“I miss everything about Cuba”: Activists forced into exile

Washington D.C., 13 February 2023 – During 2022, more that 270,000 Cubans arrived by land and sea to the United States, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard.[1] Around seventy Cuban migrants died or disappeared in the Caribbean, a large majority due to poor weather conditions that made navigation difficult and the use of boats that were not apt for navigating in the high sea, according to the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).[2]

The statistics of people who left the island in 2022 surpassed previous migratory waves: the first which occurred after the triumph of the Castro Revolution between 1959 and 1962, in which 250,000 citizens were expatriated; the departure that began in 1980 at the port of Mariel, where 125,000 Cubans left the island; and the Balsero crisis in 1994, in which more than 30,000 people abandoned the country.[3]

Most Cubans have left the island due to the serious economic crisis, the shortages of goods and medicine, unemployment, and the difficult political and social situation, which has worsened since the historic citizens protests in July 2021, also known as 11J. However, there also exists a group of Cubans who migrated because they were exiled from the island. Activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, artists, jurists, and critics of the government have been forced to abandon the island in the last several years,[4] in exchange for not being prosecuted and imprisoned, especially since the new Criminal Code, which intensifies the criminalization of individuals and organizations that fight for the recognition of human rights in the country, entered into effect in December.[5]

These exiled Cubans, who are not able to return to Cuba, have found themselves in the United States and other countries with the purpose of beginning a life where they are free and can live without fear.

With Psychological Attention in Argentina

The writer and independent journalist, María Matienzo; and her partner, the activist Kirenia Núñez, arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the 22^nd of August of last year. There they were settled after fleeing the repression and constant threats they suffered due to their denunciations against the Cuban government. “We were detained on many occasions in Havana, and if we group all of the time in detention, we would have almost a year of deprivation of liberty,” says Matienzo, who remains in the country thanks to the support of the Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina (CADAL), an organization that also has helped her receive psychological attention.

“I have not succeeded in enjoying (Buenos Aires) like I have wanted. I have spent much time recuperating, and it is not as easy as people think. In fact, in the first days when I arrived here there were many police in the street, that hardly looked at us. But still we were not able to shake the nervous feelings,” admitted María.

Waiting for Political Asylum in Germany

The story of María and Kirenia is very similar to the activist Jancel Moreno and his partner Wilfredo Carmenate, who had to leave the island on the 13^th of September of 2022. With only the backpacks on their backs they arrived in Frankfurt, Germany, where they have requested political asylum and have had to demonstrate that the Cuban government threatened Jancel with jail time, and stopped supplying Wilfredo with the medications he takes to treat osteoarthritis of the hip, which has afflicted him for several years.

Between July and September last year, Jancel was threatened approximately three times by State Security. They told him that if he did not publicly renounce activism and leave Cuba, he would be accused of crimes of “engaging in mercenary activity, inciting criminality, usurpation of functions, and enemy propaganda.” All of this occurred while they also threatened his partner with the crime of “illicit economic activity.”

Jancel and Wilfredo remain in a camp for migrants in the city of Zirndorf. They are waiting on the German government to give them a response to the political asylum request, that should be known after a year; meanwhile, they learn the language of the European country and wait to be transferred to another zone in Germany.

Surviving in the United States

The independent journalists Orelvys Cabrera and his partner Yunior Pino were also forced to abandon the island. “On the 19^th of December 2021, I left Cuba because I was threatened since they told me I would be accused of a series of crimes that would result in thirty years of jail time. They gave me an ultimatum: if you are here after the 5^th of January 2022, you will be arrested. My partner and I then sold everything, and we went to Moscow,” says Orelvys.

They stayed in the Russian capital for three months, until Orelvys was threatened again, this time for denouncing the violations of human rights suffered by Cuban migrants in the Eurasian country. From there they went to Egypt, where an international organization informed them that the Parliament of the Czech Republic had granted them political asylum, so they traveled there. But after a time, they noted it was very difficult to learn Czech (the official language of the country), and therefore find a job; thus, they decided to leave for Mexico, and from there they crossed the border with the United States and surrendered to U.S. authorities on the 28^th of March last year.

Orelvys and his partner found themselves in Miami protected by form I-220A, that prevented deportation or being taken to prison. Both are waiting for a migration judge to grant them political asylum.

