Spotlight on Cuba: Crackdown on Dissidents

Chronology of Events - June 2006

June 29: A dissident group monitoring human rights in Cuba said there are at least 347 prisoners of conscience on the island and warned that the jailing of opposition activists was rising. ''There is a worsening of the situation,'' said Aida Valdés Santana, of the National Coordinating Group of Prisoners and Ex-Political Prisoners. Valdés told a news conference that her group would begin offering periodic updates on the number of political prisoners. According to another group, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, there are 333 political prisoners. (AP, 30/6/06)

June 28: Moderate dissidents in Cuba urged the government of Fidel Castro to declare a legal moratorium on executions and announced that a campaign would be launched this year to raise public awareness on the issue. Capital punishment has not been applied in this Caribbean island nation since the April 2003 execution by firing squad of three Cubans who hijacked a ferry carrying dozens of passengers, including several foreign tourists, in an attempt to reach the United States. "The time is right to move from a 'de facto' moratorium to a legal one," Manuel Cuesta Morúa told the press, clarifying that he was speaking on behalf of the Pro Human Rights Dialogue Coalition and not as the spokesman for the Arco Progresista, which links groups with social democratic tendencies. Both coalitions signed a statement, at the start of the very first session of the new United Nations Human Rights Council, demanding general amnesty for political prisoners and the creation of national mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing respect for human rights. Cuesta Morúa said "it is in this context that we are calling, among other things, for a moratorium on the death penalty." (IPS, 28/6/06)

June 28: UN High Commissioner’s Special Representative, Christine Chanet, received a request to intervene in the case of the Cuban independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who has been on hunger strike for over four months in Cuba. Guillermo Estévez, director of Rescate Internacional, presented a letter to Chanet requesting the mediation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with the Cuban authorities. Fariñas health condition is very delicate, but insists on maintaining the hunger strike in demand of free access to the use of Internet. (MartiNoticias, 28/6/06).

June 27: A group of opponents asked the Apostolic Nunciature and the Cuban Catholic Church to intercede with the government of Fidel Castro on behalf of independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who’s been on a hunger strike for almost five months and whose health is in critical condition. Internal human rights activists sent a letter dated June 14th to the Apostolic Nuncio, Monsignor Luigi Bonazzi, asking for help. (EER, 27/6/06)

June 23: The Chamber of Deputies of Chile passed a draft agreement requesting that president Michelle Bachelet urge the Cuban regime to put an end to arrests for ideological reasons, and to release opponents of Fidel Castro from prison. The initiative presented by deputies of several political parties passed by 52 votes in favour, one against and 6 abstentions. (MartiNoticias, 23/6/06)

June 23: Fresh criticism by Cuba of the European Union, which it calls "a lackey" of the United States, marked another step in deterioration of relations between the island's Communist regime and the 25-nation bloc of democracies. In an editorial published in the official daily Granma, the Cuban government called “the alliance between the European Union and Bush, pathetic”. According to the editorial, “the European Union lacks of morality and authority to dictate conditions or impose decisions on Cuba”. “Lackeys have very little power”, it added. (AFP, EFE, Reuters, 23/6/06) 

June 19: Despite having gained a seat on the new UN Human Rights Council, the Communist government of Cuba reiterated its refusal to allow a UN rights monitor to visit the island. Cuba will not cooperate with Christine Chanet, a French jurist named several years ago as the world body's human rights representative for Cuba, nor will it allow her to visit the island to carry out her mission, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said. "We will not have her visit Cuba because we do not accept that mandate," Perez Roque said in a press conference in Geneva, where he is taking part in the first session of the new United Nations Human Rights Council. (EFE, 20/6/06)

June 19: A moderate opposition coalition asked the government of Fidel Castro for a general amnesty of political prisoners and a moratorium on the death penalty, consistent with Cuba’s entry in the newly created UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva. Arco Progresista and Coalición Diálogo Pro Derechos Humanos also urged the Cuban government to “put a halt to the harassment and the so-called acts of repudiation against pro-democracy and human rights activists in Cuba”. (AFP, 19/6/06) 

June 18: Thirty-one Ladies in White--wives and relatives of (Cuban) prisoners of conscience--attended mass at the Santa Rita Church on Fathers’ Day. Later, the 30 women, many of whom had travelled from different parts of Cuba, marched three kilometers along 5th Avenue in Miramar. This marks the third year since the group of 75 was sent to prison in the spring of 2003.  (Cubanet, 19/6/06)

June 14: A small group of Cuban-Americans dressed in black gathered outside the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, holding posters picturing independent journalists held in Cuban jails, some serving sentences of more than 20 years. The group was demonstrating during an interview with Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba’s National Assembly, by the organizers of the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists in Fort Lauderdale. One large poster featured Guillermo Fariñas, a Cuban journalist who has been on a hunger strike for the right to Internet access. The Cuban-Americans holding posters outside the center said they were not protesting, but wanted to educate visiting journalists about limited access to information in Cuba, and persecution of those who express dissenting views. Most Cubans don't have computers, and only a few government jobs carry full Internet privileges. (Sun Sentinel, 14/6/06)

