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Special Report on the Situation of Freedom of Expression in Cuba

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Special Report on the Situation of Freedom of Expression in Cuba OEA/SER.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.21/18 31 December 2018 Original: Spanish SPECIAL REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CUBA Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Edison Lanza Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression 2018 OAS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS. OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. SPECIAL REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CUBA. V. ; CM. (OAS. OFFICIAL RECORDS ; OEA/SER.L/V/II) ISBN 978-0-8270-6837-7 1. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION--CUBA. 2. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION--CUBA. I. LANZA, EDISON. II. TITLE. III. SERIES. OEA/SER.L/V/II CIDH/RELE/INF.21/18 INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS Members Margarette May Macaulay Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño Francisco José Eguiguren Praeli Luis Ernesto Vargas Silva Joel Hernández García Antonia Urrejola Flávia Piovesan Executive Secretary Paulo Abrão Assistant Executive Secretary for Monitoring, Promotion and Technical Cooperation Maria Claudia Pulido Chief of Staff of the Executive Secretary of the IACHR Marisol Blanchard Vera SPECIAL REPORT ON THE SITUATION OF FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IN CUBA TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................11 A. Background and purpose of the report ..........................................................................................11 B. International legal framework ............................................................................................................15 C. Methodology and structure of the Report .....................................................................................17 CHAPTER I - REGULATORY FRAMEWORK ..............................................................................................21 A. 1976 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba ...................................................................................21 i. Prior censorship of freedom of expression by subjecting it to the aims of a socialist society ...............................................................................................................................................22 ii. State or social ownership of the media .....................................................................................23 iii. Potential criminalization of the exercise of freedom of expression ..............................24 iv. Constitutional reform.........................................................................................................................25 B. Legal provisions that punish legitimate speech ..........................................................................27 C. Provisions on the right of access to information ........................................................................30 CHAPTER II - FREE AND INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM IN CUBA ..................................................35 A. Public media................................................................................................................................................35 B. Impossibility of establishing private media..................................................................................38 C. Persecution of independent journalists .........................................................................................41 i. Requirement of affiliation to practice journalism ................................................................42 ii. Threats, summonses, and interrogations for intimidating purposes ..........................44 iii. Unlawful and/or arbitrary detentions .......................................................................................46 iv. Searches and seizures of journalistic equipment or other assets ..................................49 v. Dismissals and loss of authorizations to practice a profession or carry out economic activities ........................................................................................................................................50 vi. Pressures and threats to families, social environment, and defamatory practices 51 vii. Barriers to departure and other arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement ..... ......................................................................................................................................................................53 CHAPTER III - CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL CRITICISM AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST DIFFERENT POPULATION GROUPS ........................................................................................59 A. Attacks, threats, and intimidation .....................................................................................................59 i. Artists .......................................................................................................................................................59 ii. Human rights defenders .................................................................................................................. 62 iii. Political dissidents…………………………………………………………………………………………67 B. Arrests ........................................................................................................................................................... 69 C. Criminal proceedings and convictions ........................................................................................... 75 Considerations on criminal law provisions .......................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER IV - SOCIAL PROTESTS AND DEMONSTRATIONS .......................................................... 89 CHAPTER V - LIMITATIONS ON THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION ON THE INTERNET ................................................................................................................................................................... 97 A. Regulating the use of web-based networks and communication ....................................... 98 B. Connectivity and universal access ................................................................................................. 103 C. Content blocking and censorship ................................................................................................... 107 D. Surveillance ............................................................................................................................................. 110 CHAPTER VI - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................ 117 A. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................. 117 B. Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 118 Regulatory framework .............................................................................................................................. 118 Free and independent journalism in Cuba ......................................................................................... 119 Criminalization of criticism and politically motivated discrimination against different population groups ....................................................................................................................................... 119 Social protests and demonstrations ..................................................................................................... 120 Limitations on the right to freedom of expression on the Internet .......................................... 120 INTRODUCTION Introduction| 11 INTRODUCTION A. Background and purpose of the report 1. For more than half a century, Cuba has been a State governed by a single party that obstructs all avenues of political dissent. The State severely restricts the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, freedom of movement, and due process. For decades the Cuban State has organized the institutional machinery to silence voices outside the regime, and to repress independent journalists, as well as artists or citizens who try to organize themselves to articulate their demands; in all that time the State has maintained a monopoly over the media. As the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereinafter, “IACHR”) and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (hereinafter, “Office of the Special Rapporteur”) have noted, open debate on ideas and on central aspects of national life has been suppressed. 2. As the Inter-American Commission has pointed out, this is presented in a context of serious disregard for the essential elements of representative democracy and its institutions. Historically, the IACHR has been critical of the absence of conditions that would allow genuine political participation by sectors with diverse lines of thought in Cuba; in particular, the holding of elections lacking plurality and independence, with insurmountable obstacles that prevent free access to multiple sources of information. The voice of opposition to the government, in its attempts to express itself and participate in the conduct of the country’s affairs, ends up being suppressed in the presence of a single party, the prohibition against association for political purposes, and arbitrary restrictions on freedom of expression and the right of assembly, among other fundamental
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