HUMAN RIGHTS-CUBA: Dissident Group Documents Rise in Repression

By Dalia Acosta Reprint | | Print |

Dalia Acosta

HAVANA, Jul 4 2002 (IPS) - Suppression of political dissent has taken a turn for the worse in Cuba since the end of last year, according to a dissident human rights group that monitors the number of political prisoners in this socialist island nation.

A report released by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) found that the number of political prisoners in Cuba rose from 210 in late 2001 to 230 as of Jun 30.

The group, which is illegal but like other internal opposition organisations in Cuba is tolerated to some extent, also stated that 30 other cases, whose present status is unknown, should be added to that total.

“We doubt that they have been released from prison, taking into account the long sentences they were given,” said the communique issued Wednesday, which was signed by CCDHRN president Elizardo Sánchez.

The activist said the increase in the number of political prisoners documented by the group “has to do with a relative rise in political repression, especially in the months of February and March.”

An analysis of the statistics points to “an interruption of the marked downwards tendency in the total number of people imprisoned for political reasons that was seen over the past 10 years,” said the statement.

Earlier CCDHRN reports found that the number of political prisoners had dropped from 339 in early 1999 to 314 in mid-2000 and 249 in June 2001. But in all of the periods under consideration, there were a number of additional cases whose status the group was unable to confirm.

The only amnesty granted to prisoners of conscience as well as common criminals in Cuba came in response to a request that Pope John Paul II made to Castro during his historic January 1998 visit to this Caribbean island nation.

In July 2000, the CCDHRN reported that the government was gradually moving from a “policy of long prison terms” for dissidents to sustained harassment in the form of “repeated detentions lasting hours, days or weeks, or visits and warnings by the secret police.”

As on previous occasions, Wednesday’s communique was distributed to the foreign press along with a partial list of people who had been convicted for “political or socio-political reasons,” based on data provided by the families of prisoners of conscience.

The lists drawn up by the dissident group are the only available source of information on political prisoners in Cuba. The CCDHRN provides details such as the date of arrest, charges and sentences. Local authorities do not provide statistics on the prison population.

The CCDHRN, whose 1987 request to the Justice Ministry for recognition as a legal non-governmental organisation has not been granted, is viewed by authorities here as just another group working in favour of U.S. interests.

The organisation received the Inter-American Press Association’s press freedom award in 1990, and was awarded a Human Rights Watch International Prize from the New York-based rights organisation in 1991.

According to the CCDHRN, many of Cuba’s political prisoners were convicted of acts against state security. Other charges were piracy, involving the theft of boats for the purpose of illegal emigration (over 40 cases), sabotage (20 cases), terrorism (15) and espionage (eight).

Among the 230 detainees, there are only 34 people with links to any dissident group, including independent journalists Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo, Carlos Alberto Domínguez and Lester Téllez Castro.

Arévalo and dissidents Oscar Díaz Biscet, Francisco Pastor Chaviano, Eddy Alfredo Mena and Néstor Rodríguez Lovaina are considered prisoners of conscience by the London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International.

Also appearing on the CCDHRN list are the names of 14 former members of the armed forces and state security bodies. One of them, who is serving the harshest sentence of all, is Jorge Pelegrín, a former lieutenant of the border guard.

Pelegrín was arrested in August 1993 and sentenced to 36 years on charges of desertion, piracy, illegal departure from the national territory, insubordination and evasion.

The CCDHRN also reported a shrinking of the number of common criminals in prison. However, “the total number of inmates held steady at around 20,000 – one of the highest figures in the world” in relation to the population, added the communique. (Cuba is a country of 11.2 million).

Sánchez noted that Cuba remained “one of the few countries in the world” that does not allow “the International Red Cross and other international humanitarian organisations access to its prison system.”

Further, the Castro government fails to comply with United Nations norms for the treatment of prisoners, he maintained.

Last March, the UN Human Rights Commission passed a resolution introduced by Peru and Uruguay condemning Cuba’s human rights record, by a vote of 23 to 21, with nine abstentions.

The resolution, which was soundly rejected by Havana, urged Cuba to guarantee respect for civil and political rights, and asked the Cuban government to allow the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to send a personal representative to the island.