HISTORICAL – Limitations on arbitrary power were effectively removed by Spain’s 1825 law placing colonial Cuba under a permanent State of Siege.
Constitutional guarantees of individual rights were introduced after independence by the Constitution of 1940, partly in reaction to the abuses that had occurred under the Machadato, but many of these returned in the 1950s as President Batista’s government strove with increasing ruthlessness to retain its hold on power.
SINCE 1959 – MININT, the interior ministry, is the principal organ of state security and totalitarian control, investigating and actively suppressing organized opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the Brigadas de Respueta Rápida (rapid response brigades), the Seguridad del Estado (State Security), and the Comités de Defensa de la Revolución (CDRs: committees for the defense of the revolution).
There are no individual liberties in Cuba, as all aspects of personal expression are regulated and controlled by the government. Except for churches (themselves monitored) there are no independent organizations and, thus, no autonomy on the island. In mid-September 1988, the United Nations Human Rights Commission took advantage of an unexpected invitation from Havana to investigate human rights in Cuba. Although it considered the penal system harsh, it found no evidence to support US charges of torture and executions and concluded that abuses had declined. The New York-based Americas Watch confirmed that report saying Cuba has improved its prisons and permitted some dissident groups to form, but leaders of Cuba’s two main human rights groups said immediately afterwards that the government had increased its pressure on dissidents, using new tactics. In 1989 three Cuban human rights advocates were imprisoned for “giving false information” to foreign journalists. Cuba’s human rights record worsened further in 1996 with the large-scale crackdown on the pro-democracy Concilio Cubano, and the shooting down of two Hermanos al Rescate aircraft over international waters. There have been increased reports of deaths due to the excessive use of force and torture, especially with electricity, by the police. Further restrictions have been imposed on the distribution of foreign publications, and there has been an increased use of exile and internal exile to control the activities of independent journalists and human rights advocates, antagonism to any foreign diplomatic criticism of human rights practices, restriction on foreign contacts with human rights activists, the denial of visas to prominent American journalists, and expulsions of other foreign journalists. Prison conditions continue to be harsh, and those who protest are subject to beating and shock with cattle prods, and denial of medical treatment.
Dissidents and malcontents, whose political views have not conformed to the party line, have frequently been labeled “mentally incompetent” and submitted to electric shock and mind-altering drug treatments, while incarcerated in mental institutions – any unconformity to the party line is officially viewed as a sign of mental illness. Additionally, “patients” have been subject to daily beatings and rape by prison guards. Thos refusing “reeducation” undergo further treatment.
Citizens are arbitrarily arrested and routinely held without trial or subjected to show trials that fail to match up to internationally recognized principles of jurisprudence. People are incarcerated for infractions as minor as working without a permit, which is an economic crime. One of the most pervasive aspects of Cuba’s human rights record is the everyday fact of the government’s intrusion into citizens’ daily lives. Under the guise of “improving the citizenry,” the government alone decides the legality of associations, it has complete control over educational curricula, and coerces into membership of mass organizations, such as the Partido Comunista de Cuba. The CDRs serve as neighborhood surveillance committees, undertaking Orwellian practices of spying and keeping an eye out for “unrevolutionary” activities, including contact with foreigners, listening in to foreign broadcasts, or criticizing the authorities. There is no freedom of speech or of the press, nor are citizens entitled to any redress of grievances. The right of freedom to worship, although professed in the Constitution of 1976, is frequently denied through informal discrimination at work and social pressures.
In May 2022, the Council of State issued a new penal code that included harsh penalties for opposition to the regime and ten death penalties sentences.
The US administration’s report on human rights in 193 countries reported worsening conditions in China, Nigeria, Cuba, and Myanmar (formerly Burma).
