“We are still alive in an endless abyss”: Three Cuban Activists One Month After Hurricane Melissa

“We are still alive in an endless abyss”: Three Cuban Activists One Month After Hurricane Melissa

Washington DC, November 29, 2025 – One month ago today, Hurricane Melissa swept through eastern Cuba, leaving destruction, anguish, and a worsening situation for the region’s inhabitants in its wake. We spoke with three activists who, in addition to facing the impact of the cyclone, are surviving state abandonment, political harassment, and the collapse of basic services. From the province of Holguín, Ronald Mendoza (50), Eduardo Cardet (57), and Geydis Jaime (24) recount how they experienced the disaster and how the humanitarian emergency is deepening on an island mired in a social, political, economic, and health crisis. 

On October 29, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba as one of the strongest storms of the 2025 hurricane season (June to November), causing severe flooding, structural damage, and the collapse of essential services. Although no deaths were reported in Cuba, the damage deepened the vulnerability of communities already suffering from shortages. According to the United Nations mission in Cuba, Melissa left more than 3.5 million people homeless, 90,000 homes damaged or destroyed, and around 10,000 hectares of crops damaged.

The impact of the cyclone and the lack of aid

In Levisa, a town in the municipality of Mayarí (part of Holguín), Ronald Mendoza recounts: “We lost most of our belongings (during the natural disaster).” He says that when the cyclone reached its peak, he “was hiding under the sink.” The roof of his house was blown off and the overflowing river flooded his home: “The water reached my belly button.” A month later, he says that “aid is minimal” and that they have only received some basic supplies. “We are still standing thanks to the help of our neighbors,” he adds.

In Velasco, another town in Holguín, doctor and activist Eduardo Cardet experienced an unprecedented night. “The water had never reached those levels before. The Paneque River rose considerably. In my house, it reached two meters,” he says. He and his family lost almost everything. “You always regret material losses because they are very difficult to recover,” he says, adding that the little help he has received has come from the community and the Catholic Church. 

In the city of Holguín, Geydis Jaime says that “it was the first time” she had seen anything like this (the force of Hurricane Melissa). “The water came into the house and I lost mattresses, clothes, a television, a refrigerator, and even my phone,” she adds. During the emergency, the power lines collapsed and “neighborhood residents had to fix them” because no authorities responded. “Here, the power goes out every six hours and no one has offered us any help,” she says. 

Harassment and surveillance amid disaster

Repression adds to the devastation. Two days before this interview (on November 13), for example, a man showed up at Cardet’s home to demand that he stop denouncing the serious health situation in Cuba. The national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL), who was imprisoned for political reasons between 2016 and 2019, says that on several occasions he has been advised to leave the island, proposals that he has rejected.

Mendoza, regional coordinator of the Center for Leadership and Development Studies (CELIDE), and Jaime, a member of the Women’s Platform organization, also report constant harassment and threats. “In the past, I have looked for work and been denied. They tell me: there is only work for revolutionaries,” denounces Ronald, who before the hurricane sold honey and lost most of his beehives after the emergency.

An out-of-control epidemiological crisis

The health situation is aggravated by diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, contaminated water, and food spoiled by the lack of electricity. According to Francisco Durán, head of epidemiology at the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), 47,000 Cuban residents have been diagnosed this week with a virus that is stalking the island, although doctors, activists, and communities point out that the underreporting is much higher and that there are more sick people who do not appear in the official data.

Cardet warns that there are cases of dengue, Zika, chikungunya, Oropouche, and other diseases, and that “there are people who have died and thousands who are sick.” He himself recently reported (on November 24) that he is also ill with one of these viruses. Geydis and her mother (aged 54), meanwhile, have fallen ill before and after the cyclone, in an area that, she says, has been without water for up to seven months.

Power cuts are constant and some areas have been without electricity since the hurricane struck. Families cook with charcoal, store food in the homes of acquaintances, and live in anticipation of the few hours when the power returns. 

Cardet says something that perhaps best sums up this moment: “We are plunged into an endless abyss.” And yet, despite everything, the three remain in Cuba. They continue to speak out. They continue to resist. They continue to live.

At Race and Equality, we continue to monitor the situation in Cuba and accompany activists and human rights defenders who face increasing risks in this context. We call on international organizations, governments, and civil society organizations to keep their attention on the island, demand guarantees for fundamental rights, and support those who work for freedom, justice, and dignity in Cuba.



Cuban organization Ladies in White denounces violence perpetrated by Cuba’s authoritarian regime before the IACHR

Miami, November 19, 2025 – “Arbitrary detentions, forced disappearances, and threats.” These were some of the acts of violence reported on Monday, November 17, by members of the Cuban organization Ladies in White during a private hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), held as part of the 194th Period of Sessions in Miami, United States.

The delegation was made up of activists Lourdes Esquivel, Blanca Reyes, and María Elena Alpízar, who participated as representatives of the organization in exile. Esquivel recounted the state repression she suffered until December 2022, when she was exiled. Forced exile continues to be one of the practices used by the Cuban regime to punish and silence women human rights defenders, as was the case with activist Aymara Nieto, also a member of the Ladies in White, who was released in August 2025 on the condition that she leave the island.

