Nuremberg trials. Some Cuban scholars maintain that if the government had not imposed severe legislation against the torturers, terrorists, and other criminals who had been employed by the Batista regime, the people themselves would have taken justice into their own hands.

Alleged forced labor camps and abuse of prisoners

In 1987, a "Tribunal on Cuba" was held in Paris in order to present testimonies by former prisoners of Cuba's penal system to the international media. The gathering was sponsored by a US-funded anti-communist group which was named Resistance International and "The Coalition of Committees for the Rights of Man in Cuba". The testimonies which were presented at the tribunal, before an international panel, alleged that a pattern of torture existed in Cuba's prisons and "hard labor camps". The torture consisted of beatings, biological experiments which included dietary restrictions, violent interrogations and extremely unsanitary living conditions. The jury concurred with allegations of arbitrary arrest; sentencing by court martial with no public audience or defender; periods of time which prisoners spent in hard labour camps without sufficient food, clothing or medical care; and the arrest of children who were over nine years old.

Political abuse of psychiatry

Although Cuba has been politically connected to the Soviet Union since the United States broke off relations with Cuba shortly after its prime minister Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, few considerable allegations regarding the political abuse of psychiatry in that country emerged before the late 1980s. Americas Watch and Amnesty International published reports which alluded to cases of possible unwarranted hospitalization and ill-treatment of political prisoners. These reports concerned the Gustavo Machin hospital in Santiago de Cuba in the southeast of the country and the major mental hospital in Havana. In 1977, a report on the alleged abuse of psychiatry in Cuba was published in the United States and it presented cases of ill-treatment in Cuban mental hospitals which dated back to the early 1970s. It presents grave allegations which claim that prisoners who end up in the forensic wards of mental hospitals in Santiago de Cuba and Havana are subjected to methods of ill-treatment which include electroconvulsive therapy without the use of muscle relaxants or anaesthesia. The reported application of ECT in the forensic wards seems, at least in many of the cited cases, not to be an adequate clinical treatment for the diagnosed state of the prisoner—in some cases the prisoners do not seem to have been diagnosed at all. Conditions in the forensic wards have been described in repulsive terms and they are apparently in striking contrast to the conditions in the other parts of the mental hospitals that are said to be well-kept and modern.

In August 1981, the Marxist historian Ariel Hidalgo was apprehended and accused of "incitement against the social order, international solidarity and the Socialist State" and sentenced to eight years' imprisonment. In September 1981, he was transported from State Security Headquarters to the Carbó-Serviá (forensic) ward of the Havana Psychiatric Hospital and stayed there for several weeks.

Contemporary Cuba

Political repression

Further information: Cuban dissidents

A 2009 report by Human Rights Watch concluded that "Raúl Castro has kept Cuba's repressive machinery firmly in place...since being handed power by his brother Fidel Castro." The report found that "cores 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."

US government-funded Freedom House classifies Cuba as being "Not Free", and notes that "Cuba is the only country in the Americas that consistently makes Freedom House's list of the Worst of the Worst: the World's Most Repressive Societies for widespread abuses of political rights and civil liberties." The 2017 World Report by Human Rights Watch writes that independent journalists who publish information considered critical of the government are subject to smear campaigns and arbitrary arrests, as are artists and academics who demand greater freedoms.

Jorge Luis García Pérez assailed the Cuban thaw as a capitulation to the Castro's regime

A 1999 Human Rights Watch report notes that the Interior Ministry's principal responsibility is to monitor the Cuban population for signs of dissent. In 1991 two new mechanisms for internal surveillance and control emerged. Communist Party leaders organized the Singular Systems of Vigilance and Protection (Sistema Unico de Vigilancia y Protección, SUVP). Rapid Action Brigades (Brigadas de Acción Rapida, also referred to as Rapid Response Brigades, or Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida) observe and control dissidents. The government also "maintains academic and labor files (expedientes escolares y laborales) for each citizen, in which officials record actions or statements that may bear on the person's loyalty to the revolution. Before advancing to a new school or position, the individual's record must first be deemed acceptable".