A Beneficiary of the Cuban Adjustment Act

The art historian Claudia Genlui is another activist that was forced into exile. She left Cuba on the 1^st of November 2021, four months after the peaceful protests of 11J. She arrived in Miami, United States, after constant besiegement by State Security, who surveilled and threatened her for her denouncements of human rights violations experienced on the island, and for being a member of the Movimiento San Isidro, a collective of Cuban artists founded by her partner, performance artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who has been in prison for five years for demanding the fulfilment of human rights.

“Thinking of Cuba is an open wound that is always right there. I still have not succeeded in stepping up to the plate on that, it is extremely painful for me, above all because I never wanted to leave… I miss everything about Cuba,” says Genlui, who also assured that it was difficult to leave Luis Manuel, and her family in general, especially her grandmother, a woman of more that 80 years who lived with her before her departure.

Claudia is a beneficiary of the Cuban Adjustment Act, a federal law that permits her to request U.S. residency after being in the country for a year and a day. She is waiting on a response from the government, while also studying English.

The stories of María, Kirenia, Jancel, Wilfredo, Orelvys, Junior, and Claudia represent hundreds of activists, human rights defenders, independent journalists, and critics of the Cuban government who have been forced to flee Cuba. They have been forced to leave their families for countries with different languages, cultures, and traditions.

From the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights we demand that the Cuban State cease the use of forced exile as a strategy of repression, and that it recognize and guarantee the human rights of every person that resides in its territory. We reiterate our call to the government of the island to comply with the dispositions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and we urge the international community to guarantee the protection of Cuban migrants, independent of their migratory status.

***

[1] Cuba: 4 razones que explican el histórico éxodo desde la isla a EE.UU. en 2022. Enero 3 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-64104551

[2] En 2022, cifra récord de migrantes desaparecidos en el Caribe. Enero 24 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.iom.int/es/news/en-2022-cifra-record-de-migrantes-desaparecidos-en-el-caribe

[3] Cuba: 4 razones que explican el histórico éxodo desde la isla a EE.UU. en 2022. Enero 3 de 2023. Disponible: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-64104551

[4] Cuba: Crisis migratoria y prácticas represivas en el contexto de la movilidad humana. Octubre 27 de 2022. Disponible: http://oldrace.wp/es/cuba-es/cuba-crisis-migratoria-y-practicas-represivas-en-el-contexto-de-la-movilidad-humana/

[5] Raza e Igualdad alerta sobre nuevo Código Penal que recrudece la criminalización del ejercicio de derechos fundamentales. Junio 14 de 2022. Disponible: http://oldrace.wp/es/cuba-es/raza-e-igualdad-alerta-sobre-nuevo-codigo-penal-que-recrudece-la-criminalizacion-del-ejercicio-de-derechos-fundamentales/

Key points of the Cuban Family Code draft, an initiative that will be submitted to a popular consultation on September 25

Washington, D.C., September 12, 2022 – On September 25, Cubans will answer yes or no to the question, “Do you agree with the Family Code?” The population is called to participate in a referendum to discuss the direction of the proposal of the new Family Code, a project composed of 471 articles and which, among its most important points, recognizes equal marriage, the redistribution of domestic work and care, the prevention of gender-based violence, and a number of rights that are aligned with the recognition of diverse families.

The new Family Code is an initiative that emerged after it was established in the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (which was reformed in April 2019) – the National Assembly of People’s Power should begin the process of popular consultation, within a period of two years, to “figure out a way to establish marriage.”[1]

As a result, the project has generated all kinds of reactions in Cuba, due to the decision of the Cuban State to submit to a referendum, this proposal expands the rights of children and adolescents on the Island, and of other population groups that historically have been victims of violence and discrimination, such as people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, women, older adults, and people with disabilities. These rights should be guaranteed without the need for Cubans to approve them; that is to say, the government of this country must work so that these rights are recognized without resorting to a popular consultation or any mechanism of citizen participation. Human rights should not be negotiable or subject to an approval process.