The hearing was requested by the Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights. During his statement, lawyer Fernando Goldar recalled that two members of the Ladies in White remain imprisoned: Sissi Abascal and Saylí Navarro, incarcerated for belonging to the organization and demanding respect for their fundamental rights.

Before the IACHR, the delegation composed of representatives of the Ladies in White and Race and Equality exposed the systematic pattern of violence perpetrated by the Cuban State for more than two decades. This includes thousands of arbitrary detentions without official record, forced disappearances, constant surveillance, harassment, and threats directed at both activists and their families. They also denounced differential treatment based on gender and race, including sexualized insults, reprisals linked to their caregiving roles, and specific discrimination against members of African descent. They also pointed to criminalization through ambiguous criminal charges, the impossibility of exercising their religious freedom due to systematic detentions on Sundays, and restrictions imposed since 2021 on meeting or accessing the organization’s headquarters. None of these incidents has been investigated, perpetuating a situation of absolute impunity.

The testimonies presented reflect how a group of women, initially mobilized to demand the release of their relatives imprisoned for political reasons (in 2003), has established itself as a benchmark in the defense of human rights in Cuba, in the region, and internationally. However, the attacks and reprisals they face seek to remove them from public life and disrupt their work.

The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights reiterates its commitment to supporting the Ladies in White and to continuously denouncing violations committed against women activists in Cuba. We call on the IACHR to condemn these acts and on the international community to support and accompany the legitimate demand for respect and protection for the members of this organization.



Freedom with exile: the case of Cuban activist Aymara Nieto

Washington, D.C., November 11, 2025 – Three months ago today, Aymara Nieto Muñoz began rebuilding her life in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, where she has been living since August 11, 2025, after being released and exiled along with her husband, Ismael Boris, and two of her daughters. After more than seven years of political imprisonment in Cuba, the 49-year-old activist, a member of the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), is trying to adapt to a new reality far from the island.

“We have been very well received in Santo Domingo. I am very grateful. We (Aymara and her family) have already done a series of interviews to regularize our immigration status and be able to work. My daughters are already in school, thanks to the support of the Cuban Association in the Dominican Republic and the government of this country,“ says Nieto, who retains the optimism and faith that accompanied her during the hardest years of her imprisonment. ”My greatest treasure in prison was a Bible that my eldest daughter gave me. It gave me the strength to endure,” she confesses.

Aymara was arrested on May 6, 2018, as she was leaving her home to participate in a peaceful demonstration organized by the Todos Marchamos campaign, which demanded the release of people imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba. She was convicted of the alleged crimes of assault and damage to property and sentenced to four years in prison, which she began serving in the El Guatao women’s prison in Havana.

However, while she was serving that sentence, the authoritarian Cuban regime prosecuted her again, this time for allegedly leading a riot inside the prison. The new trial ended with a second sentence of five years and four months, imposed without judicial guarantees or the right to an effective defense. Thus, Aymara spent more than seven consecutive years in prison, enduring punishments, transfers, and degrading conditions.

Since 2013, Aymara Nieto has been the beneficiary of precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). At Race and Equality, we have consistently denounced the violations of her rights and the inhumane conditions of her imprisonment. Her story is part of the report “Voices in Freedom: Women Political Prisoners in Cuba” and the documentary “Dos Patrias” (Two Homelands), produced in collaboration with Producciones La Tiorba, which portrays the repression, imprisonment, and silencing of three Cuban activists.

From her new place of residence, where she arrived without being able to say goodbye to her eldest daughter because the authorities denied her a final visit, Aymara dreams of studying psychology. “I would like to be a psychologist and help other people. I also want my daughters to be good women,“ she adds. Although she is far from the island, she remains committed to the peaceful struggle. ”The situation in my country hurts me deeply, but I will continue working and fighting for Cuba’s freedom, even from a distance,” she says. 

The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights celebrates Aymara Nieto’s freedom and recognizes her strength and dignity after years of repression. At the same time, we condemn her forced exile, a systematic practice of the Cuban regime to punish dissent and silence voices that defend human rights.

We demand that the Cuban government put an end to these practices that violate international law, and we call on international organizations and democratic states to demand respect for human rights in Cuba, including the immediate and unconditional release of Sissi Abascal, Felix Navarro, Saylí Navarro, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Lisandra Góngora, Maykel Castillo, and all those still imprisoned for political reasons.



We denounce the dismantling of a fence in Santa Marta that demanded freedom for political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

Santa Marta, November 8, 2025 — Race and Equality denounces the censorship exercised by the local authorities of Santa Marta, who on Friday, November 7, ordered the removal of a billboard installed by our organization outside Simón Bolívar International Airport. The billboard demanded the release of political prisoners in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, in the context of the IV CELAC-EU Summit.

The billboard bore the message: “Every person imprisoned for defending human rights in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela represents a broken promise of democracy. How long will this continue?”

