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Cuba 50Years AFTER Revolution : Total Failure

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Cuba 50Years AFTER Revolution : Total Failure CUBA 50YEARS AFTER REVOLUTION : TOTAL FAILURE CUBA 50YEARS AftER REVOLUTION: TOTAL FAILURE Cuba 50 year s af ter the Revolution: Total Failure INTRODUCTION January 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the revolution that sought to transform Cuba. Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement ousted the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in order to build “a more democratic, more prosperous, more independent and more just nation.” Since that time, Cuban society has changed profoundly. Today, the regime that has governed Cuba for half a century has replaced the authoritarian Batista government with a totalitarian one: a single-party communist system in which the State controls the economy, anyone who thinks differently is repressed and the autonomy of civil society is severely limited. This time the celebrations will be hosted by Raúl Castro, who was confirmed Head of State and chief minister on February 24th, after his brother’s illness in July 2006. Some analysts hoped that, given the pragmatism of the youngest Castro brother and the disastrous situation of the country when he took office, his appointment would usher in a time of economic change that was much needed in Cuban society. But how can we speak of change in Cuba when there political prisoners are still being held in custody? How can we speak of change when no one has sought to transform a single aspect of the country’s civil and political rights? While the Revolution’s 50th anniversary is a good time to take stock of the results of that event, reliable information for doing so is difficult to obtain. This document seeks to take an accurate, objective look at those results. The conclusions - - drawn herein were based on studies published in journals with editorial review boards and studies conducted by renowned institutions. Article of the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba (992 and 2002) affirms that: “Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state of workers, organized with all and for the good of all as a united and democratic republic, for the enjoyment of political freedom, social justice, individual and collective well-being and human solidarity.” The following analysis compares these ideals of political freedom, social justice, and individual and collective well being established in the Revolution itself, with the reality of life in Cuba today. - 2 - Cuba 50 year s af ter the Revolution: Total Failure I. POLitiCAL FREEdoM The tactics used to Political freedom does not exist in Cuba today. A totalitarian impose the regime’s dictatorship has been installed, with a State that controls mandates include everything and a very weak civil society. The Cuban government threats by police, has eradicated or neutralized institutions that played a crucial criminal prosecution, role in democratic transitions in Eastern Europe. In addition surveillance, arrests, to wiping out the opposition, from the start Castro’s model travel restrictions and covered up the repression of his detractors under the notion of loss of employment for “popular revolutionary responses.” To control Cuban society, political causes he installed a network of government-aligned organizations (Human Right Watch, from the national to the municipal level, organizations that are February 18, 2008). accountable to the highest echelons of the Communist Party. For close to five decades Cuba has restricted virtually all forms of political opposition. Cuban citizens have seen their basic rights systematically eroded, including freedom of expression, privacy, association, movement and due process. The tactics used to impose the regime’s mandates include threats by police, criminal prosecution, surveillance, arrests, travel restrictions and loss of employment for political causes (Human Right Watch, February 8, 2008). Amnesty International has expressed deep concern about recent “acts of repudiation” in which pro-Government groups insult, intimidate and sometimes even physically assault those they consider to be “counterrevolutionary.”2 These acts are often carried out in collaboration with official security forces, and on some occasions with the participation of Revolutionary Defense Committees or Rapid Response Brigades (Amnesty International, March 7, 2006). - - Since the Cuban communist regime took power, thousands of people have been executed and thousands more arbitrarily tried and summarily judged without access to proper legal counsel, as the country has no independent justice system or Rule of Law. Cuba has the world’s highest rate of imprisonment for political crime. According to Freedom House (2000-200), thousands of political prisoners are in custody in Cuban prisons, most of them housed in cells alongside dangerous criminals, convicted of vague crimes such as “dissemination of enemy propaganda” or “peligrosidad” (danger to society). There are reliable reports of dissidents being tortured