Race and Equality: The Cuban government must grant political prisoner José Rolando Casares Soto full and unconditional liberty

Race and Equality: The Cuban government must grant political prisoner José Rolando Casares Soto full and unconditional liberty

Washington, D.C., August 20, 2020.- On Wednesday, August 19, the International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) confirmed that Cuban political prisoner José Rolando Casares Soto was released under conditional liberty via a phone call with Mr. Casares. As an organization dedicated to defending and promoting human rights, we celebrate the fact that Mr. Casares, an activist and member of the Cuban Youth Roundtable (Mesa de Diálogo de la Juventud Cubana) has been released from prison and can rejoin his family; however, we continue to insist that the Cuban government grant him unconditional liberty and rescind his convictions, as well as that of his wife Yamilka Abascal Sánchez.

Mr. Casares was one of the activists whose stories were highlighted in our report Premeditated Convictions, which examined the Cuban government’s strategies for criminalizing its opponents. In July 2016, Mr. Casares and Ms. Abascal attempted to defend a friend who was being detained by the police. As a result, Mr. Casares was arrested and detained for a week. During his detention, he was forced to undergo a strip-search and interrogation. Authorities informed him that he would be charged with “assault” and “resistance,” but he was not informed of any proceedings until six months later, when he and his wife were summoned to trial.

Sentencing

The couple were tried together in a trial that was closed to the public and did not include guarantees of due process. Ms. Abascal was convicted of “contempt” and served a two-year “limitation of liberty” sentence in their home, while Mr. Casares was convicted of “assault” and “sexual obscenity.” This second charge emerged due to the police’s claim that he had taken off his own clothing while being arrested, when in fact he was forced to do so as police searched for a flash drive containing information about the Cuban Youth Roundtable.

Mr. Casares was originally sentenced to five years’ correctional labor without internment. On March 24, 2017, he was ordered to present himself at the state-run Civil Construction firm of his municipality but refused to do so in protest of his conviction. As a result, his sentence was changed to five years in prison.

After the order to appear on March 24, Mr. Casares did not receive another official communication from the court or the Ministry of the Interior (which oversees the penal system) and did not learn of his new sentence until he was arrested off the street, on his way to buy medicine for his children, on August 3. The five-year sentence is noteworthy for being longer than the 1- to 3-year sentences typically given to political prisoners.

Three years of suffering

Mr. Casares was held in Kilo 5 Prison in Pinar del Río until August 2019, when he was transferred to the Kilo 4 Penitential Center, a minimum-security facility. During his imprisonment, he suffered complications from a dental implant that was broken during his arrest, along with an intestinal prosthesis that he has had since childhood. On May 11, 2020, he was transferred to a hospital after suffering severe stomach pains for several days. At the hospital, he learned that he had a kidney stone. He received an injection for the pain but was not given any other treatment.

Mr. Casares has spent three years of life in prison, separated from his wife and children, for no reason other than his political beliefs. When he was arrested August 2017, his daughter was only 1 year old, and his younger son had just been born in April. “At last our children will enjoy the love from their father that they lost for three years … I will continue demanding the liberation of all political prisoners who are still incarcerated unjustly,” Ms. Abascal wrote on Facebook. During the family’s ordeal, Cuban security officials threatened her with the loss of custody of their children if she continued to denounce her husband’s treatment.

On August 18, the government finally approved Mr. Casares’ latest request for conditional liberty, allowing him to return home. However, he is still subject to various restrictions.

Upon being freed, Mr. Casares emphasized that other prisoners who have committed no crime remain in Cuban prisons and that he plans to continue exposing the inhumane conditions in which political prisoners are held.

Irregularities

Race and Equality has presented petitions to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Mr. Casares and Ms. Abascal’s behalf, documenting how both of their detentions were arbitrary in violation of Cuba’s international obligations.

Among the irregularities documented were the lack of a legal justification for their arrest, the lack of a court order to keep them in prison, authorities’ failure to inform them why they were being held, and Mr. Casares being held incommunicado for seven days without court oversight. The Cuban state has plainly violated their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

These rights violations are retaliation for the couple’s work with the Cuban Youth Roundtable to denounce the government’s abuses and seek electoral reform. Race and Equality demands that Mr. Casares be granted full, unconditional freedom and that his fundamental rights be respected.

Race and Equality denounces harassment against members of the Christian Liberation Movement in Cuba and demands respect for freedom of expression on the island

Washington, D.C. August 3, 2020.- The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) denounces the harassment and threats committed this weekend by Cuban State Security against a family that are members of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL, for its initials in Spanish). These threats were intended to silence leaders of this independent civil society organization on the island.

Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepcion, National Coordinator of the MCL and former political prisoner, denounced that on July 31 and August 2, State Security agents approached different members of his family, who are part of the MCL, to demand that they leave the organization and threatened them with criminal prosecution and fines if they continued participating in actions supporting the MCL or Cardet Concepcion.