The opposition movement in Cuba is a widespread collection of individuals and nongovernmental organizations, most of whom are working for the respect of individual rights on the island. Some of the best known Cuban members of the opposition include the Ladies in White (recipients of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought), Human Rights Center and Cuban community leader Jesús Permuy, Marta Beatriz Roque, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Sakharov Prize winner Oswaldo Payá, as well as Óscar Elías Biscet, and Jorge Luis García Pérez "Antúnez."

On October 18, 2019, the U.S. Commerce Department announced that the United States will impose new sanctions against Cuba following its poor human rights records and its support of the Venezuelan government. In particular, José Daniel Ferrer's continued detention was brought into notice in a different statement which was issued by the U.S. State Department. Ferrer, who heads the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), has been kept in detention by the Cuban government and his whereabouts have not been revealed.

Censorship

Main article: Censorship in Cuba

Cuba officially adopted the civil and political rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. One of the key principles in the declaration was the insistence on Freedom of expression and opinion. According to the 1992 Cuban constitution, free speech was allowed "in keeping with the objectives of socialist society" and that artistic creation was allowed "as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution". The 2019 Cuban constitution removed the language.

Cuba's ranking was on the bottom of the Press Freedom Index 2008 compiled by the Reporters Without Borders (RWB). Cuba was named one of the ten most censored countries in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

According to American group Committee to Protect Journalists, the media in Cuba are operated under the supervision of the Communist Party's Department of Revolutionary Orientation, which "develops and coordinates propaganda strategies".

Human rights groups and international organizations believe that these articles subordinate the exercise of freedom of expression to the state. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights assess that: "It is evident that the exercise of the right to freedom of expression under this article of the Constitution is governed by two fundamental determinants: on the one hand, the preservation and strengthening of the communist State; on the other, the need to muzzle any criticism of the group in power." Human rights group Amnesty International assert that the universal state ownership of the media means that freedom of expression is restricted. Thus the exercise of the right to freedom of expression is restricted by the lack of means of mass communication falling outside state control. Human Rights Watch states: "Refusing to recognize human rights monitoring as a legitimate activity, the government denies legal status to local human rights groups. Individuals who belong to these groups face systematic harassment, with the government putting up obstacles to impede them from documenting human rights conditions. In addition, international human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are barred from sending fact-finding missions to Cuba. It remains one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons." Yet, activists' networks like Eye on Cuba and Cubalog.eu have continued working with the intention to raise awareness about the true situation concerning human and civil rights on the "island of freedom" and appeal to Europe Union and its members to apply responsible approach to Cuba in their foreign policy. Financial support and legal representation is provided by foreign NGOs as part of the EU Cuba Network.

A formal structure and system of reporting news not approved by the government was first attempted in 1993. The effort for an independent, uncensored news agency was spearheaded by Cuban human rights activist and then-President of Christian Democratic Movement Jesús Permuy. It formally began in May of that year as Members of Civic Democratic Action, an umbrella group of nearly twenty Castro opposition organizations, formed an alliance with the Independent Cuban Journalists Association. The effort ultimately failed.

A Reporters Without Borders report as of October 2006 finds that Internet use is very restricted and under tight surveillance. Access is only possible with government permission and equipment is rationed. E-mail is monitored.

Foreign journalists are systematically expelled from Cuba, e.g. notable journalists of Gazeta Wyborcza, Anna Bikont and Seweryn Blumsztahn, were expelled in 2005.

Restrictions on assembly

As of 2005, Human Rights Watch stated that "freedom of assembly is severely restricted in Cuba, and political dissidents are generally prohibited from meeting in large groups." In 2006, Amnesty stated that "All human rights, civil and professional associations and unions that exist today in Cuba outside the officialdom of the state apparatus and mass organizations controlled by the government are barred from having legal status. This often puts at risk the individuals who belong to these associations of facing harassment, intimidation or criminal charges for activities which constitute the legitimate exercise of the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly."

The Cuban authorities only recognize a single national trade union centre, the Central de Trabajadores de Cuba (CTC). The government explicitly prohibits independent trade unions, there is systematic harassment and detention of labor activists, and the leaders of attempted independent unions have been imprisoned. The right to strike is not recognized in law.