The legal team of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) analyzed the Family Code draft, here are some key points:

• The new bill broadens the concept of the traditional family, consisting of a man and a woman. In this way, the different forms of families are incorporated, recognizing rights for affective de facto unions, regardless of the legal ties that are established.[2]
• It incorporates concrete guidelines to ensure equality between men and women, such as the equitable distribution of domestic work and care work. It also includes the right of women to decide about their own bodies and the full development of sexual and reproductive rights, regardless of sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, or if they are disabled.
• Expands the spaces for participation and decision-making of children and adolescents.
• It incorporates considerations on discrimination and violence in the family, provides the possibility of resorting to the authorities to request protection, and the option of claiming damages caused by this type of aggression. The project foresees sanctions for those who engage in family violence.
• The proposal of the new Family Code expands the bonds of people who constitute kinship and recognizes affection as a determining source. It also establishes the socio-affective bond that is sustained on the basis of a stable relationship over time, which can justify filiation. This extension refers to other articles related to food, family communication, and hereditary vocation.
• It incorporates specific considerations concerning older persons and persons with disabilities, such as foster care, which aims to keep these population groups in a regular social environment or incorporate them into a family environment that facilitates their integration and inclusion.
• This initiative also includes the recognition of adoptive, assisted and socio-affective filiations, it offers the possibility of recognizing the different forms of family that exist in Cuba. It also incorporates the figure of multiparentality, which implies that a person may have more than two filiation bonds, either for original causes, or for overtaken causes. And it establishes the possibility for families to choose the order of their surnames.
• Couples in registered partnerships, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, will have the same right to adopt that married couples have historically had. The possible age to be adopted is also extended to 18 years.
• The project introduces the possibility of using methods of assisted filiation, which is when the fertilization of an ovule is done without sexual union.
• It also regulates the possibility of resorting to gestation solidarity in certain situations, a practice that is currently illegal in Cuba.
• While in the old code marriage is defined as the “voluntary union of one man and one woman,” in this project it is called, “voluntary union of two people.” Children under 18 years of age may not marry.
• This new bill also refers to the parental responsibility that must be assumed by those who have underage children in their care. In the document, the introduction of concepts such as “positive parenting” and aspects such as education for responsible sexuality, non-discrimination and non-violence are highlighted.
• The right of children and adolescents to a digital environment free of violence is incorporated.
• The care of children and adolescents is also addressed, and it is established that grandparents, grandmothers, and other relatives or emotionally close people can also take care of minors.
• This bill includes considerations that promote family communication.

From Race and Equality, we insist that the State of Cuba recognizes the human rights of all the people who reside in its territory, regardless of any popular consultation. It is necessary that the authorities provide guarantees so that Cuban society can grow and develop in an environment in which its rights are fully recognized, without fear or limitations. We demand that the Cuban government comply with its international human rights obligations and guarantee the fundamental rights of its entire population, without discrimination of any kind.

***

[1] Constitución de la República. Preámbulo. Texto disponible en: https://www.gacetaoficial.gob.cu/es/constitucion-de-la-republica-de-cuba-proclamada-el-10-de-abril-de-2019

[2] Proyecto Código de las Familias. Versión 25. Texto disponible en https://www.parlamentocubano.gob.cu/sites/default/files/documento/2022-07/CF%20V%2025-140622%20VF%20%20Para%20ANPP%20%282%29_0.pdf

IACHR denounces that Cuba has faced six waves of repression in the last year

Washington DC, July 28, 2022 – Commissioner Edgar Stuardo Ralón, Rapporteur for Cuba and on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty and for the Prevention and Combat of Torture of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and First Vice President of this organization, assured that six waves of repression have been registered on the Island in the last 12 months. The statements were made at the event ‘Cuba: A year after 11J’, which was held on July 18, 2022 in Washington DC, and was co-sponsored by the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) and the IACHR, with the support of the organizations Artists at Risk Connection, PEN America; PEN International; PEN Cuban Writers in Exile; and Civil Rights Defenders.

“The first wave dealt with the use of force and campaigns of intimidation and stigmatization. The second, arbitrary arrests, mistreatment, and deplorable conditions of detention. The third consisted of the criminalization of demonstrators, judicial persecution, and violations of due process. The fourth, closure of democratic spaces through repressive and intimidating strategies aimed at discouraging new social demonstrations. The fifth wave was evidenced by the continuity of the deprivation of liberty, and the trials without guarantees of due process. And the sixth is the legislative proposals aimed at limiting, monitoring, and punishing dissident expressions and critics of the government, as well as criminalizing the actions of independent civil society organizations,” said the Commissioner during the event that commemorated one year of the peaceful protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, also known as 11J.