The first of these acts occurred on July 31, when a State Security agent who identified himself only as “Elio” arrived at the workplace of Yaimaris Vecino’s father. Vecino is the spouse of Cardet Concepcion. “Elio” told Yaimaris’ father to ask his daughter to leave the MCL or else her husband would return to prison.

This is not the first time that Cuban authorities have taken actions against Vecino. In the past, including the months that Cardet Concepcion was in prison, she was cited and interrogated on various occasions by State Security agents, who have even come to the clinic where she works to interrogate her there.

The second act of repression occurred on Sunday, around 1pm, when two officials from the Political Police came to the home of Yordan Marino Fernandez, Coordinator of the MCL for Holguín and Las Tunas, and Vecino’s cousin. The police forced him to report urgently to the police station in Velasco, the town where he lives. Once there, the activist was interrogated by two State Security agents, who threatened to charge him with a common crime.

According to the report, the agents told Marino Fernandez that they were not going to allow any member of the MCL to leave the country and that they would economically suffocate the organization until it disappeared. They also threatened to fine Marino Fernandez’s spouse and threatened their son. Before allowing him to leave the station, the agents ordered Marino Fernandez to stop his involvement with the MCL and not to support Eduardo Cardet Concepcion, or else both would go to prison.

The threats against Yaimaris Vecino and Marino Fernandez are especially worrisome because they are very similar to the threats that State Security agents made against Eduardo Cardet Concepcion before he was brutally attacked and convicted of a crime he did not commit in November 2016. The National Coordinator of the MCL served a three-year sentence. He served the majority of his sentence in prison in inhumane conditions and was stabbed by other inmates. He was placed under conditional liberty in May 2019, which he was subjected to until October 2019.

The MCL was founded in 1988 and despite their belief in peaceful change, they have been one of the most persecuted organizations by the Cuban state and its security forces. Of the 75 political prisoners during the Black Spring in 2003, 17 were members of the MCL. On July 22, 2012, their founder, Oswaldo Paya, died under unexplained circumstances after his car was hit by a State Security vehicle.

Race and Equality expresses its concern for the security of Yaimaris Vecino, Yordan Marino Fernandez, and all other members of the MCL, and urges the Cuban state to stop harassing them and to allow them to carry out their work as a political party. We also urge the international community to monitor the situation of MCL members and to demand respect and protection for the rights to freedom of expression and assembly on the island.

IACHR grants Race and Equality’s request for precautionary measures for Cuban political prisoner Silverio Portal Contreras

Washington, D.C.  July 23, 2020.- The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) is pleased that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted our request for precautionary measures for Silverio Portal Contreras. The request was submitted on June 5, 2020 and was granted this Wednesday. Portal Contreras is in a situation of grave risk and the Cuban government should follow the IACHR’s recommendations to take measures necessary to protect his life and personal integrity.

Silverio Portal Contreras is a Cuban political prisoner who was arrested in July 2018 while participating in a public protest. He is an independent activist who has supported various movements in Cuba, including the Ladies in White and the Opposition Movement for a New Republic. While in prison, his health has suffered significantly. He has suffered from thrombosis and consecutive ischemic attacks and transient ischemic attacks (TIA) that have left him partially paralyzed and with reduced eyesight because he did not receive adequate treatment for the conditions. His eyesight is also affected by a cardiac condition and because he was beaten in prison by prison authorities.

In a resolution in October 2019 denying Portal Contreras medical parole, the Provincial Tribunal of Havana recognized that Portal Contreras suffers from health conditions that put his health and life at risk, such as hypertension, ischemic cardiovascular disease, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia, and that he therefore requires “specialized follow-up to maintain his illnesses.” However, the judges decided that his state of health is “compatible with the penitentiary regime.”

Race and Equality filed for precautionary measures on Portal Contreras’ behalf after his wife, Lucinda Gonzalez Gomez, informed us that she had stopped receiving her scheduled telephone calls with Portal Contreras after he reported experiencing another TIA. Gonzalez Gomez also received several calls from other prisoners reporting that Portal Contreras had been severely beaten by prison authorities and placed in an isolation cell. The prisoners also told her that Portal Contreras was losing his eyesight because of the beating and lack of medical attention. At the time the precautionary measure request was submitted at the beginning of June, Gonzalez Gomez had had no communication with her husband for several weeks and feared for his life.

In the resolution granting the precautionary measures, the IACHR recognized the extreme situation of risk Portal Contreras is in, noting the “special severity” of the allegations given that the perpetrators are the same state authorities responsible for his care as a prisoner. The IACHR also noted the damaging and permanent effects the failure of the State to provide Portal Contreras with medical care can have, given his condition. The context faced by human rights defenders in Cuba was also a significant factor, which the IACHR described as being “characterized generally by a climate of hostility, persecution, and harassment, particularly with respect to those who have manifested opposition to the government.”