Society

In 2001 an attempt was made by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and others from the Christian Liberation Movement, operating as the Varela Project, to have a national plebiscite using provisions in the Constitution of Cuba which provided for citizen initiative. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of press, as well as starting private businesses. The petition was refused by the National Assembly and in response a referendum was held in support of socialism being a permanent fixture of the constitution, for which the government claimed 99% voter approval.

Another important project is the establishment of the Assembly to Promote Civil Society. The Assembly to Promote Civil Society in Cuba is a coalition of 365 independent civil society groups with the stated aims of "forming a democratic culture", "developing a social movement", strengthening the Assembly's organization, communicating among groups to promote the civil society, using all available means to combat poverty and seeking the betterment of the community's life conditions, developing a true knowledge of Cuba's history, in all its dimensions: economic, social and political, undertaking activities and projects aimed at the protection and conservation of natural resources and the ecosystem, and promoting a true culture on labor rights. The Assembly had its first meeting in May 2005.

Capital punishment

Main article: Capital punishment in Cuba

Cuba placed a moratorium on the use of capital punishment in 1999. However, an exception was made when, in 2003, three members of a gang of ten were executed for a ferry hijacking. The hijackers were attempting to reach Florida, but ran out of fuel only halfway to their destination. After a two-day stand-off, the ferry was escorted by coast guard patrol boats back to a Cuban port, ostensibly to refuel; when hostages began jumping over the sides of the ship, however, the authorities subdued the hijackers and regained control. Four other men were given life sentences, and the remaining three women involved received 1–5 years in prison.

Acts of repudiation

Main article: Acts of repudiation

Human rights groups including Amnesty International have long been critical of what the Cuban authorities have termed "Acts of repudiation" (actos de repudio). These acts occur when large groups of citizens verbally abuse, intimidate and sometimes physically assault and throw stones and other objects at the homes of Cubans who are considered counter-revolutionaries. Human rights groups suspect that these acts are often carried out in collusion with the security forces and sometimes involve the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution or the Rapid Response Brigades.

Notable prisoners of conscience

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Human rights in Cuba" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
  • In 1960, Armando Valladares was convicted on a charge of placing bombs in public places and was sentenced to thirty years in prison. He and his supporters contend that he was never part of the Batista police as alleged by Castro supporters, and that his imprisonment was the result of his vocal opposition to the Castro government. Valladares claims to have been tortured and humiliated while he was on a hunger strike in order to protest against prison abuses; he claims the guards denied him water until he became delirious, and they proceeded to urinate in his mouth and on his face. Furthermore, he claimed to require the use of a wheelchair following his longest hunger strike. The Cuban government denied both claims, and provided video evidence to Regis Debray of Valladares standing and walking. Valladares was released from prison after serving twenty-two years of his sentence, due in part to the intercession of France's President François Mitterrand. Conservative author David Horowitz has since called Valladares a "Human Rights Hero."
  • In 1973, gay writer Reinaldo Arenas was sent to prison after being charged and convicted of 'ideological deviation' and for publishing abroad to evade censorship in Cuba. He escaped from prison and tried to leave Cuba by launching himself from the shore on a tire inner tube. The attempt failed and he was re-arrested near Lenin Park and imprisoned at the notorious El Morro Castle alongside murderers and rapists. After finally escaping from Cuba in the 1980 Mariel Boatlift, Arenas described the horrors he endured under the Cuban government in his autobiography Antes que anochezca (1992), English translation Before Night Falls (1993).
  • On August 28, 1998, a Havana court sentenced Reynaldo Alfaro García, a member of the Democratic Solidarity Party, to three years in prison for "spreading enemy propaganda" and "rumour-mongering".
  • Desi Mendoza, a Cuban doctor, was imprisoned for making statements criticizing Cuba's response to an epidemic of dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba which he alleged had caused several deaths. Dr. Mendoza had previously been fired from his job in a Cuban hospital three years earlier for establishing an independent medical association. He was later released due to ill-health, subject to his leaving the country.
  • Óscar Elías Biscet, a medical doctor, has been sentenced to prison for 25 years for his non-violent, but vocal opposition to Castro.
  • In early 2003, dozens of persons, including independent journalists, librarians and other opponents of the Castro government were jailed after summary show trials, with some sentences in excess of 20 years, on the charge of receiving money from the United States in order to carry out anti-government activities.
  • An Amnesty International report, CUBA: fundamental freedoms still under attack, calls for the "Cuban authorities to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally" and to "revoke all legislation that restricts freedom of expression, assembly and association, and to put a halt to all actions to harass and intimidate dissidents, journalists, and human rights defenders".
  • Jorge Luis García Pérez was reported to have been released from prison in April 2007 after serving his full sentence of 17 years and 34 days for having, at the age of 25, shouted slogans against Fidel Castro. García Antúnez was convicted of sabotage after authorities accused him of setting fire to sugar cane fields, sabotage, spreading "enemy propaganda", and being in illegal possession of a weapon.
  • Dr. Ariel Ruiz Urquiola, whom Amnesty International had declared "a prisoner of conscience" and demanded that he be released "immediately and without conditions".
  • On September 2, 2020, Article 19, Institute for War and Peace Reporting and Amnesty International urged the Cuban government to immediately release prisoner of conscience and independent journalist, Roberto Quiñones Haces. Following the trial in August 2019 and he was sentenced to one-year imprisonment for resistance and disobedience concerning his work as an independent journalist.