Each of these moments, according to the Rapporteur for Cuba, have been recorded after the “most massive demonstrations in the recent history of the Island” took place, which left 1,484 people detained, including 57 boys, girls and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17. Although a year has passed since the marches, there are still more than 600 people who remain deprived of liberty for having exercised their right to free expression, according to the director of Cubalex, Laritza Diversent, who also participated in the commemorative event and has compiled, together with the 11J Justice Movement, statistics on the human rights violations that have been evidenced since then.

Commissioner Ralón also stressed that the IACHR has condemned the state repression against people who participated in or supported the peaceful protests in Cuba and assured that the organization has shown its concern about the arrests, the trials with sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years in prison, the cases of repression denounced by activists, artists and independent journalists; and legislative proposals aimed at limiting, monitoring and punishing expressions critical of the government.

“The Commission observes that the first results of the sixth wave, for example, began with the new regulations on telecommunications and cybersecurity (Decree Law 35 on telecommunications and Resolution 105 on response to cybersecurity incidents, of August 17, 2021), and culminated in the approval of a new Penal Code (May 15, 2022), which establishes broad and imprecise categories that would give room for arbitrary and discretionary application by the State,” said the Rapporteur for Cuba.

Voices that reveal human rights violations

The waves that have arisen after the 11J protests have been registered in the midst of the shortage of medicines and food, the serious economic crisis, and the recurrent blackouts that affect thousands of families on the Island. “We still see that the causes that motivated the protests persist. The balance is not encouraging and there are no structural solutions […]. From the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (RESCER), we observe a general increase in poverty”, said Soledad García Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (DESCA), who also was part of the panel at this event.

Cuban independent journalist Orelvys Cabrera, one of the panelists at the meeting that took place on July 18, is one of the more than a thousand people who have experienced the waves of repression highlighted by Commissioner Ralón. He was arrested during the peaceful demonstrations in July 2021. “I was imprisoned in a hole underground. Mold covered the walls and we only had three hours of water a day in a space that was two meters long and four meters wide. 12 men lived there, and our only crime was having gone out to demand a change in the system,” he revealed.

Orelvys, along with the Cuban activist Saily González and the artist Iris Ruiz, a member of the San Isidro Movement, who were also part of the panel, are other voices of the repression and harassment by the Cuban State Security. Osvaldo Navarro, a member of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration, also participated in the event virtually, highlighting that the 11J protests have affected women and people of African descent differently.

To the six waves of repression that have been registered in Cuba in the last year, the director of Strategy of the Cuban Observatory of Human Rights, Yaxis Cires adds one more. “A seventh wave could be the emptying of the opposition that is taking place on the Island. It is a way of closing the doors to a democratic change where different political actors participate,” he stated during his speech at the event, and assured that an example of this is the case of the Cuban activist Anamely Ramos, who was prohibited by the authorities of this country from returning to Cuba. She, who also participated in the discussion, remains in the United States waiting to be able to return to the Island.

After a year of the peaceful protests of 11J in Cuba, we reiterate the request to the Cuban authorities to cease the violence against the people who demonstrate and organize peacefully to demand their rights. We request that the human rights of each of the people who reside on the Island be respected, guaranteed, and protected, who despite everything they have experienced in the last 12 months, await a free Cuba.

Cuba: The impact of 11J on human rights

Washington DC, July 11, 2022 – One year after the peaceful protests that took place en masse on July 11 in more than 50 locations in Cuba, Cuban society continues to suffer from a context of deep economic crisis, characterized by serious limitations in the access to food, medicines and basic necessities. These factors, which a year ago unleashed the need for Cuban men and women to raise their voices and make their claims heard, continue to impact their lives today, even with greater intensity. The violations of human rights after the demonstrations known as 11J, persist on the Island, and are getting worse.

The repression continues

The situation of repression and the silencing of voices of dissent has not ended after 11J. Activists, human rights defenders, artists and independent journalists face constant harassment on a daily basis by the authorities and State Security forces. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) itself expressed its concern about the intensification of the repression and other violations of rights since the protests of July 2021, especially against those who participated in the demonstrations that took place on the 11th of that month [1].