Although the granting of precautionary measures is an important step in drawing international attention to Portal Contreras’ case, he is still very much at risk. Prison authorities continue to deny Portal Contreras the medical care he needs. On Wednesday, Gonzalez Gomez received a call from her husband informing her that he is not receiving the medication he needs for a heart condition, and as a result is losing sight in both eyes. The prison doctor denies that Portal Contreras has a heart condition.

Race and Equality calls on the Cuban government to implement the recommendations the IACHR made in the resolution granting precautionary measures to Portal Contreras, including conducting an investigation to avoid repetition of similar events. Race and Equality is open for dialogue with the Cuban government to help implement these measures. We also urge the international community to follow Portal Contreras’ case and pressure the Cuban government to provide him with the medical care he needs and to release him from prison.

Read the Resolution (in Spanish) here.

“In Santiago, I spent 100 days in an isolation cell”: The story of Lisandra Rivera, victim of State repression in Cuba

Lisandra Rivera first learned about Cuba’s opposition groups when she was 25 years old, living in her hometown of Santiago de Cuba. One Sunday in August 2013, she was at the beach with her friends when she saw a group of women dressed all in white protesting in the middle of the street. The young women stopped to watch the protesters and ask them about their group, the famed Damas de Blanco. They also watched the police put down the protest.

Before long, Lisandra and her mother joined the Damas. “We went to mass with the Damas every Sunday to demand freedom for political prisoners and for the people of Cuba. We carried out activities for children and brought aid to elderly and sick people,” says Lisandra, now 32 years old.

Later that year, Lisandra also became part of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU). Through her involvement with UNPACU, she met Yordanis Chávez, another activist who today is her husband.

A Family Affair

Lisandra comes from a family of activists. Her parents were not part of an organized opposition group, but they were unafraid to criticize Cuba’s political system. In the mid-1990s, both of her parents were arrested and prosecuted. Her father was sentenced to seven and a half years of prison, while her mother received three and a half years of house arrest. “I was four or five years old,” Lisandra remembers, “I didn’t understand what was happening.”

Today, Lisandra’s family continues to face the risks of human rights activism in Cuba. “My mother was pushed out of a guagua [an open-air bus] that she was riding, my husband had teeth knocked out in prison and I had a miscarriage in 2014 after a beating by the police,” she told Race and Equality.

Detention

On February 10, 2016, Lisandra witnessed inspectors and police officers beating her uncle and confiscating the merchandise he was selling at his business.

“I came up and started to ask what was going on. I told them they could not detain anyone arbitrarily, much less beat people. They turned on me and started to mistreat me, but the people around us supported me, so the police chief sent another officer who detained me,” remembers Lisandra.

Lisandra was brought to Santiago’s Police Station No. 3 and held for nine days before being released with a fine. She did not encounter the authorities again until seven months later, in December.

On December 18, says Lisandra, “they came to my house at 5:30am, they detained my husband and my mother. They went and got other neighbors to serve as witnesses while they searched my house. They confiscated a few things and after two or three hours, they detained me.” That day was a Sunday, when Lisandra, her mother and other activists had planned to take part in the Todos Marchamos (We All March) campaign. Lisandra’s relatives were released, but she remained in custody.

On January 17, 2017, Lisandra was put on trial for ‘assault,’ supposedly for striking a police officer during the February 2016 incident. During her trial, she was not allowed to present witnesses; the judge threw out the testimonies of her husband and her cousin who had witnessed the events. The prosecutor, however, presented two police officers who had not even been present during the incident as witnesses. Lisandra was sentenced to two years of deprivation of liberty.

Prison

After her sentence, Lisandra initially spent eleven months in the Santiago de Cuba women’s prison. She spent the remainder of her sentence in a high-security prison in Camagüey.

“In Santiago, I spent 100 days in an isolation cell,” says Lisandra, who was sent there as punishment for refusing to take part in political education or stand at attention before prison officials.

In describing the conditions of Cuban prisons, Lisandra says, “There are never medicines, there are never doctors, the conditions of the cells are horrible, the beds are just slabs, there’s no running water and there’s no lighting. There’s just one little bulb for the entire cell. The security staff are particularly hard on those who are in prison for political reasons. In Camagüey the beds were broken, and there was no running water or lighting.”

Being forced to sleep on a cold, solid block without a mattress caused Lisandra to develop arthritis. Although her family tried to send her medicine, vitamin supplements and extra food, prison officials refused to give them to her. Lisandra did not receive any medical attention until she fell ill with laryngitis.

Today

Lisandra remembers that the day she returned home from prison, “the whole neighborhood” was waiting for her. The next day, she returned to UNPACU’s national office, located in Santiago. Her activism went on a brief but happy hiatus, as she became pregnant soon after. Today, due to her pregnancy and the COVID-19 pandemic, she continues her work “publishing on social media to denounce [abuses].” “I’ve always been tough,” she affirms.