Travel and emigration

As of January 14, 2013, all Cuban government-imposed travel restrictions and controls have been abolished. Since that date, any Cuban citizen, with a valid passport, can leave the country subject to administrative restrictions imposed by the government. Students need the permission to travel from their school, workers from their employer. Both are controlled by the government. Visa requirements for Cuban citizens are more than the administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Cuba often incorporating (in violation of human rights) these requirement of proof of authorization to travel (Schengen countries EU). Some of the requirements of third countries like financial self sufficiency and financial ties to the country (property, income) can not be met by Cubans due to the site economic situation. Few Cubans have the (proven ) income to show they can pay for travel and stay. Most need a sponsor. In 2014, Cuban citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 61 countries and territories, ranking the Cuban passport 69th in the world. Persons holding dual Spanish and Cuban citizenships are now allowed to travel freely, using their Spanish passport in lieu of a visa for countries normally requiring a visa for the Cuban passport. Moreover, ever since that date, the Cuban government extended the allowable time abroad from 11 to 24 months, allowing Cubans who return within the 24-month time frame to retain their status and benefits of "Cuban Resident of the Interior". Should the citizen remain out of Cuba for more than 24 months, then his status would change to "Cuban Resident of the Exterior" and he would lose his privileges within. By this change, there is no longer such a thing as "illegal" or "unauthorized" travel, and therefore persons who leave Cuba via unconventional means (boats etc.) are no longer violating Cuban law, and therefore not subject to detention or imprisonment.

Prior to January 13, 2013, Cuban citizens could not travel abroad, leave or return to Cuba without first obtaining official permission along with applying for a government issued passport and travel visa, which was often denied. Unauthorized travel abroad had sometimes resulted in criminal prosecution. It was common, in those days, that certain citizens who were authorized travel (primarily medical personnel and other professionals deemed essential to the country) were not permitted to take their children with them overseas. In the event that Cuban doctors defect to the United States when they are sent to a "mission" out of Cuba to any foreign country, any children left behind would not be allowed to join their defector parent for a minimum of ten years, even if they had received a foreign visa, and regardless of their age. Castro opposition leader Oswaldo Payá has been allowed to travel abroad to receive his Sakharov Prize, but Ladies in White was not.

From 1959 through 1993, some 1.2 million Cubans (about 10% of the current population) left the island for the United States, often by sea in small boats and fragile rafts. In the early years, a number of those who could claim dual Spanish-Cuban citizenship left for Spain. Over time a number of Cuban Jews were allowed to emigrate to Israel after quiet negotiations; the majority of the 10,000 or so Jews who were in Cuba in 1959 have left. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, many Cubans now reside in a diverse number of countries, some ending up in countries of the European Union. A large number of Cubans live in Mexico and Canada.