in prisons and psychiatric institutions, where many of those arrested in recent years are now housed. Cuba also leads the Western hemisphere in capital punishment rates, along with Iran and the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the “Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation,” 5,000-6,000 people have been condemned to death since 959, despite the fact that in recent years the use of the death penalty has dropped substantially. A de facto moratorium operated from 2000 to 200, when it was set aside (Ravsberg, 2004). According to the “Truth and Memory Project,” there have been approximately 4,08 executions, ,292 unofficial assassinations, ,29 balseros (raft people) found dead or disappeared and, according to the Miami Herald (2/04/06) 13,40 Cubans killed in international missions, mostly during 5 years of war in Ethiopia and Angola. What the Castro brothers are leaving is a legacy of blood and injustice. - 4 - Cuba 50 year s af ter the Revolution: Total Failure Cuba also leads the Though the Batista regime was authoritarian and came into Western hemisphere power through a violent coup, there was still enough freedom in capital punishment at that time for more than 20 publications to be in circulation, rates, along with Iran for political opposition parties to exist, for independent, and the Democratic non-government controlled radio and television stations to Republic of Congo. broadcast programs, and for citizens to enter and leave the According to the country freely (Rojas, 2008). “Cuban Commission on Human Rights Fifty years later, Cuba is a different country. As the Freedom and National House report (2008) indicates, Cuba has become the largest Reconciliation,” 5,000- prison for journalists in the region and the only country on the 6,000 people have continent that expressly prohibits freedom of the press. been condemned to death since 1959, According to the Annual Survey of Press Freedom published by despite the fact that in Freedom House, Venezuela and Cuba are the only countries in recent years the use of Latin America “without freedom of the press,” rating lower than the death penalty has Irak for this parameter (Table Nº). dropped substantially. The only form of free expression not repressed in Cuba is that of the Communist Party. A short time after Castro’s rise to power, all mass media outlets were confiscated and placed at the service of the Party and the Government. Radio, television, newspapers, magazines and cinemas were given the sole function of disseminating communist ideology. Cubans are also banned from watching foreign television shows and listening to shortwave radio. To access the Internet, own a fax machine or a computer, Cubans must have a “valid reason” and sign a users’ agreement with provisions that restrict their use of these media. Citizens must also provide suitable reasons to obtain permission to install a telephone. - 5 - Cuba’s Constitutions recognizes citizens’ legal right to profess and practice any religion. However, the Government has placed both legal and practical restrictions on freedom of religion. Table Nº 1 frEEdoM of THE prESS in LAtinAMEriCA 2007 – 2008 2007 2008 Country Rating Status Rating Status Costa Rica 20 L 9 L Chile 0 L 0 L Uruguay 0 PL 0 L Bolivia 7 PL 9 PL Rep. Dominicana 40 PL 9 PL Brazil 42 PL 42 PL Perú 42 PL 44 PL Ecuador 4 PL 4 PL El Salvador 42 PL 42 PL Panamá 4 PL 44 PL Nicaragua 42 PL 4 PL Argentina 49 PL 47 PL México 48 PL 5 PL Honduras 5 PL 5 PL Paraguay 60 PL 60 PL Guatemala 59 PL 58 PL Colombia 57 PL 59 PL Haití 59 PL 56 PL Venezuela 74 PL 74 PL Cuba 96 NL 94 NL Source: Freedom House - 6 - Cuba 50 year s af ter the Revolution: Total Failure In general, religious groups that are not registered continue to experience varying degrees of interference, harassment and repression through official channels. The Government has continued its policy of allowing apolitical religious activities only in locations authorized by the Government itself. In Cuba political rights do not exist. The Communist Party is the only party allowed and it has a monopoly on all political activities on the island, assisted by the so-called “mass organizations.” Citizens are practically forced to belong to one or more of these political organizations or resign themselves to being passed over for jobs, educational opportunities and even access to consumer goods (Martel, 2005). There are no free elections in Cuba. Indeed, all forms of political organization other than the official party are prohibited (Freedom House, 200-2002). Dissidents are therefore not allowed, which explains the high rate of political prisoners –including among these 48 young people who were convicted for seeking signatures supporting a referendum, 2 journalists convicted for writing articles against the regime, and 8 librarians for lending banned books (Montaner, 2007). According to the Freedom in the World index, Cuba is the only Latin American country classified as “not free” (NF). This index is estimated by analyzing the same group of political rights and civil liberties in all countries.
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