In November 2021, various groups of activists once again tried to call for a peaceful protest and were faced, once again, with hundreds of arbitrary arrests, selective Internet service outages, interrogations and individualized surveillance of their homes. During 15N, as these demonstrations were called, the Civic March for Change was planned; however, the people who made public their desire to participate in this event were prevented from exercising their right to peaceful protest.

After this initiative, the use of judicial repression was aggravated with an exemplary character, there was an acceleration in the judicial processes followed against the 11J protesters and prosecutor petitions were presented requesting sanctions of up to 30 years of deprivation of liberty. Likewise, the relatives of the detained and/or prosecuted activists suffered -and continue to suffer- harassment and persecution by State Police, every time they try to exercise their right to peaceful protest in the face of the cruel situation in which their loved ones find themselves in.

Mass exodus

The context of the crisis that dominates Cuba has caused a growing number of Cuban men and women to decide to leave the island and settle in other countries. There is great concern about the high number of people who try to cross borders exposing themselves to extremely risky situations.

As a consequence of the difficulties that Cubans face in obtaining transit visas in numerous countries, the majority of people opt for irregular migration through routes that expose them to being victims of criminal networks, risks to their health, and even the danger of losing their life. Many people arrive at the border posts and remain for months in the custody of the immigration authorities without certainty about their situation.

At the same time, the Cuban government has intensified restrictions on the exercise of the right to free movement, both inside and outside the country . The authorities of the Island have used the tactics of forced exile and the prohibition of entry to the territory of Cuban nationals with current residence, to silence those critical voices that acquire greater visibility. It is of special concern that, in addition to the socio-economic conditions that expel thousands of Cuban men and women from the country, there is systematic and permanent harassment against activists, artists, and journalists, who are pressured to leave the country in subhuman conditions. This situation is preventing many people from enjoying their nationality effectively and, likewise, it prevents them from enjoying other fundamental rights such as the right to a family and the free choice of residence.

Legislative reforms

On May 14, 2022, the National Assembly of People’s Power approved the new Penal Code. Although the final official text has not yet been published, the draft raises concern since it maintains a broad and ambiguous language to classify those crimes that have been used arbitrarily to persecute the activities of human rights defenders, jurists, activists, and independent journalists. Of particular concern is the increase in penalties related to “Crimes against the Internal Security of the State”, among which are crimes against the constitutional order, sedition and propaganda against the constitutional order, which have frequently been used to repress and criminalize the legitimate exercise of the human rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.

The repression and historical criminalization in Cuba persists protected by internal legislation that limits the exercise of human rights such as freedom of expression and association. An example of this is the use of criminal offenses such as sedition and public disorder to criminalize those who decided to exercise their right to peaceful protest on 11J and 15N. Other practices that the State has adopted to respond to the 2021 marches also draw attention, among which, the failure to observe the principle of the best interests of the child and the special care they require stand out; the psychological coercion to force people to leave the Island and the siege of the national and international press. Although these practices are not new, they reveal a state policy based on sowing fear in the population and the interest in getting rid of any type of popular expression critical of state policy.

One year after 11J, from the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights, we call on the Cuban State to put an end to repressive practices against those who demonstrate and organize peacefully and claim their human rights. The Institute will continue to monitor the situation, documenting the abuses perpetrated by the government and denouncing human rights violations to the international community.

[1]IACHR, Press Release 295/21, The IACHR expresses concern over the worsening of repression and other human rights violations since the July protests in Cuba , November 5, 2021.

The repression of the historic 11J protests in Cuba

Washington DC, July 6, 2022. – A few days after the one year anniversary of the peaceful marches of July 11, 2021 in Cuba, the legal team of the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality), answered four questions that help to know and understand what happened on the Island at that time.

What happened in Cuba in July 2021?