At times the exodus was tolerated by the Cuban government as a "release valve"; at other times the government has impeded it. Some Cubans left for economic reasons and some for political ones. Others emigrated by way of the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, which is blocked on the Cuban (land) side by barbed-wired fences and land mines.

In 1995 the US government entered into an agreement with the Cuban government to resolve the emigration crisis that created the Mariel Boatlift of 1980, when Castro opened the docks to anyone who wanted to leave. The result of the negotiations was an agreement under which the United States was required to issue 20,000 visas annually to Cuban emigrants. This quota is rarely filled; the Bush administration refused to comply with the act, issuing only 505 visas to Cubans in the first six months of 2003. It also blocked some Cubans who have visas.

On July 13, 1994, 72 Cubans attempted to leave the Island on a World War II era tugboat named the 13 de Marzo. In an attempt by the Cuban Navy to stop the tugboat, patrol boats were sent out to intercept the tug. Crewmen and survivors reported that the Cuban interception vessels rammed the tugboat and sprayed its passengers with high-pressure fire hoses, sweeping many overboard.

The US Coast Guard reported that the interceptions in high seas have been characterized as violent confrontations with authorities and by the deaths of immigrants. According to the same authorities, the Cubans are taken to the US on speed boats by a network of criminals specialized in human trafficking, former drug traffickers, based in southern Florida which now find contraband of humans more lucrative than drugs. These criminals charge 8 to 12 thousand dollars per person, overcrowding the small vessels. The majority of those that attempt to emigrate are individuals that have relatives in the United States, others who do not qualify to be considered as legal immigrants in the US, or those who do not want to wait their turn in the annual quota, assigned under the migratory treaties for legal immigrants

Since November 1966, the Cuban Adjustment Act provides automatic permanent residency for almost all Cubans arriving legally or illegally after one year and one day in the US. No immigrant from any other nation has this privilege. Controversy over this policy centers around the loss of Cuba's scientists, professionals, technicians and other skilled individuals, but it has also prompted concerns of a migratory crisis.

At the end of the 2005 fiscal year which ended September 30, the US Coast Guard Service reported having intercepted 2,712 Cubans at sea, more than double the 1,225 reported in 2004 The figure for 2005 is the third highest of Cubans intercepted in the Florida straights during the last 12 years. The highest had been reported in 1993 with 3,656 and 1994 when over 30,000 Cubans emigrated illegally due to the so-called migratory crisis between the two countries.

The 1994 and 1995 migratory accords signed between Havana and Washington, and which emerged due to the crisis in August 1994, are still in effect. These accords force the US to return all those intercepted at sea by US authorities to Cuba, except the cases in which political persecution can be proven to justify exile in the United States.

The accords were designed to discourage those who would consider emigrating illegally by sea but the Bush administration has not complied with Washington's part of the agreements. Although the Coast Guard says that only 2.5 percent of the Cubans intercepted are granted political asylum, the public understanding, the public perception in Cuba and among the Cuban community in Miami, is not the same. And since that is not the perception, more and more people continue to illegally leave the island by sea causing fatal consequences. According to studies carried out by Cuban experts on the island, it is estimated that at least 15 percent of those that attempt to cross the sea die before reaching the US.

However, figures of those fleeing other Latin American or Caribbean countries of origin compare similarly with those of Cuba. During the 2005 fiscal year, 3,612 Dominicans were picked up at high seas attempting to illegally reach the US (900 more than Cubans intercepted) and in 2004, 3,229 Haitians were also picked up (2,000 more than the 1,225 Cubans that fiscal year). The Brazilian daily O Globo published an article on illegal immigrants in the US, quoting official sources, pointing out that during the first semester of 2005, 27,396 Brazilians were stopped from illegally crossing US borders, an average of 4,556 per month and 152 a day. In 2004, a total of 1,160,000 foreigners, were stopped when attempting to illegally enter the US, 93 percent of them (close to 1,080,000) were Mexicans.

Education

Main article: Education in Cuba

Education in Cuba is free at all levels and led by the Ministry for Education. In 1961 the government nationalized all private educational institutions and introduced a state-directed education system.