The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights celebrates that the Cuban activist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola will be able to address the plenary of the United Nations Human Rights Council and clarifies assistance offered in Geneva

Washington D.C., June 26, 2020 – The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights (Race and Equality) is happy to hear that today, June 26, the Cuban scientist and activist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola has ended his hunger and thirst strike after reaching an agreement that allows him to speak against the Cuban government during the plenary session of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations. However, with respect to the article published by Cubanet on June 26, we would like to reaffirm and clarify the following points:

  • Race and Equality is firmly committed to the defense and protection of the human rights of Cubans.
  • We applaud that Ruiz Urquiola will be able to present his information to the plenary of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, alleging that the Cuban Government infected him with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
  • Our legal advisor in Geneva, Tania Agosti, approached Ruiz Urquiola and his supporters with the sole purpose of concern for his state of health due to the hunger and thirst strike he had maintained since Monday, June 22 outside of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights of the United Nations. Agosti did so with the full institutional backing of Race and Equality.
  • At no time did Agosti pressure Ruiz Urquiola to convince him to end his hunger and thirst strike.
  • Geneva social services was the entity that came to examine Ruiz Urquiola’s state of health, after Swiss authorities informed him they have an obligation to attend to and report on his mental and physical health.
  • We regret the article published by Cubanet on its website and social media that accused our colleague of pressuring Ruiz Urquiola to end his hunger and thirst strike. Similar information was also published on the website and Facebook page of Cubanos por el Mundo. The articles were published before seeking our comment on the matter.
  • We note that Race and Equality’s team is always available to provide statements to the media to express our position regarding human rights violations and to clarify our position as necessary.

Race and Equality enthusiastically supports Tania Agosti’s work towards the protection and defense of human rights. She is a dedicated and committed professional and we are fortunate to have her on our team. Agosti and Race and Equality’s staff approached Ruiz Urquiola with the genuine interest of providing him with support.

As an organization, we reiterate our commitment to the defense and promotion of the rights of Cuban civil society activists and organizations. We will continue to provide support and technical assistance to denounce human rights violations and demand justice before organizations such as the United Nations and the Inter-American System of Human Rights.

“It hurts so much to think about when I was there”: Jacqueline Heredia’s story – former political prisoner of the Cuban State

Women deprived of liberty in Cuba are subjected to inhumane treatment and violations of their basic human rights in prison. Jacqueline Heredia is living proof of this abuse. Her story also reveals the particular violence faced by two of Cuba’s most vulnerable groups: opositores [members of political opposition groups] and people living with HIV.

Jacqueline, 40, is an activist who spent 16 months in San José prison, located on the outskirts of Havana. San José houses both male and female prisoners with HIV. “[The prison] is tough, and it never receives any attention. The treatment there is discriminatory, the guards and doctors treat the inmates as if they had the plague,” she says.

Despite being housed in a prison specifically for those with HIV, Jacqueline never received anti-retroviral medications while she was incarcerated. She was denied access to a healthful diet, attacked by other prisoners and denied her right to phone calls or family visits. She remembers living in an overcrowded cell with poor ventilation, saying, “it hurts so much to think about when I was there.”

 Activism

Jacqueline has been a member of the National Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) for the past six years and of the Damas de Blanco for the past five. In that time, she has been a regular attendee at protests, demanding freedom for political prisoners and denouncing human rights violations.

“I decided to become an opositora because of the many injustices that occur in Cuba. I saw so many leaders living well while the people were poor and repressed,” comments Jacqueline, who experienced first-hand the exclusion and violence that comes with such beliefs.

When Jacqueline was six years old, her father Ulises Heredia Yovi was killed by police in their home. Although he did not belong to an opposition group, Ulises had always spoken publicly about his beliefs. “That’s how it was when you thought differently, even more so in those days [the mid-1980s],” Jacqueline recounts.

Jacqueline, her mother and her brother went through difficult times after her father’s death, sometimes without enough money even to eat. Jacqueline did not have the means to study for a degree and began to work at a young age to help support the family.

Based on her experiences, Jacqueline believes that Cubans should have the rights to work, to basic sustenance and to “live in peace.” These beliefs led her to join UNPACU and the Damas, but these activities have led to repression. She has been detained for 24 to 48 hours on various occasions and was once beaten with hoses by police officers.

Detention

On April 15, 2016, Jacqueline experienced a whole new side of Cuba’s repressive apparatus.

That morning, Jacqueline was in Fraternidad Park with three Damas de Blanco (Xiomara Cruz, Marieta Martinez and Yunet Cairo). Several agents of the State Security forces detained them, brought them in for processing, and sent them to El Vivac detainee processing center, where they were held for 17 days.

While the other three women would eventually be sent to El Guatao prison, Jacqueline was sent to San José due to her HIV status.

A year after her arrest, in May 2017, Cuban authorities finally summoned Jacqueline to the Central Havana Tribunal, where they accused her of “contempt” and “assault” against the police officers. In June, Jacqueline and her three companions went on trial in the San José Tribunal, where they were sentenced to three years.