Accompanied by the image of an imprisoned man and the flags of the three countries, the billboard sought to remind representatives of the member states of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) meeting in Santa Marta of the urgent need to address the lack of democracy in the region. However, it was dismantled in less than 24 hours by order of the Mayor’s Office of Santa Marta, in compliance with supposed guidelines prohibiting the display of messages “of political content” during the summit.

This decision violates our right to freedom of expression and limits the possibility of denouncing human rights violations in these three countries, precisely in a space that presents itself as a forum for dialogue on democracy, cooperation, and human rights.

In 2023, a similar incident occurred in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when, on the eve of the CELAC Summit, a billboard installed by our organization demanding the restoration of democracy in Cuba and Nicaragua was also removed.

The IV CELAC-EU Summit, held from November 7 to 10 in Santa Marta, addresses key issues such as the triple transition (energy, digital, and environmental), gender equality, food security, and the strengthening of bi-regional cooperation. All this is happening while Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela continue to be marked by repression and the imprisonment of those who defend human rights.

Until the end of October 2025 alone, civil society organizations had documented 749 political prisoners in Cuba (according to Justicia 11J), 77 in Nicaragua (Mechanism for the Recognition of Political Prisoners), and 875 in Venezuela (Foro Penal). These figures reflect the magnitude of the closure of democratic spaces and the persistence of serious human rights violations.

Similarly, in a recent resolution on the Union’s political strategy for Latin America and the Caribbean, the European Parliament reaffirmed the importance of bi-regional cooperation and condemned the weakening of democracy in these three countries, which it described as some of the most authoritarian regimes in the world.

At Race and Equality, we denounce this censorship and reaffirm our commitment to freedom of expression, justice, and democracy. We will continue to call on the international community to denounce human rights violations in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and to ensure the restoration of democracy in these countries.



“The struggle continues inside and outside Cuba”: José Daniel Ferrer, after his forced exile in the US

Washington D.C., October 16, 2025 – That was one of the statements made by José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), after arriving in Miami, United States, together with his wife, the doctor and activist Nelva Ortega, and three of his children, after being forced into exile. Ferrer’s departure was officially announced by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, which specified that his transfer, along with his family, was the result of a “formal request” from the U.S. government and the “express acceptance” of the Cuban activist. 

The human rights defender, who regained his freedom on Monday, October 13, said he had “mixed emotions” as he celebrated his reunion with part of his family, but lamented the situation of dozens of activists who remain imprisoned in Cuba. “It is a very difficult and sad moment because there are other brothers and sisters in Cuba who are surviving in terrible conditions in the worst prisons in the Western Hemisphere: Félix Navarro, Saylí Navarro, Sissi Abascal, Luis Manuel Otero, Maykel Castillo, Lisandra Góngora; there are many throughout the country,” he said.

Ferrer, 55, is one of Cuba’s most renowned activists. He was one of the 75 prisoners of conscience convicted during the Black Spring of 2003 and, since then, has been subjected to repeated arrests, torture, and arbitrary judicial proceedings. He participated in the demonstrations on July 11, 2021, after which he was arbitrarily detained and, in January of this year, released on parole. However, on April 29, 2025, he was again imprisoned in Mar Verde prison, where he reported beatings, torture, and threats against his family.

In a letter written from that prison and released on October 3, Ferrer warned that he was at the limit of what he could endure and that he was willing to accept forced exile to protect his life and that of his family. At Race and Equality, we have repeatedly denounced the serious violations of his human rights and the inhumane conditions of his imprisonment to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as his legal representatives, reason why he is the beneficiary of protective measures.

We celebrate that José Daniel Ferrer and his family are safe today, but we condemn that his freedom was dependent upon forced exile, a practice that violates fundamental rights and that the Cuban state has used to silence critical voices. This same strategy was recently imposed on activist Aymara Nieto, a member of the Ladies in White, who was released in August 2025 on the condition that she leave the island. At Race and Equality, we reiterate our commitment to defending those persecuted for political reasons in Cuba and call on the international community to demand an end to repression, arbitrary imprisonment, and the forced exile of Cuban dissidents.

Race and Equality Condemns the Torture and Threats Against José Daniel Ferrer, Who Announced His Willingness To Go Into Forced Exile

Washington, D.C., October 7, 2025. – The Institute on Race, Equality, and Human Rights (Race and Equality) expresses its concern over the announcement by Cuban activist José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), who stated that he is willing to accept forced exile as the only alternative to protect his life and that of his family, after years of torture, threats, and inhumane treatment suffered in prison and while on parole.

In a letter written from the Mar Verde Penitentiary and released on Friday, October 3, Ferrer denounced the serious human rights violations he has faced because of his activism. “For years I have been subjected to brutal beatings, torture, humiliation, death threats, and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by henchmen and other instruments of the worst dictatorship the American continent has ever known,” Ferrer wrote.

Race and Equality has repeatedly denounced the violence against José Daniel Ferrer and the conditions of his imprisonment before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). The activist also reported threats against his wife and children, which have led him to consider forced exile as the only way to safeguard his integrity and that of his family. “I have reached the limit of what a human being can endure. If leaving the country is the only option to protect my loved ones, I am willing to accept it,” he added.