Healthcare

Main article: Healthcare of Cuba

The Cuban government operates on national health system and assumes full fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens. The government prohibits any private alternatives to the national health system. In 1976, Cuba's healthcare program was enshrined in Article 50 of the revised constitution which states, "Everyone has the right to health protection and care". Healthcare in Cuba is also free, although challenges include low salaries for doctors, poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.

However, there is no right to privacy, or a patient's informed consent, or the right to protest or sue a doctor or clinic for malpractice. Many Cubans complain about politics in medical treatment and health care decision-making.

After spending nine months in Cuban clinics, anthropologist Katherine Hirschfeld wrote "My increased awareness of Cuba's criminalization of dissent raised a very provocative question: to what extent is the favorable international image of the Cuban health care system maintained by the state's practice of suppressing dissent and covertly intimidating or imprisoning would-be critics?"

Family doctors are expected to keep records of their patients' "political integration." Epidemiological surveillance has become juxtaposed with political surveillance.

Religious freedom

Main article: Religion in Cuba

In the years following the Cuban Revolution, the activities of the Roman Catholic Church were severely limited and in 1961 all property held by religious organizations was confiscated without compensation. Hundreds of members of the clergy, including a bishop, were permanently expelled from the nation. The Cuban leadership was officially atheist until 1992 when the Communist Party agreed to allow religious followers to join the party. In 1998, Pope John Paul II visited the island and was allowed to conduct large outdoor masses and visas were issued for nineteen foreign priests taking up residence in the country. In addition, other religious groups in Cuba such as the Jewish community are now permitted to hold public services and to import religious materials and kosher food for Passover, as well as to receive rabbis and other religious visitors from abroad. In October 2008, Cuba marked the opening of a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Havana in a ceremony attended by Raúl Castro, Vice President Esteban Lazo, Parliament leader Ricardo Alarcón, and other figures. The Cuban press noted that the cathedral was the first of its kind in Latin America.

In 2022, Freedom House rated Cuba's religious freedom as 3 out of 4, noting that religious freedom has improved over the past decade.

A 2023 report found that documented Freedom of Religion violations more than doubled from 272 in 2021 to 657 in 2022.

Rights of women

Main article: Women in Cuba

Cuba is a regional front-runner in women's rights. With respect to reproductive rights, Cuban women have up to two years of maternity leave and free access to abortion.

Women head almost 50% of households in Cuba. Sixty percent of Cuban professionals are women. Cuban women also have high representation in the country, with women holding 48.9% of the parliamentary seats in the Cuban National Assembly.

Torture

In 2005 a group of culture personalities, including several Nobel Prize laureates, have signed an appeal on The Guardian in defense of Cuba, claiming that "the government of the US has no moral authority to elect itself as the judge over human rights in Cuba, where there has not been a single case of disappearance, torture or extrajudicial execution since 1959, and where despite the economic blockade, there are levels of health, education and culture that are internationally recognised." The appeal is signed, for example, by Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, José Saramago, Claudio Abbado, Manu Chao, Walter Salles, Nadine Gordimer, Harold Pinter, Tariq Ali, Harry Belafonte, Danny Glover, Ernesto Cardenal, Alice Walker, Ramsey Clark and Danielle Mitterrand.

Race relations

Main article: Racism in Cuba

Esteban Morales Dominguez has pointed to institutionalized racism in his book The Challenges of the Racial Problem in Cuba (Fundación Fernando Ortiz). Racial Politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba discusses the racial politics prevalent in communist Cuba.

Enrique Patterson, writing in the Miami Herald, describes race as a "social bomb" and he says, "If the Cuban government were to permit black Cubans to organize and raise their problems before  ... totalitarianism would fall". Carlos Moore, who has authored extensively on the issue, says that "There is an unstated threat, blacks in Cuba know that whenever you raise race in Cuba, you go to jail. Therefore, the struggle in Cuba is different. There cannot be a civil rights movement. You will have instantly 10,000 black people dead". He says that a new generation of black Cubans are looking at politics in another way.

Jorge Luis García Pérez, a well-known Afro-Cuban human rights and democracy activist who was imprisoned for 17 years, in an interview with the Florida-based Directorio Democrático Cubano states "The authorities in my country have never tolerated that a black person oppose the revolution. During the trial, the color of my skin aggravated the situation. Later when I was mistreated in prison by guards, they always referred to me as being black".