Some months after being sentenced, Jacqueline fell ill, but prison authorities refused to provide her with medical attention. She was put in a cell with people suffering from tuberculosis, which she soon contracted as well. Jacqueline began to receive medical treatment, but her condition deteriorated so quickly that she was sent home on furlough.

“I was dying in prison. They sent me home, as if I was going home to die, but God willed that I recover, and I spent the rest of my sentence on house arrest,” says Jacqueline, who finished her sentence in April 2019.

 Today

Since then, Jacqueline has been detained “countless times.” “They detain me at opposition activities, on the street corner, in the park, wherever and whenever they want to give me a hard time. It can be any day, any time,” she says. Most recently, she was arrested just before Mothers’ Day.

Jacqueline’s two children, aged 9 and 12, struggle to understand her situation. Carlos Alberto Alvares, their father and Jacqueline’s husband, is also a member of UNPACU and has been arrested several times. Their children have grown to fear the police, says Jacqueline, especially after an incident in which they were detained along with her.

Reflecting on her children’s situation, Jacqueline says, “It’s torturous for the children, and even worse because they don’t understand what’s going on…their mother is detained even if she hasn’t committed a crime, just because she thinks differently.”

“No place is more cruel and devastating than the prisons in Cuba”: Yolanda Carmenate’s story – former political prisoner of the Cuban state

Yolanda Carmenate has spent 30 years as a political activist, professed religious believer, and human rights defender in Cuba. For those same 30 years, she has been harassed, mistreated and persecuted countless times by Cuban authorities. When asked about the details, the 63-year old activist replies that there are “too many incidents to specify the exact dates.”

But the numerous press reports, judicial records, and fines in Yolanda’s name are all souvenirs of her persecution. Currently, Yolanda, a native of Las Tunas province, is a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and promotes the campaign “Cuba Decides” (CubaDecide), which seeks greater democratic participation for Cuban citizens, especially through voting and election reforms. She is also a parishioner of San Jerónimo Catholic Church. In retaliation for her activism, she has been put on trial and convicted twice. She now lives under constant threats from the authorities to detain her again.

Yolanda is a trained accountant, but she has had to forgo her career in the public sector now that she is labeled as “not politically trustworthy.” “What motivates me to be a member of the opposition,” she says, “is my unwillingness to accept the [Cuban] system, which labels those who think and act differently as inferior.”

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First Detention

In 2006, after being unable to find work, Yolanda started her own business selling handicrafts at a stand. Although Yolanda was one of the first women to open a legal private business, officials would consistently assign her the stalls furthest away from the plaza center – a tactic to hurt her sales and keep her away from central tourist spots, where foreigners would occasionally ask her about the situation in Cuba. “My opposition to the system made it inconvenient for them to have me where the tourists are,” she says.

In April 2016, Yolanda and several other self-employed workers organized a protest in front of the Communist Party offices in Las Tunas, denouncing the authorities’ decision to remove business stands from a major boulevard and from the main plaza. After the protest, Yolanda was visited by an undercover state inspector, who reported her to the police.

“They took me by force and shoves to the Police Station,” says Yolanda. “They put me in a cell with two men and they didn’t give me anything to eat, not even water.” She was released during the night, but seven months later, she was charged with the crimes of “incitement to commit a crime,” and “contempt.”

In a rigged trial that did not allow her to present a defense, Yolanda was sentenced to 2 years and 6 months in prison for “inciting crime” and “contempt.” Her prison time was replaced with “limitation of liberty” – a house arrest order requiring her to check in at the Tribunal periodically. However, she refused to comply. She appealed the sentence, but the motion was swiftly rejected.

Second Detention

Despite being subjected to a house arrest order and unable to protest publically, Yolanda found a way to continue calling for human rights. In March 2018, she hung flyers in her windows reading “Down with the Castro brothers,” “Up with UNPACU” and “Long live human rights.” She soon began to receive death threats. One of her neighbors even broke into her house to tear down the flyers. The same night, the police detained her and brought her to La Veguita women’s prison. Her “limitation of liberty” was removed and she was sentenced to 14 months in prison.

According to Yolanda, “there is nothing more cruel and devastating than prisons in Cuba.” She describes her experience:

“They confiscated my eyeglasses, even though I’m dependent on them. I wasn’t allowed to have any reading or writing materials. I was kept in a cell apart from the rest of the inmates. When it rained, there would be just as much water coming through the ceiling of my cell as there was outside. The toilet was just a hole in the floor; before long I began to have digestion and bowel problems. The bed was just a hard platform with blankets. There were all kinds of pests: frogs, cockroaches, spiders, they were all over you when you tried to sleep. I thought I would go insane in there. There was very little medical attention for inmates and no medicines. The food was insufficient and unhealthy, and the water was unsafe. There was sewage all around, the whole place was overcrowded, and the heat and mosquitos were awful.”

After serving her sentence, Yolanda finally left the prison in May 2019.