“Ferrer’s statements confirm the extreme level of persecution and cruelty faced by those who defend human rights in Cuba. His willingness to accept forced exile reflects the desperation of an activist who has been the victim of torture and systematic repression for years,” said Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

Ferrer, 55, is one of Cuba’s most renowned activists. He was one of the 75 prisoners of conscience convicted during the Black Spring of 2003 and, since then, has been subjected to repeated arrests, torture, and arbitrary judicial proceedings. He participated in the historic demonstrations on July 11, 2021, after which he was arbitrarily detained and, in January of this year, released on parole. However, on April 29, he was re-imprisoned in the Mar Verde prison.

The allegations made by the human rights defender reignite one of the most persistent repressive practices of the authoritarian Cuban regime: forced exile, a strategy that violates fundamental rights and that the authorities use to neutralize leaders, silence critical voices, and strip activists, artists, and journalists of their roots and family ties. This practice is in addition to other forms of repression—such as arbitrary judicial proceedings, harassment, censorship, and systematic persecution—whose objective is to limit or nullify the political and social participation of those who defend human rights in Cuba.

Over the past years, this strategy has affected various activists and journalists in Cuba, who have been forced to leave the country after years of repression, threats, and imprisonment. Recently, Cuban activist Aymara Nieto, also represented by Race and Equality before the IACHR, a member of the Ladies in White organization and UNPACU, left the island to settle in the Dominican Republic on August 11, 2025. Nieto, who had been imprisoned since 2018, was released on the condition imposed by State Security that she leave Cuba. “I was imprisoned until the very last moment I was at the airport. They were the ones who took me. They never let me go home,” said the human rights defender. She traveled accompanied by her husband, fellow activist Ismael Boris Reñí, and two of her daughters, after serving two consecutive sentences in a Havana prison.

At Race and Equality, we strongly condemn the torture, threats, and reprisals faced by José Daniel Ferrer, and we warn of the seriousness of his situation in prison. Ferrer’s case highlights the continuation of a pattern of repression that, in the last years, has forced numerous activists, defenders, and independent journalists in Cuba into exile. We urge the international community to redouble its efforts to demand his immediate release, as well as the protection of his family and all human rights defenders in Cuba and in exile.

We also urgently call on the United Nations, the IACHR, and the democratic governments of the region to intervene decisively to guarantee Ferrer’s physical and psychological integrity and to put an end to the persecution and forced exile of Cuban dissidents.

Cuba: Warning about the escalation of repression against activists and human rights defenders four years after the 11J protests

Bogotá – Havana, July 11, 2025.– Four years after the protests of July 11, 2021 (11J), national and international organizations warn of a new peak of repression by the Cuban State against activists, independent journalists, human rights defenders and relatives of persons deprived of liberty for reasons of conscience. This situation demands urgent attention from the international community in view of the intensification of restrictions on fundamental freedoms and human rights.

We view with deep concern the persecution, threats and intimidation against journalist Camila Acosta, who through her social networks has denounced that she is being followed by state security agents to, according to her, impede her informative and investigative work in Havana. This situation is in addition to that of Henry Constantín, journalist and director of La Hora de Cuba, who was imprisoned for several days in Camagüey, accused of contempt for doing his job, and although he has been released, he must report regularly to the country’s authorities. It was also confirmed to Henry that he is still regulated and that he cannot leave the island.

The situation of the prisoners of conscience, several of them detained for participating in the July 2021 demonstrations, is of the utmost gravity: in recent days, opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer and rapper Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo had to resort to a hunger strike as a last resort in protest against the injustices that continue to be committed against them in prison. Ferrer, who was released from prison in January of this year and is now back in jail, is protesting the brutal beatings he has been subjected to in prison. For his part, Osorbo is protesting against the authorities’ attempts to transfer him to a prison even further away from his family, in violation of international standards of humane treatment. This measure has become recurrent, according to the relatives of those deprived of their liberty.

Donaida Pérez, opponent and president of the Association of Free Yorubas of Cuba, was imprisoned after the 11J protests and sentenced to 8 years in prison for the alleged crimes of contempt of court, public disorder and attempt against an official. Although she was released from prison in January 2025, on June 11 the Provincial Court of Villa Clara revoked her parole, arguing an alleged failure to fulfill her obligations. She is currently being held in Guamajal prison, where she faces unsanitary conditions, ill-treatment and possible acts of torture.

After being released from prison at the beginning of the year, Felix Navarro, also a prisoner of conscience, was once again imprisoned and remains in precarious conditions, with the aggravating factor that he is an elderly person with chronic health conditions. His wife, Lady in White Sonia Alvarez, was informed on July 2 that he would be transferred to Havana for medical examinations, but so far, she has not been able to communicate with him. Navarro remains without a clear medical diagnosis, without access to adequate treatment and held in inhumane conditions, without the minimum guarantees to protect his health and physical integrity. The lack of adequate medical attention constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment.

We also express our deep concern over the Cuban regime’s attempts to prevent the participation of activists and human rights defenders in the 4th of July commemoration at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. Several of those summoned were prevented from attending by various methods of repression. Some were intercepted en route and forced to get out of vehicles to prevent their arrival at the event.