On July 11, 2021, and the following days (hereinafter, “11J”), one of the largest protests in the recent history of the country was experienced in Cuba. On that occasion, thousands of people took to the streets of more than 50 cities to peacefully express their concern over the worsening health and economic crises, and denounce the policies imposed by the government to reduce civic space. Civil society organizations registered more than 124 peaceful demonstrations throughout the Cuban territory, which included the 15 provinces and the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud [1]. A high number of protestors reported serious human rights violations due to the excessive use of police force, resulting in one death, 1,745 repressive actions, at least 1,103 arbitrary arrests, several testimonies of sexual assaults by the police force, 402 assaults, 63 harassments, 55 citations and internet outages throughout the country [2].

Why did people go out to march?

The demonstrations began in the towns of San Antonio de los Baños, in the province of Artemisa (near Havana); and Palma Soriano, in Santiago; however, they quickly spread throughout the country. The protests that began on July 11, 2021 in Cuba represented the response of Cuban society to a social situation that worsened day after day. This is due to the inability of the Cuban State to effectively guarantee access to economic, social, and cultural rights and respect the exercise of civil and political rights of its citizens.

On the one hand, the country faced (and still faces) a deep economic crisis characterized by scarcity and shortages of food, medicines, and basic necessities. Added to this was the consequences of the government’s response to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, which had a very negative impact on Cuba, aggravating the health systems and the precarious social situation prior to the outbreak of the pandemic. Finally, the increasing repression in response to the crises became unsustainable for thousands of people [3].

How did the Cuban authorities respond to the peaceful demonstrations of 11J?

The government responded to the demonstrations with brutal repression that included the disproportionate use of force, arbitrary detentions and short-term forced disappearances, threats, harassment, torture, and cruel and inhuman treatment, both by state agents and pro-government parapolice forces. In the weeks following the protest, hundreds of arbitrary arrests, and other violations of the guarantees of due process were recorded, as well as the implementation of a reinforced surveillance strategy in the streets throughout the country and in the residences of activists, who were prevented from leaving their homes.

On July 12, 2021, the president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, published a speech in which he incited the civilian population to take to the streets to “act”, including through violence against the protesting people ^[4]. In that speech, he warned the demonstrators that they had to “step over [their] corpses if they want to confront the Revolution, and they [were] ready for anything and [would be] in the streets fighting ^[5]. ” The state response also included the dissemination of propaganda and stigmatization campaigns against the demonstrators, whom it described as “counterrevolutionaries”, “criminals”, “vandals”, “mercenaries” and “enemies of the State”.

Likewise, on July 11 and the following days, there were power cuts and blockages of the Internet service that sought to prevent the spread of the movement on social networks and the independent press. In response to the protests, on August 17, 2021, the government enacted Telecommunications Decree Law 35 and Resolution 105, which meant new regulations on telecommunications and cybersecurity. These measures sought to generate greater state control over social demonstrations, given that the Internet had become a fundamental space for the exercise of the right to protest in Cuba.

This type of response is not unknown on the Island, since it is faced daily by any person who dares to express their ideas and opinions that are independent and different from those of the government. The repression of those who think differently in Cuba is aggravated in contexts of crisis, as was the case in the 1990s. On that occasion, the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations Organization on the situation of human rights in Cuba, warned in 1991 that “unfortunately for the cause of human rights, the Cuban authorities have decided to face this difficult economic situation with an increase in repressive control directed at the supposed opponents of the regime, most of whom aspire to non-violent changes of some circumstances they find intolerable [6].

According to data from the organizations Cubalex and Justicia 11J, as of June 30, 2022, 1,481 people (including 57 under 18 years of age) had been deprived of their liberty in the context of the protests [7]. Of these, 701 currently remain in detention [8]. Among the people detained there are a significant number of activists, artists, journalists, leaders of political opposition movements to the government, teachers, students, medical staff, professors and priests of various religious denominations.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights confirmed a systematic pattern of violations of due process in the context of the deprivation of liberty of people who participated in the protests, such as: holding the detainee incommunicado, interrogations for intimidating purposes, lack of notification about the  legal causes of their detention, absence or obstruction to access a timely, technical and adequate legal defense, among others [9].

One year after the protests, what has happened in all this time?

About 10 days after the protests, the first prison sentences were recorded for some people for their participation in the 11J protests. These sentences were given in summary trials by way of direct attestation – an expedited procedure that goes directly from the police investigation phase to the oral trial, without prosecution or trial ^[10]-. Most of the accused persons did not have the timely assistance of a lawyer. A total of 47 people would have been sentenced by this procedure [11].