 Yolanda’s son

 In August 2019, Yolanda and her son, Cristian Pérez Carmenate, set out for two different protests. Both events were attacked by state forces. Security forces arrested Yolanda violently, leaving her with serious muscle pains. Cristian was arrested with such force that his right arm, where he has a tattoo that says “UNPACU,” was broken. Both Yolanda and Cristian were detained; Cristian was denied medical attention for ten days in detention. A month later, complications from this delay forced him to be transferred to a hospital and undergo extensive surgery, where rods were inserted into his arm.

“While Cristian was in the prison he could barely even walk, he had to use crutches to get around, and when he was finally given conditional release (in January 2020), they brought him out in a wheelchair. Today, he can’t even get out of bed,” says Yolanda, who is now the only source of support for her 42-year-old son.

With Cuba in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, Yolanda and Cristian are confined to their house, limiting the medical attention that Cristian can receive. Cristian does not have a primary care provider and has not been able to obtain the operation he needs to remove the rods in his arm. He is suffering severe swelling and pain.

Furthermore, Yolanda recently received notice of another fine, proving that Cuban authorities continue to pursue her. She is clear, however, that she will continue her efforts to denounce the systematic abuses that she and countless other Cubans have suffered.

 “My son was forced to leave the country because of my activism”: The story of  Leonor Reyno Borges, a Cuban activist, victim of the Cuban state.

As a member of the independent civil society group Laura Pollán: Su Legado (Legacy of Laura Pollán), 55-year-old Leonor Reyno Borges had suffered years of abuse, harassment, and violence from Cuban authorities. But nothing she suffered as an activist could compare to having to say good-bye to her son. As a result of Cuba’s socioeconomic struggles and climate of repression, Leonor says, “hundreds of thousands of Cuban mothers live with the pain of separating from their children and not knowing when they will be able to hold them again, because so many have had to emigrate and flee to different parts of the world.”

Leonor’s son, today 34 years old, had been targeted by police as a result of his mother’s activism. Police officers would come to his workplace, question him about his mother’s “counterrevolutionary” activities, and detain him arbitrarily. The pressure against him worsened until he decided to emigrate, leaving Leonor to reflect on how the Cuban State’s actions resulted in the separation of her family and many others.

19 years of activism

 When Leonor looks back on the beginnings of her activism, she remembers the events of the Balsero (“Rafter”) Exodus of 1994, when many Cubans left the island on small boats and homemade rafts. She was working at the Hotel Nacional when she learned of the infamous sinking of the tugboat 13 de Marzo, in which 37 Cubans attempting to leave the island died. Eyewitnesses reported that Cuban ships may have been responsible for the sinking and for refusing to rescue some of the victims.

Leonor discussed the tragedy with a fellow worker and union member at the hotel, who defended the State’s actions. Leonor replied, “if you consider yourself a revolutionary and can say such things, I don’t want to be a revolutionary, because that would make me a killer.” Not long after, Leonor was fired from the hotel without explanation.

In 2000, Leonor began to join various opposition groups and human rights organizations. In 2007, she joined the Damas de Blanco, led at the time by Laura Pollán. She protested outside churches demanding the release of political prisoners, organized supply drives for prisoners’ families, and educated her community about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Universal Human Rights System.

Leonor also became an active member of the February 24th movement and the Nationalist Women of Cuba, both under the leadership of the Cuban Nationalist Party. As part of these groups, she participated in countless protests in order to, in her own words, “give the people a message of freedom, demand free elections, call for recognition of human rights and denounce unconstitutional abuses.”

Detention and conviction

 With these protests came countless death threats, detentions, and nights in prison. “I was spending more time in cells than in my house,” Leonor remembers.

Most of the time, she was held for 12 to 72 hours before being released. That pattern ended on December 5, 2017, when Leonor and Rosario Morales organized a protest to speak out against security officials who were extorting street vendors, threatening to falsify charges that the vendors were selling without licenses. The two women led chants of “Down with corruption, up with human rights” and “Free the political prisoners.” Officers violently forced them into police cars and detained them.

The two activists were first sent to El Vivac Detainee Processing Center. After going on hunger strike for 12 days, they were let go without medical care; only the help of kind strangers allowed them to return home late that night.

Leonor was not called before a judge until 15 months later, on October 23, 2019, when she was summoned to the Havana Eastern Tribunal. She was tried quickly and convicted of “illicit economic activities,” “contempt” and “disobedience.” The charges carried a sentence of three years in prison; Leonor’s prison time was substituted for Correctional Labor. “I wasn’t allowed to present witnesses, I had to defend myself the best I could, three police officers all told lies against me, they were like robots all saying the exact same things,” Leonor remembers.

Leonor requested an appeal trial, as was her right under Cuban law. However, the Tribunal refused to allow her a fair hearing. Correctional authorities assigned Leonor, a licensed accountant, to work cleaning floors. Leonor had already been unable to find a job in accounting since she became a noted activist, as employers are afraid that they will face reprisals from State Security if they hire her.