The aforementioned cases are added to the alarming figure that, according to the organization Justicia 11J, speaks of 361 people detained for participating in the 11J demonstrations and who are still deprived of their liberty. Most of them have been convicted in trials without minimum guarantees and under politically manipulated charges.

At this juncture, we urge the governments of the region, multilateral organizations and diplomatic missions to:

  • Demand immediate and independent access to prisoners to verify their state of health and conditions of detention.
  • Hold high-level public meetings focused on the human rights situation in Cuba, with the participation of victims, family members and independent civil society organizations.
  • Continue to demand the immediate and unconditional release of all persons imprisoned for political reasons in Cuba.

Four years after 11J, repression has not ceased: it has transformed and expanded. Focusing attention on Cuba today is an imperative for the defense of human dignity and freedom.

Signed:

4Métrica

ARC – Artists at Risk Connection

ARTICLE 19 México y Centroamérica

Cadal

Civil Rights Defenders

ConEnfoque

Cuido60 – Observatorio de Envejecimiento, Cuidados y Derechos

Cubalex

Cubanet

De Mujer a Mujer y De Hombre a Hombre

Food Monitor Program

Instituto sobre raza, igualdad y derechos humanos – IRIDH

La Hora de Cuba

Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana

Movimiento San Isidro

Museo de la Disidencia en Cuba

Museo V

Observatorio de Alas Tensas

Cuban regime intensifies repression against Berta Soler, leader of Damas de Blanco

Washington D.C., December 9, 2024 – Last Sunday, December 1, Cuban activist Berta Soler was arbitrarily detained by members of State Security. The leader of the Ladies in White was leaving the main headquarters of this organization located in the Lawton neighborhood in Havana when she was arrested, as denounced by her partner Angel Moya Acosta through his Facebook account. 

For decades, Berta has been arbitrarily detained every Sunday while trying to get to the church closest to her home, to ask for the release of people deprived of liberty for political reasons; however, between September and so far in December 2024 these arbitrary deprivations of liberty accompanied by forced disappearances have extended for more than three days. The first detention occurred on September 22, when she was transferred without her consent to a police station, where she remained for 67 hours; the second time was last November 10, and she was missing for more than 76 hours; and the third detention ended on December 4, and lasted 69 hours. 

“These prolonged forced disappearances are part of what has already been identified as a new pattern of persecution against the representative of Damas de Blanco”, warns Fernando Goldar, lawyer of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality). 

It is known that the Cuban activist was threatened by a State Security agent on September 15, 2024, in the middle of a detention. The man, who has not been identified, offered Soler permission to leave the country and visit her children, in exchange for the leader of the Ladies in White to stop demonstrating on Sundays, a proposal that was rejected by the human rights defender, and has triggered arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances for more than 60 hours, a new pattern of repression exercised by the Cuban authorities. 

“For the authoritarian regime of this country, the activist Berta Soler represents a very strong dissident voice that questions its policies; therefore, implementing a strategy of repression like this, seeks to silence and exhaust her,” says Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality. 

The Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights demands an end to the repression and persecution against the activist Berta Solar, who, through the organization Damas de Blanco, calls for the immediate release of people deprived of their liberty for political reasons in Cuba. We also request that the Cuban authorities guarantee the human rights of its citizens, especially if they are people who work for democracy in this country. We echo the call made by international human rights organizations to the Cuban State to cease the repression against the members of this organization, including Berta Soler. 



In Cuba, Extreme Poverty Mainly Affects People of African Descent on the Island

Bogota, October 30, 2024 – “Cuba is not as they tell you,” warns Yaxys Cires, Director of Strategy for the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos (OCDH), the independent Cuban civil society organization, which published in July 2024 the seventh report on social rights in this country, revealing that extreme poverty on the island had climbed to 89%.

The lawyer, a native of the Cuban province of Pinar del Río, explains each of the findings that show how the lack of resources mainly affects people of African descent in Cuba. “Of the total sample (1,148 surveys), 61% said they had problems buying the most essential things to survive, while in the Afro-Cuban population the figure stands at 68%,” he says.

Twelve percent said they were unemployed, a reality that affects 15% of the Afro-Cuban people surveyed. It was also reported that eight out of ten Afro-descendants who took part in this study stated that they had stopped eating breakfast, lunch or dinner, a situation that affected seven out of ten white or mestizo people in this report.

On the other hand, 92% of Afro-Cubans disapproved of the public health service; and 81% said they did not receive remittances, a figure higher than the 71% of white people who indicated that they did not obtain this type of income from relatives living outside the Island either. “Undoubtedly, they have less support to face the harsh reality of life in Cuba,” adds Cires.

The findings evidencing how extreme poverty mainly affects people of African descent in Cuba had already been recorded in 2023, in the sixth OCDH report on social rights in this country. At that time, 21% of Afro-Cubans said they resided in housing in danger of collapse, a figure that contrasts with 15% of the total number of people consulted (1,353), who said they were in the same situation.

This survey also revealed that 23% of Afro-descendants lacked permanent drinking water service, a reality that affected 17% of the total number of those who participated in last year’s study.