Despite these barriers however, Cuba has oftentimes been praised for advances of the Cuban Revolution in the areas of racial equality. During his leadership, Castro abolished segregation in businesses and public spaces while also ushering in egalitarian reforms in areas such as employment, wages, social security, and education. The proportion of high school graduates was actually higher among blacks than among whites in Cuba, whereas the opposite was true in both Brazil and the United States. In the area of life expectancy, The life expectancy of nonwhite Cubans was only one year lower than that of whites; life expectancy was basically identical for all racial groups. A powerful indicator of social wellbeing, linked to access to health services (as reflected, particularly, in infant mortality), nutrition and education, the Cuban race gap in life expectancy was significantly lower than those found in more affluent multiracial societies such as Brazil (about 6.7 years) and the United States (about 6.3 years) during the same period. Because of these social reforms the Afro Cuban population is the healthiest longest living black population in the world. In the area of national leadership the vestiges of the pre revolutionary era are still visible when it comes to the question of colour, with Afro Cubans having yet to achieve parity when it comes to representation. Nevertheless, reforms have been introduced since in the 1970s when Castro "worked to increase the number of Afro-Cuban political representatives, with the percentage of Black members on the Council of State expanding from 12.9% in 1976 to 25.8% by 2003".

Black Spring

Main article: Black Spring (Cuba)

In March 2003, the government of Cuba arrested dozens of people (including self-identified journalists and human rights activists), and charged them with sedition due to their alleged cooperation with James Cason, head of the United States Interests Section in Havana. The accused were tried and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 to 28 years. In all, 75 people were given lengthy sentences averaging 17 years each. Among those sentenced were Raúl Rivero, Marta Beatriz Roque, and Oscar Elías Biscet. Amnesty International described the trials as "hasty and manifestly unfair."

Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque denied these accusations and responded: "Cuba has the right to defend itself and apply punishment just like other nations do, like the United States punishes those who cooperate with a foreign power to inflict damage on their people and territory."

During the trial, evidence was presented that the defendants had received funds from the U.S. Interests Section. Cuban officials claim that the goal of this funding was to undermine the Cuban state, disrupt internal order, and damage the Cuban economy. For his part, Cason denies offering funds to anyone in Cuba.

On November 29, 2004, the Cuban government released three of those arrested in March 2003: Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo López, and Margarito Broche. The action followed a meeting between the Spanish ambassador and Cuba's foreign minister. In subsequent days four more dissidents were released: Raúl Rivero, Osvaldo Alfonso Valdés, Edel José García and Jorge Olivera. Seven other prisoners had previously been released for health reasons.

LGBT rights in Cuba

Main articles: LGBT rights in Cuba and Military Units to Aid Production

The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in Cuba have evolved significantly over time, from widespread discrimination in most of the 20th century to what are now considered some of the most progressive LGBT policies in Latin America.

Discrimination

Thousands of homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, conscientious objectors, and dissidents were forced to conduct their compulsory military service in the 1960s at UMAP camps, where they were subject to political "reeducation". Military commanders brutalized the inmates. Carlos Alberto Montaner says "Camps of forced labour were instituted with all speed to "correct" such deviations ... Verbal and physical mistreatment, shaved heads, work from dawn to dusk, hammocks, dirt floors, scarce food ... The camps became increasingly crowded as the methods of arrest became more expedient".

In the late 1960s, because of "revolutionary social hygiene", the Castro government claimed to cleanse the arts of "fraudulent sodomitic" writers and "sick effeminate" dancers. Additionally, men with long hair were locked up and their hair was cut.

Castro is reported to once have asserted that, "in the country, there are no homosexuals", before claiming in 1992 that homosexuality is a "natural human tendency that must simply be respected". Another source reports Castro as having denounced "maricones" ("faggots") as "agents of imperialism". Castro has also reportedly asserted that "homosexuals should not be allowed in positions where they are able to exert influence upon young people".

21st century reforms

Cuba has made reforms in the 21st century, particularly via the successful 2022 Family Code referendum.