Leonor told Race & Equality, “They warned me that if I didn’t carry out the work that they gave me, I would be sent to prison.”

Today

Today, Leonor spends her days at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She had received a notice requiring her to begin her Correctional Labor at the end of February, but her sentence was postponed by the quarantine measures that were announced a few days later.

“If we stop our activism and lower our profile, State Security is going to roll over us like a steamroller. We will never stop, the pandemic has just put us on hold,” Leonor says. “I decided to defend my community and although it has cost me years of my life, and even if it costs me my life, I will continue raising my voice for human rights in Cuba.”

Cuban Political Prisoner Silverio Portal Contreras Facing Extreme Health Risks

Washington, D.C. May 18, 2020. The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights demands the Cuban government produce information on the situation of Silverio Portal Contreras, a political prisoner in the 1580 Prison in San Miguel de Padron, Havana. Lucinda Gonzalez Gomez, Mr. Portal Contreras’ spouse, has not heard from Mr. Portal Contreras since April 23 and fears for his life. Mr. Portal Contreras is an independent activist who has supported various movements in Cuba, including the Ladies in White and the Opposition Movement for a New Republic (MONR).

Mr. Portal Contreras has been deprived of his liberty since July 2018, serving a four-year prison sentence for public disorder and contempt. He was arrested after participating in a protest against the Cuban government’s failure to address the collapsing of buildings in disrepair, where he shouted, “down with Fidel Castro, down with Raúl,” contributing to the “contempt” charge, which criminalizes insults of public officials. Mr. Portal Contreras has been declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.

While in prison, Mr. Portal Contreras’ health has suffered greatly. He is 56 years old. Early in his prison sentence, he collapsed from a seizure after not receiving medical attention despite asking for it for four hours. It was later discovered that he had a blood clot. Since then, he has had many ischemic strokes and transient ischemic attacks (TIA), resulting in partial paralysis of the left side of his body.

Mr. Portal Contreras requested medical parole, which is permitted under the Cuban Penal Code under certain circumstances. Despite recognizing that Mr. Portal Contreras suffers from a number of serious health conditions, including ischemic cerebrovascular disease, the Provincial Tribunal of Havana found that his “current state of health is compatible with the penitentiary regime,” noting that he requires “specialized follow-up to maintain his illnesses.” Ms. Gonzalez Gomez has also filed an appeal of Mr. Portal Contreras’ conviction with the Supreme Tribunal but has yet to receive a response. Requests to transfer him to a labor camp and to release him on conditional liberty have also been denied, according to Ms. Gonzalez Gomez.

On April 23, 2020, Mr. Portal Contreras suffered another TIA. Ms. Gonzalez Gomez was able to speak on the telephone with him that day and noted that he had extreme difficulty speaking. She believes that he needs urgent medical attention, however, she has not been able to talk to him since that day and fears for his life. She received a telephone call from another prisoner on May 12, 2020, who informed her that Mr. Portal Contreras was alive, but has no further information about his condition. Considering his delicate state of health, he faces extreme risk if he were to contract COVID-19 while in prison.

On May 13, 2020, a State Security Official came to Ms. Gonzalez Gomez’ home to pick up food and medicine that she normally would deliver herself to Mr. Portal Contreras, but cannot do so now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The official told her Mr. Portal Contreras would call her the following day. However, the expected telephone call never came, causing Ms. Gonzalez Gomez to fear that he has suffered another health crisis or is being denied access to telephone calls.

According to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules), “the provision of health care for prisoners is a State responsibility. Prisoners should enjoy the same standards of health care that are available in the community and should have access to necessary health-care services free of charge without discrimination on the grounds of their legal status. Furthermore, “prisoners shall be allowed…to communicate with their family and friends at regular intervals.”

Race and Equality is extremely concerned for the health and well-being of Silverio Portal Contreras and calls on the Cuban State to release information about his current state, as well as provide him with medical care and allow him to resume communication with his spouse as required by the Nelson Mandela Rules. Mr. Portal Contreras is a political prisoner who is being deprived of liberty in violation of Cuba’s international human rights obligations. Race and Equality asks the international community to monitor the situation of Mr. Portal Contreras and to urge respect and protection for the human rights of all political prisoners.

No more silence: Reclaiming our voice on the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

Washington D.C., May 17. This May 17 marks 30 years since the World Health Organization (WHO) declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder, a global milestone that accelerated progress in the recognition of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI). On this date, we commemorate the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, a day to draw attention to the violence and discrimination that LGBTI people still suffer in our societies.

This year the promoted theme is “breaking the silence,” inviting people from the LGBTI community to no longer be afraid to express their sexual orientation or gender identity to their family or to others in their social circles. The commemoration this year is also framed within a global health crisis generated by COVID-19, which has intensified structural discrimination and evidenced the prejudices that persist in our society.