The findings of the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos show that Afro-Cubans in Cuba have greater difficulties in finding a job, feeding themselves, accessing potable water, and owning decent housing, compared to other population groups in the same country. “The situation of Afro-Cubans is very precarious; they live in unhealthy areas, have the lowest salaries, and little schooling,” says Eroises González, an Afro-Cuban woman from Havana who coordinates the organization Plataforma Femenina.

Another Havana woman of African descent in Cuba, Laritza Diversent, who heads the NGO Cubalex, says that these human rights violations are, more often than not, naturalized by civil society itself. “Racial discrimination, for example, is not a priority issue, so we don’t go there to do these studies, to identify these behaviors,” she adds.

Population Census

According to the expert on the rights of Afro-descendants, Afro-Uruguayan Noelia Maciel, the OCDH figures show the systemic racism that exists in Cuba, “and has been present throughout the socialist process.”

“These inequalities are reflected in the lack of access to employment, inequalities in educational levels, the non-receipt of remittances, which is what sustains daily life on the island, and also in the migratory processes. Afro populations are the ones that have more barriers to leave the country,” says Maciel, who also affirms that in the last population census of the Island (in 2012), these inequities were not evident because the existence of differentiated ethnic-racial ascendancies was unknown, “denying how the racial component is a factor of vulnerability and obstacles to the exercise of rights.”

In 2022, the State of Cuba should have conducted a new population and housing census; however, this process was postponed to 2025. According to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), the delay was caused by the severe economic crisis suffered by this country.

“Cuba by self-definition is in a moment of war economy, and carrying out censuses is very costly, and even more so at this time when there are certain standards that are imposed at the regional level, such as making these processes in more electronic formats. But equally on the part of the Cuban State there is no interest in carrying out a census and beginning to make these inequalities visible, especially incorporating the recommendations made by international organizations, such as the incorporation of the term Afro-descendant (which represents people belonging to various cultures descended from the African population that survived the slave system, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),” says Maciel.

In the last population census of the island it was known that in 2012 this country had 11,167,325 inhabitants, including white, black, and mestizo people. However, in this statistical count no distinction was made between those who were black, mestizo, and mulatto, so it was not possible to establish who the Afro-descendants in Cuba were, nor what their actual housing conditions were.

Racial Profiling

The findings of the last two reports on social rights in Cuba show how extreme poverty affects the majority of the Cuban population, mainly people of African descent in this country, who in addition to lacking the essentials for survival, are also victims of prejudice on the part of Cuban authorities, who persecute, repress, harass and detain them “for the simple fact of being black people,” according to Diversent.

“The repression is also linked to the persecution of people of African descent for what is known as racial profiling,” adds Diversent, who maintains that an analysis by the organization Cubalex revealed that the Afro-Cubans convicted for having participated in the historic and massive protests of July 11, 2021, had received harsher sentences compared to the white people who took to the streets that day to demand their rights.

According to this document, black people “that the State classifies with ‘unfavorable conduct’ receive sanctions with an average duration of 13.02 years, while non-Afro-descendants, under the same classification, have average sanctions of 12.0 years.” This finding adds to the aforementioned figures, evidencing how this population survives on the Island.

“In 2009, I was a victim of racial profiling. On one occasion I was working in a tourism center and some Canadian guests wanted to know where to see and enjoy Cuban jazz, so I indicated ‘La zorra y el cuervo’ (a club located in El Vedado, Havana’s commercial area), but they asked me to accompany them. We went along the Malecon, continued walking and then some policemen arrived to ask me for my identification. They detained me right there, put me in a patrol car, and took me to a station until they felt like it. I could not accompany the tourists,” says Norberto Mesa, an Afro-Cuban activist who in 1998 founded the organization Cofradía de la Negritud (Brotherhood of Blackness), a citizen project that emerged with the purpose of fighting discrimination and structural racism in this country.

The Pinareño (from the province of Pinar del Río) and human rights defender affirms that these types of situations continue to occur in Cuba, and adds that the Afro-Cuban population in penitentiary centers is much larger in comparison with other population groups. He also says that there is racial discrimination in the workplace, and very little representation of black people in micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

Unfulfilled Recommendations

In 2018, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD or the Committee), adopted its concluding observations after examining the national report submitted at that time by the State of Cuba, on Afro-Cubans. The Committee noted, among other things, that the Afro-descendant population continued to be “victims of racism and structural discrimination, as a product of the historical legacy of slavery,” which manifested itself “in the inequality gap” related to the economic, social, and cultural rights of this population, in comparison with the rest.

CERD registered several concerns about the census, the situation of defenders of the rights of the Afro-Cuban population, racial discrimination, access to justice, excessive use of force, racial stereotypes, and the non-recognition of this type of violence by the State. These problems are still latent in Cuba, and are reflected in the findings released by the OCDH, and in the analysis conducted by Cubalex.

The body of independent experts that oversees the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination also made a series of recommendations to the State that aim to allow more people to self-recognize themselves as Afro-descendants, to know how black people really live on the island, and to combat inequality, which, after six years of this document, is still prevailing.

