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Cuban Independent Journalist Released after 16 Months Without Trial
   The Varela Project  HRF Submission to the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review re Cuban Human Rights Defenders (09/08/08) For more information, please contact Elizabeth Jordan, Tel: 212 845 5298 |
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Human Rights Defenders in Cuba
In a severe crackdown on independent civil society in Cuba, 75 peaceful human rights, democracy and political activists were arrested in the spring of 2003, summarily tried and sentenced to jail terms of up to 28 years. Although 20 of the original 75 have since been released, conditions for independent civil society activists have deteriorated significantly since July 2005, when an additional 15 activists were jailed. Meanwhile, a number of the activists that remain imprisoned since March 2003 suffer from worsening medical conditions which have been exacerbated – and in some cases triggered – by the harsh conditions of their incarceration. Moreover, actos de repudio (“acts of repudiation”) are regularly carried out against peaceful human rights activists and their families by the Cuban government and its “Rapid Response Brigades” of civilian mobs. Activists have been the targets of harassment, mob intimidation, threats, insults and violence perpetrated against them and their family members. The transfer of power from Fidel Castro to his brother Raul on July 31, 2006, and the subsequent election of Raul Castro as President on February 24, 2008, have not produced any significant change in the human rights situation on the island. The Raul Castro government continues to hold human rights defenders in prison and violates the Cuban people’s rights of expression and association. Human Rights First supports the right of Cubans to peacefully defend their basic rights and to form independent associations that seek human rights reforms. The Cuban government should support human rights defenders and end its persecution and imprisonment of those who peacefully express their beliefs and defend universally-recognized rights. |
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Cuba remains the only country in the Western Hemisphere to effectively outlaw peaceful advocacy for human rights and democratic reforms. Independent civil society in Cuba - including human rights defenders, democracy activists, and independent journalists and scholars - are the targets of constant persecution. The universally-recognized rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly are systematically violated by the State and victims have virtually no means of redress within the judicial system. 