Justicia 11J and Cubalex have registered until June 30, 2022, 584 people convicted. According to available information, the crimes charged are repeated in most of the people prosecuted: “public disorder”, “attack”, “disrespect”, “incitement to commit a crime”, “spread of epidemics”, “sedition”, “illegal demonstrations”, “damage” and “defamation of institutions and organizations and of heroes and martyrs”. At least 168 people have been sentenced for the crime of sedition, and a large number of them come from the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of Havana. This has resulted in the sanctions having a disproportionate impact on populations of Afro-descendants, human rights defenders, artists, and independent journalists.

According to the information recorded by the organizations mentioned above, of the total number of people prosecuted, 24 were under 18 years of age at the time of their arrest and were sentenced in the first instance with sentences that extend up to 19 years of deprivation of liberty. [12]. Likewise, 71 women (more than twenty of them, mothers) and 9 older adults continue to be detained [13]. Finally, these organizations report that some thirty released protesters have emigrated or have been forced into exile [14].

The international community and human rights bodies have also expressed their concern about the sentences handed down in Cuba regarding the events of 11J. The Committee Against Torture (CAT) has urged the Cuban State to “investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for the excessive use of force and mistreatment during the protests [15]. ” The Committee against Enforced Disappearances of the United Nations has called on the Cuban State to account for “the alleged disappearances due to 11J” [16]. For its part, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) included among its recommendations to reconsider “the severity and proportionality of the sentences for the children and adolescents who participated in the 11J protests” [17]. In the same way, regional organizations such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its special rapporteurs closely follow with concern the continuous violations of human rights in Cuba as a result of 11J, making a special call to the State to “adopt all necessary measures to prevent those who legitimately claim their rights through social protest from being subjected to unfair or unfounded trials through state investigations.”[18]

***

[1]Registration carried out by the Inventory Project, “ Demonstrations in Cuba, Sunday, July 11, 2021”, https://www.google.

com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1AQAArlWutvq3eqA2nK_WObSujttknlxZ&ll=21.661531077124163%2C-80.20082207193147&z=7

[2]Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH ), Protests of July, March 8, 2021 https://observacuba.org/ocdh-protestas-de-julio-dejaron-al-menos-1-745-acciones-represivas-en- cuba-of-which-1-103-were-arbitrary-arrests/

[3]IACHR “ The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurships condemn state repression and the use of force in the framework of peaceful social protests in Cuba, calling for dialogue on citizen claims ”, July 15, 2021, available at https://www. oas.org/en/IACHR/jsForm/?File=/en/cidh/press/communiqués/2021/177.asp

^[4]Granma, We defend the Revolution above all else , July 12, 2021.

^[5]Granma, We defend the Revolution above all else , July 12, 2021.

[6]Special Representative of the Secretary General , Report on the situation of human rights in Cuba, prepared by the Special Representative of the Secretary General, Mr. Rafael Rivas Posada, in fulfillment of the mandate conferred by resolution 1991/68 of the Commission, para. 30, Human Rights Commission, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1991/27 (January 28, 1992) (by Rafael Rivas Posada)

[7]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[8]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[9]Cf. IACHR, Annual Report 2021, Chap. IV.B Cuba, para. 70

^[10]Prisoners Defenders, Direct Attestation: This is how peaceful protesters in Cuba are being judged , July 17, 2021.

[11]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[12]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[13]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[14]Justice 11J and Cubalex, Newsletter June 2022. Available at: https://mailchi.mp/67d27e677817/newsletter-1-junio-2022

[15]Diario las Americas, Available at: https://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/onu-cuba-debe-sanzando-abuso- Fuerza -protestas-n4249031

[16]Infobae, The UN Committee against Enforced Disappearances asked Cuba for explanations for what happened after the protests of July 11, January 21, 2022, Available at: https://www.infobae.com/america/america-latina /2022/01/21/the-committee-against-enforced-disappearances-of-the-un-asked-for-explanations-from-cuba-for-what-happened-after-the-protests-of-11- -July/

[17]CRC, Final Observations, CRC/C/CUB/CO/3-6, June 16, 2022, para. 26(e).

[18]IACHR, Annual Report 2021, Chap. IV.B Cuba, para. 77.