In 2003, Carlos Sanchez of the International Lesbian and Gay Association issued a report on the status of gay people in Cuba which claimed that the Cuban government no longer imposes any legal punishments on its gay citizens, that there is a greater level of tolerance among Cubans for gay, bisexual, and transgender people, and that the Cuban government was open to endorsing a gay and lesbian rights plank at the United Nations. Since 2005 sex reassignment surgeries for transgender individuals are free under law, and are paid for by the government. Also Havana now has a "lively and vibrant" gay and lesbian scene.

In a 2010 interview with Mexican newspaper La Jornada, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, Fidel Castro, called the persecution of homosexuals whilst he was in power "a great injustice, great injustice!" Taking responsibility for the persecution, he said, "If anyone is responsible, it's me ... We had so many and such terrible problems, problems of life or death. In those moments I was not able to deal with that matter . I found myself immersed, principally, in the Crisis of October, in the war, in policy questions." Castro personally believed that the negative treatment of gays in Cuba arose out of the country's pre-revolutionary attitudes toward homosexuality.

Mariela Castro, daughter of Communist Party First Secretary Raúl Castro, has been pushing for lesbian rights with the pro-lesbian government sponsored Cuban National Center for Sex Education which she leads. Mariela has stated her father fully supports her initiatives, saying that her father has overcome his initial homophobia to support his daughter.

The passage of the 2022 Family Code referendum legalized same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex parents. Cuba now has one of the most progressive stances on LGBT rights of among Latin American countries.

United Nations Human Rights Commission

Cuban human rights have been repeatedly discussed and debated in the United Nations Human Rights Commission since the Cuban Revolution. It would become a recurring flashpoint in the backdrop of international dynamic during the Cold War and into the years following.

The organized and sustained international effort launched by prominent Cuban dissident groups (e.g. Miami's Center for Human Rights, UNIDAD Cubana, Christian Democratic Party of Cuba, and others) and affiliated NGOs (such as Human Rights Watch) made their way to the UNHRC and would become a growing presence in Geneva. These groups sometimes represented a spectrum of different Cuban interests, such as religious liberty (e.g. Christian-Democrat movements, parties, and organizations) and education (e.g. the International Association of Educators for World Peace), that coalesced around the issue of human rights. An influential force credited with crafting and spearheading the international Cuban human rights effort, particularly in the United Nations, was activist and Cuban community leader Jesús Permuy. The Miami Herald's profile of the Cuban Christian Democrat Movement stated that Permuy spearheaded the international diplomatic strategy to call out the Castro regime's human rights abuses and work with other Christian-Democratic governments to withhold international support until governmental changes were made to address human rights abuses. Though the coalition's NGO-driven human rights effort for Cuba initially struggled to gain traction in the UNHRC, their influence gradually grew, especially as key groups secured Consultative Status which significantly expanded their resources and exposure there. A significant turning point in these efforts came in 1984 when Permuy's Miami-based Center for Human Rights successfully lobbied to have Cuba's diplomatic representative, Luis Sola Vila, removed from a key subcommittee of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and replaced with a representative from Ireland, a Christian-Democratic ally in opposition of the Castro government. Another key moment came in 1987 when US President Ronald Reagan appointed Armando Valladares, former Cuban political prisoner of 22 years, as the US Ambassador to the commission. By 1992, there had been a substantial change in Geneva as the UNHRC representatives had shifted from initial rejection, then indifference and towards embrace of the anti-Castro Cuban human rights movement's diplomatic efforts.

Since 1990, the United States itself has presented various resolutions to the annual UN Human Rights Commission criticizing Cuba's human rights record. The proposals and subsequent diplomatic disagreements have been described as a "nearly annual ritual". Long-term consensus between Latin American nations has not emerged. The resolutions were passed 1990–1997, but were rejected in 1998. Subsequent efforts by the U.S. have succeeded by narrow voting margins. In the Americas, some governments back the criticism, others oppose it, seeing it as a cynical manipulation of a serious human rights issue in order to promote the isolation of the island and to justify the decades-old embargo. European Union nations have universally voted against Cuba since 1990, though requests that the resolution should contain references to the negative effects of the economic embargo have been made.

Cuban human rights groups

See also

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