According to Maciel, the State of Cuba should present an official report on the implementation of the CERD recommendations in 2025, due to the delay of the review schedule by countries, which resulted fromthe Covid-19 pandemic.

The conclusions found by the Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos and the analysis conducted by Cubalex, also evidence that the authorities of this country have not met the objectives of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), which focus on the recognition, justice, and development of this population.

“Cuba, like most Latin American countries, the countries of the diaspora, have done very little during the decade.There have been no plans to create differentiated public policies. In the case of the island, there is a particular problem, and that is that they deny racial discrimination. So the government, by denying racial discrimination, evidently does not raise the need for differentiated public policies,” says Carlos Quesada, director of the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), who adds that the decade proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly will end on December 31, 2024.

The figures of the last two OCDH reports also reveal, according to Quesada, how structural racism in this country has prevented the Afro-Cuban population from being able to climb or access a slightly higher social ladder, including, for example, the engine of the national economy, which is tourism. “Cuba, in terms of the fight against racial discrimination is at least seventy years behind all Latin American countries, including the United States,” adds the Costa Rican lawyer and journalist.

As Cires mentioned at the beginning of this article, the reality of people of African descent in Cuba is not as Cuban authorities tell it; in their daily lives they face discrimination and violence in various forms.

The last census does not recognize people of African descent in their totality, and as documented in the recommendations of the CERD, the existence of racial discrimination is denied on the island; even though there are activists and human rights defenders denouncing the precarious conditions in which the Afro-Cuban population lives, and despite the publication of reports, such as those of the OCDH, and analyses, such as the one conducted by Cubalex, which show a reality opposite to that described by the State.

Race and Equality echoes the findings that reveal racism and structural discrimination in Cuba, and we request that the Cuban State recognize these inequalities, promote actions that allow the self-recognition of Afro-Cubans, and create public policies aimed at improving the living conditions of this population, and to combat poverty, social exclusion and marginalization, which disproportionately affect Afro-Cubans.



In Latin America and the Caribbean, Enforced Disappearances Hinder Democracy

Washington D.C., August 30, 2024 – In Venezuela, a month after its disputed presidential elections, more than two thousand people have been victims of forced disappearances and arbitrary detentions, according to the organizations Provea and Foro Penal.  In Mexico, “there are around 110 thousand people who are missing to date,” according to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). Meanwhile, in Cuba, according to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, there are cases of activists who are “victims of short term forced disappearances.” 

The situation in these three countries is evidence of serious human rights violations in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the member of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances, Ecuadorian lawyer Juan Pablo Albán, with whom we spoke on International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, this Friday, August 30. 

Enforced disappearances occur “whenever persons are arrested, detained or transferred against their will, or otherwise deprived of their liberty by government agents of any sector or level, by organized groups or by private individuals acting on behalf of the Government or with its direct or indirect support, and who then refuse to disclose the fate or whereabouts of such persons, or to acknowledge that they are deprived of their liberty,” according to the United Nations. 

This is precisely what is constantly occurring in Latin America and the Caribbean, where, according to Albán, the highest number of forced disappearances in the world is registered, with Mexico being the country where this type of human rights violation has been documented the most. 

“The most notable trends in the region and in the world have to do with disappearances committed by non-state actors, disappearances in the migratory situations, disappearances in the context of protest suppression, or under the argument of the fight against terrorism or organized crime, and disappearances of people who are labeled as potential members of gangs, organized crime gangs or terrorist groups,” says the member of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances of the United Nations. 

Albán assures that when cases of forced disappearance are registered in a country, the quality of democracy is lessened because there is no social debate. “States lose a lot when they do not respond, do not confront this phenomenon, and worse still, when they practice forced disappearance as a state policy,” he adds.

Colombia

The phenomenon of forced disappearances in Colombia has been a persistent problem for more than six decades, and is closely linked to the armed conflict that ravaged the country. According to the Truth Commission, between 1985 and 2016, approximately 121,768 cases of forced disappearances were reported, although it is estimated that the figure could be as high 210,000 victims. This problem has also affected the migrant population, especially Venezuelans. According to the Andrés Bello Catholic University, from 2015 to 2020, 836 Venezuelan people were reported missing in Colombia. However, an absence of accurate data has hindered a complete assessment of the magnitude of these human rights violations.

In the framework of the 2021 National Strike, 4,846 transfers for temporary protection were documented, a legal figure that has been questioned for its arbitrary use and its impact on the rights of protesters. Despite the Constitutional Court’s resolution that requires detailed reports and the right to request the cessation of the transfer, these practices continue today and remain problematic, with numerous cases of abuse reported, including torture and sexual violence.

The handling of enforced disappearances in Colombia faces several critical challenges, such as the failure of the Attorney General’s Office to activate the Urgent Search Mechanism (MBU); the lack of compliance with international recommendations; and the use of euphemisms by the Government to minimize the seriousness of the problem. In addition, the underreporting of cases and the discrepancy between official figures and those reported by civil society organizations complicate the accurate assessment of the phenomenon. These issues underscore the need for comprehensive reform in police practices, and improved transparency and effectiveness in the state’s response to enforced disappearances.