June 12: EU foreign ministers have slammed the Cuban government for its deteriorating human rights record saying the bloc should agree on a longer term strategy on its relations with the "island of freedom." Meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers urged Havana to "unconditionally release all political prisoners," while lamenting the fact that the prisoner numbers have increased since last year. They also criticised "several dozen acts of violent harassment and intimidation, including acts of repudiation," noting that police and security forces took part in the acts. The statement is part of a regular evaluation of the island's civil liberties performance, following last year's withdrawal of bloc's diplomatic sanctions. The Dutch delegation argued that the EU should re-consider its policy on Cuba as there are no signs of political improvement after over a year of closer ties with officials - a point supported by several countries, particularly the Czech Republic. But in the declaration itself, the bloc stressed it would "welcome the resumption of a political dialogue with the Cuban authorities," while asking every EU "high-level visitor" to raise human rights concerns with the country's officials. (EUObserver, 12/6/06)

June 12: The Czech Republic appealed to its European Union partners to get tough with Cuba, saying Europe's dealings with Havana have failed to generate significant democratic change. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda brought up the issue of EU-Cuba relations at a monthly EU foreign ministers' meeting. Officials said the Czech Republic also planned to raise the issue at a meeting of the 25 EU leaders in Brussels, Belgium, later in the week. Support within the EU for a tougher stance on Cuba is strongest in the eight eastern European nations that joined the bloc in 2004 and where memories of the legacy of communism are still fresh. The Netherlands and Sweden also favor a tougher stance, but Spain is among countries that oppose it, officials said. (AP, 12/6/06)

June 9: The group Cuba Democracia Ya! condemned the “inaction” of European institutions with regards to the situation in Cuba, by continually “delaying” their actions while the acts of repudiation and violence against peaceful opposition increase on the island. (Europa Press, 9/6/06)

June 7: The ambassadors of the EU member-states reached an “agreement” to maintain their current position of  “critical dialogue” with Cuba, although they also agreed on considering what should be their mid and long term “strategy” toward the island, according to community sources. The Political and Security Committee (PSC)-- formed by ambassadors of the 25 member-states, and which deals with relevant foreign and  security issues-- agreed on the wording of the text that the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU will ratify when they formally revise their common position towards Fidel Castro’s regime. (EFE, 8/6/06)

June 7: Human rights concerns were the focus of talks on the final day of a meeting of the Organization of American States. The president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Evelio Fernandez, noted ongoing violence by leftist rebels in Colombia, lack of security in Haiti and the jailing of political dissidents in Cuba. The United States Ambassador to OAS, John Maisto, took note of conditions in Cuba, such as as continued restrictions on freedom of expression and failures in the justice system. “For 47 years, the people of Cuba have lived under a dictatorship that has shown time and again that beneath its rhetoric there is no respect for the fundamental rights of the individual," said John Maisto. Maisto also drew comparisons between Cuba and the current government in Venezuela. (VOA, 7/6/06)

June 6: The Czech Republic has reservations about the text of a EU resolution on Cuba, now being drafted for the meeting of EU foreign ministers, as it is against the current policy of "critical dialogue" with the Cuban regime and for the toughening of the EU stance, diplomatic sources disclosed to CTK. "We are proposing certain changes in the text and we are continuing with the talks," Jan Vytopil, the spokesman for the Czech diplomatic office at the EU, told the press. (CTK, 6/6/06)

June 5: US union leaders demanded that Fidel Castro free independent union leaders from prison in Cuba. In a letter sent to the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, the leaders from 23 American trade unions asked for the release from prison of eight Cuban workers who tried to form independent trade union organizations. (MartiNoticias, 5/6/06)

June 5: At its meeting in Moscow, Russia, the global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, issued a series of resolutions condemning the violence against and murder of journalists, including special resolutions calling for the improvement of conditions of the press and of journalists in Cuba, Mexico and Venezuela. (PR Noticias, 6/6/06)

June 5: In a special session of the Organization of American States in Santo Domingo, the president of MAR por Cuba, Sylvia Iriondo, described the situation on the island where for more than 47 years the people have not had the option of electing their leaders. The activist called on the OAS member states to support the democratic aspirations of the Cuban people, and denounced the situation of more than 330 political prisoners on the island who suffer in subhuman conditions. (MartiNoticias, 5/6/06)

June 6: Opposition journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who has been on a hunger strike since January 31 of this year, is "in very delicate health" and doctors are considering performing surgery on him again, a source from the Cuban dissidence reported. The Marta Abreu Women's Movement, an illegal movement based in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara, said that a CAT scan was done on Farinas on June 5 and doctors found blood clots in his lungs. "They are giving him transfusions of plasma and albumin," said Noelia Pedraza Jimenez, president of the Marta Abreu Women's Movement. She spoke to members of the foreign press from Santa Clara, located about 300 km from Havana. She added that on June 4 she began a hunger strike in support of Fariñas, and that Idania Llanes Contreras, Lisel Zamora Carrandi, Luis Aragon Garcia and Yunieski Garcia Lopez, all of whom are members of the Marta Abreu opposition organization, are only taking liquids. Other dissident organizations are calling for a vigil on behalf of Fariñas. (Notimex, 6/6/06)

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