Two reports this week put the human-rights problem in Cuba into stark, and discouraging, relief. In the period since the landmark agreement in December re-establishing full diplomatic relations with the United States, the Castro government appears to be doubling down
Two reports this week put the human-rights problem in Cuba into stark, and discouraging, relief. In the period since the landmark agreement in December re-establishing full diplomatic relations with the United States, the Castro government appears to be doubling down on repression.
One report, delivered Tuesday at the General Assembly of the Inter American Press Association, is contained in a depressing overview of press freedom in the Americas. No country is safe from the wave of censorship sweeping the region, the report says. Yet, Cuba is a special case:
“In Cuba, despite the reestablishment of relations between the Cuban and U.S. governments, little progress has been made in freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of the press, and two journalists remain behind bars. The methods of repression include censorship of critical websites, inspection of emails, suspension of mobile phone service and physical and verbal attacks on activists and independent journalists.”
In other words, nothing has changed: Expressing an independent opinion in Cuba is hazardous to your civil liberties. On Monday, the independent Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation put it into numbers: The Havana-based group said it recorded 882 political detentions in September, the most in the past 15 months.
And, according to the commission, being a dissident also is hazardous to your health, as well. It accused government agents or their surrogates of carrying out 93 beatings of political dissidents during the past month, an “abrupt” escalation compared to the 21 registered in August.
Keep in mind all of this is taking place within the context of a “normalization” of relations with the United States based on the presumption of concessions by both sides. For the United States, as President Barack Obama made clear in his declaration last December, improvement in the human-rights climate on the island is one of the principal objectives of U.S. diplomacy. Yet, so far, Cuba couldn’t seem to care less about its obligation to treat its citizens with respect.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said “a full democracy takes time, but there is progress.” No one realistically expected an overnight improvement in the climate of democracy in Cuba as a result of the normalization of diplomatic relations with the United States. But until the government takes concrete actions to lift the stifling repression and allows Cubans to speak without fear of retaliation, Congress shouldn’t budge.
— Miami Herald