Historically, the LGBTI population has been stigmatized by a heteronormative society that has not allowed their participation in public spaces. The commemoration of this day is vital to bring to light all the acts of discrimination that endure in our societies and to denounce violence against people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.

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“To break the silence is to give a voice to those who have had theirs silenced by stigma, discrimination, social exclusion, and the constant violations of rights that remain in impunity because of States’ lack of political will. To break the silence is to shout with evidence a truth that our States, in most cases, do not want to show or do not take into account. Breaking the silence is saying we are, we exist, and we have rights.”

The fight for equality and justice is a daily job for many people.  It is not just about commemorating this day, but rather it is a fight that persists throughout every day of the year.

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Santiago Balvín Gutiérrez, explains to us the importance of being able to raise his voice as a trans person: “Breaking the silence has enabled my body to speak, my insides to speak, and my experiences speak. They do not remain silent because my life, and the lives of my trans sisters and brothers, do not deserve to be silence because they are different. Breaking the silence means to me that every feeling of oppression is also broken and seeks freedom for everyone, the same freedom that I began to feel when I chose to be myself.”

In recent weeks, we have witnessed latent and structural discrimination in the implementation of public policies by States and their institutions in response to COVID-19 that have exacerbated inequalities. The absence of public policies with a gender focus and the lack of training and awareness of public authorities has reproduced patterns of violence and acts of discrimination against LGBTI people. In many cases, the social distancing policies adopted by States did not consider the poverty, marginalization, and violence that people with diverse sexual orientations and gender identity face on a daily basis. By failing to do so, they exposed this group to harm.

The enactment of “pico y género” in different countries caused serious human rights violations, especially for the trans population. Their vulnerability is on the rise, as they face not only abuse of power by law enforcement, but also unemployment and domestic violence. Many have had to post pone name change trials, postponing a necessary step to protecting their gender identity, and others lack access to medical centers to receive hormone treatment or other medical necessities due to the pandemic.

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Today more than ever, it is necessary to take differentiated and specific actions for the LGBTI population, with forceful strategies to stop cases of abuse and systematic human rights violations of all diverse people. Franklin Quiñones, from the Fundación Arcoíris de Tumaco, believes that breaking the silence implies “making visible and / or denouncing any act of discrimination and / or violence against people with diverse sexual orientations such as the LGBTI population,” which can be achieved “by supporting us in the use of all existing legal human rights protection and communication tools.”

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Likewise, Sandra Arizabaleta, from the organization Somos Identidad in Cali in Colombia, explains that: “it is urgent to break the silence so that we use all community and legal mechanisms in order to enable the free development of the lives of LGBTI people. You can (and should) love beyond a role assignment and genitality.”

The violation of the fundamental rights of LGBTI people is heightened when the effects are combined with other scenarios and realities of the same or worse condition.

The violation of the fundamental rights of LGBTI people is heightened when the effects are combined with other scenarios and realities of the same or worse condition.

LGBTI people who are also members of other marginalized populations experience a different form of discrimination and rights violations. Examples of this are people of African descent with diverse gender identities and expressions who live with extreme violence, without support from the State, in poverty, and without access to basic health services, education, and employment. “Regions such as the Colombian Pacific, where a greater number of Afro-descendants live, are far from being protected with measures that use an intersectional approach,” adds Sandra of Somos Identidad.

The health crisis caused by COVID-19 has shown that despite advances in human rights for the LGBTI population, there are still great gaps and challenges that can only be overcome with the political action of States to guarantee human rights with a differential focus. “In times of crisis, it becomes clear who are leaders and who are not, and bad leadership will tend to exacerbate difficulties for the most vulnerable populations,” says Carlos Quesada, Executive Director of Race and Equality.

“For thousands of people around the world, breaking the silence often means remaining silent. Shouts occur when small gestures can go unnoticed, simple looks demand light or even a weak voice hesitates to echo in certain spaces. To be heard, sometimes we need to be vigilant because there is no point in breaking the silence if there is no one to listen to us, if there are no spaces with sharp ears to capture sounds, but rather gestures, looks. The power to break the silence is only effective when there is the power to listen. Otherwise, we will spend a lifetime wanting to have ‘meaning’,” explains Mariah Rafaela, Research Coordinator at the Conexão G Group of LGBT Citizenship in Favelas in Brazil.

Race and Equality, along with the LGBTI civil society organizations with which we work, urges Latin American States to:

– Take measures to prevent violence, with a differentiated perspective that considers the historical discrimination suffered by Afro-LGBI and trans people.

– Open a dialogue for monitoring the context of violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity together with civil society.

– Provide trainings to State officials on these issues.

– Include LGBTI people in emergency health planning. LGBTI representatives and voices need to be included, as well as sex workers, in all social protection plans, especially in access to emergency income.

Finally, it is an obligation of States to join us in breaking the silence against discrimination, violence, and indifference through affirmative actions that guarantee the recognition of the rights of LGBTI people.

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