Cuba

In Cuba, between January 2022 and July 2024, “93 incidents of human rights violations were recorded, which included conditions of forced disappearance for several hours, days, and even more than a week”, according to the organization Cubalex. The Ladies in White movement has reported that between 2013 and June 2024, 3,904 arbitrary detentions and forced disappearances have been documented against members of this women’s collective. Most have been victims on repeated occasions, and for periods ranging from 24 to 72 hours.  

These types of forced disappearances, which are not prolonged as in Colombia, mainly affect activists, independent journalists, artists and, in general, anyone who disagrees with the official discourse.

A report of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances of July 2024, also expressed concern about the arrests and excessive use of force exercised by the Police during the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021, known as 11J. According to this UN Special Procedure, most of the persons detained in that context did not appear before a judicial authority until many days, weeks or months later, and before that the fate and whereabouts of the detainees were unknown, which constituted an act of enforced disappearance.

Nicaragua 

In Nicaragua nine persons are in a situation of forced disappearance, according to the Registration Unit (UDR).  Among these persons are indigenous leader Brooklyn Rivera, and journalist and cultural affairs director Fabiola Tercero. 

Brooklyn Rivera, 72 years old, is an indigenous Miskitu, regional deputy (2022-2026) and a leader of the Miskitu people (Ta Upla) and of the indigenous party YATAMA (Yapti Tasba Masraka Nanih Aslatakanka, “Children of Mother Earth united”). His family has had no knowledge of his whereabouts since September 29, 2023. In January of this year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) stated that Rivera is in “enforced disappearance” and advocated for his release.

Fabiola Tercero is a journalist, activist and founder of “El rincón de Fabi”, a project that aims to promote reading among young Nicaraguans. Her home was raided on July 12 and since then her whereabouts are unknown, as are those of her mother and sister.

In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, the director of the Legal Defense Unit (UDJ), Alexandra Salazar, affirmed that the authorities refuse to provide information on the whereabouts of these people. “In such a way that there is no certainty of their conditions of detention, nor verification of their state of health and life,” she added. In addition, the UDJ identified cases in which prison authorities recommended that family members look for political detainees “in the morgues,” which increases anguish and constitutes an additional form of torture.

For its part, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, in its July 2024 report, stated that “short-term” enforced disappearances have been used as a “tool to repress opponents and critics of the Government” since 2018. The Group also emphasized that the State must promptly provide accurate information about the detention of persons deprived of their liberty and the place(s) they are held to their family members and any other person with a legitimate interest (art. 10, para. 2, of the Declaration), and that failure to do so constitutes an enforced disappearance. 

Peru 

In the case of Peru, according to the National Registry of Missing Persons and Burial Sites (Renade) of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, between 1980 and 2000, during the internal armed conflict, there were 21,918 missing persons, of which the whereabouts of 19,200 cases have yet to be determined. To date, the search for 2,718 missing persons has been completed, of which 39 were found alive. In addition, 682 skeletal remains were identified and returned to the families. At the beginning of July 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) pronounced itself on the restitution of remains in the Putis case, encouraging the State to continue the search, identification, dignified restitution and prosecution of those responsible.

Unfortunately, the country has seen regression in the access to justice, the right to truth and reparation for the victims of forced disappearances. Recently, the Congress of the Republic approved Law 32107 that prescribes crimes against humanity or war crimes committed before July 1, 2002, that is, before the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity. With this law, no one may be prosecuted, convicted or punished for forced disappearances, genocide, slavery, terrorism, systematic and widespread torture, and other crimes against humanity committed during the armed conflict. 

“All this is to give impunity to Fujimori and others involved in serious human rights violations,” Albán emphasizes. In fact, the acts committed by former president Alberto Fujimori led to the declaration of Peru’s international responsibility in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases, which were resolved by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and in which several of these actions have been classified as crimes against humanity.

Last June, through a communiqué, the IACHR expressed that the proposed law is contrary to international law and warned that it “openly disobeys the sentences of the IACHR Court.” In the same vein, Volker Turk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a recent statement that these crimes should not be subject to amnesties or statutes of limitation. However, nothing prevented Congress from approving the law.

The cases of forced disappearances described in Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua and Peru are evidence of the serious human rights violations that also occur throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and which, at the same time, hinder democracy in the region. 

According to CED member Juan Pablo Albán, it is necessary that in each of these countries a culture of denunciation is promoted, cases are documented, protection channels are used, and more States that make up the United Nations General Assembly commit themselves to fight against this phenomenon, in order to reduce the number of forced disappearances worldwide. 

From the Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) we commemorate the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, and emphasize that this type of violence affects thousands of human beings including activists, human rights defenders, indigenous peoples, artists of the region, and opposition members or people who are perceived as such, as well as their families, including children who suffer from this institutional violence, or by other actors. We condemn this phenomenon and call on the authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean to commit to finding those who are still missing, and to protect critical and dissident voices. We also urge independent civil society to continue to denounce this violence before international human rights protection mechanisms.



Join Our Efforts

Help empower individuals and communities to achieve structural changes in Latin America.

Donate Contact Us