A look back at addressing the UN Human Rights Council

The adoption of the Universal Periodic Review outcome on Cuba by the members of the UN Human Rights Council today presents an opportunity to focus on human rights challenges in Cuba, and some of the actions taken by activists over the years. There are currently over 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba, and at least another 38 were detained following nonviolent protests on March 17, 2024.

The situation in Cuba has worsened, but the repression is familiar.

The last time I addressed the UN Human Rights Council was in 2018 during the same session Sirley Ávila León spoke about the machete attack she suffered in Cuba in 2015, and the cycle of repression by the political police that led to that act of extreme violence.

My first foray into the international human rights body was in 2003 when it was called the UN Human Rights Commission. It was a baptism by fire in the immediate aftermath of nationwide crackdown on Cuban human rights defenders, independent journalists, and Project Varela petitioners by the communist dictatorship in Cuba. On two occasions during that session addressed what was taking place. This is a summary of second statement.

... "More than 100 human rights activists had suffered searches, arrests and expedited trials in Cuba.  Many had already been condemned to sentences of up to 26 years in prison for defending civil and political rights in the country.  On 7 April 2003, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet was tried without due process and today was facing up to 25 years in prison for defending human rights in Cuba.  In Cuban prisons, political prisoners were denied medical assistance as a form of punishment for upholding their ideas.  Highly dangerous criminals were used by State Security to attack imprisoned activities, as was the case of Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, a young activist whose jaw was broken in three parts, and who was severely beaten on three more occasions before being taken to the hospital."

Seven years earlier in 1996, Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, one of the deans of the Cuban human rights movement, addressed the UN Human Rights Commission shortly after his release from a Cuban prison. This is a short excerpt of that statement.

My name is Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, and I am the Vice-president of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization founded in Cuba in 1976 to observe the respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the island.

On the 15 of January 1992 I was arrested in my home by the Cuban political police; the second time in ten years. On October of that year I was sentenced to 4 years and eight months in prison for the sole crime of reporting to this Commission the violations of human rights committed by the government of my country. The labor of those volunteers of this Commission inside of Cuba are considered by the government as "enemy propaganda."

I will not enter into the details concerning the multiple irregularities of the judicial process always against me, nor about the conditions that I had to tolerate for more than three years. I will refer solely to one aspect of this my last experience in Cuban prisons.

When I was arrested in January of 1992, I enjoyed excellent general health for a man my age, 60 years then. I weighed around 170 pounds, and ran 5 to 6 kilometers every morning. Eight months later, when after a campaign of denunciations of my family I was transferred finally to a military hospital, I'd lost over 30 pounds and suffered from multiple ailments. 

He passed away on December 22, 1997 due to the lack of medical treatment, and poor prison conditions he endured in Cuba.

During my second visit in 2004 to the UN Human Rights Commission loaded down with posters, fliers, and reports entering and exiting was not a problem until a Falun Gong member handed me a flier for a parallel event they were holding in the same building in a room facing the session. A short time later I tried to go through the security screening to enter the UN Human Rights Commission session and was told I could not enter with the Falun Gong event flier. I had pounds of paper and posters criticizing a number of governments including the dictatorship in Cuba - those were "OK" but not the Falun Gong flier. I asked for the guards supervisor who repeated to tell me to choose: either leave the flier and enter or hang on to it and stay out.

The following day at the Falun Gong meeting in a room filled with human rights activists around the world to listen to the atrocities committed against this Chinese minority I learned that many others had experienced the same outrage but had remained silent not wanting to rock the boat. This led me to ask - isn't your job as a human rights activist precisely to challenge injustice?

Cuban dissidents who resisted the communist dictatorship in Cuba, and suffered greatly have traveled to Geneva over the years to denounce the crimes committed against them, and the Cuban populace more broadly. There are many more, but these are a few sampled to reflect the many.

Blanca Gonzalez, a Lady in White, addressed the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2005 on the plight of her son Normando Hernandez.

Former prisoner of conscience Omar Pernet Hernández, with his niece, Bertha Antúnez testified in a side event at the UN Human Rights Council in 2009.

Question: Will Russia's removal from the UN Human Rights Council begin a moral renewal of the international body? Answer: Yes, if Cuba is next.

 The UN Human Rights Council failure is a symptom of wider rot in the United Nations, and in Western Democracies more broadly.

The UN Human Rights system's mechanisms have failed to provide an accurate assessment of the dismal human rights situation in Cuba.  Nor is there any mention of the Cuban government's involvement in gross and systematic human rights violations in Venezuela and Nicaragua. The final outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba was discussed and adopted on September 20, 2018 at the 39th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Cuban human rights defender Sirley Avila Leon, a victim of repression, on September 24, 2018 addressed the UN Human Rights Council four days later on what agents of the Cuban government had done to her.

“On May 24, 2015 living in Cuba I suffered an attack orchestrated by agents of the state, I was attacked with a machete to kill me cutting off my left hand and right shoulder while I covered my head with them, then cut my knees leaving me disabled for life, This was not the first attack I suffered, I was previously attacked several times, physically and verbally by the political police in Cuba: they burned my bed, I suffered arbitrary arrests, death threats, economic damages.  Only for demanding better living conditions for the peasants and their children in a rural area of ​​Las Tunas. My case is not isolated. In Cuba, the state continues to violate the human rights of Cubans, murders, imprisons and banishes those who demand rights and repress their families. To save my life, in 2016 I escaped from Cuba, since then my son, Yoerlis Peña Avila, has been threatened with death and repressed on several occasions. At this moment I fear for his life.”

UN experts continued to whitewash and cover up the humanitarian disaster unfolding in Venezuela.  On February 28, 2019 UN Watch's Hillel Neuer exposed the right to food expert's cover up of the famine in Venezuela.

VIDEO: Today when I asked @UN_HRC "right to food" expert @HilalElver (chosen by the Castro regime) why she ignores the plight of millions of hungry #Venezuela families, she said "there are two sides of this conflict..."@KenRoth, will you condemn this ex-@HRW board member?

1/2 pic.twitter.com/gGOZdmcl6F

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) February 28, 2019

In  the 1930s in Ukraine "journalist" Walter Duranty helped to cover up the deaths of millions in a famine manufactured by Josef Stalin's regime. That UN Human Rights experts are helping to cover up a famine in Venezuela in the present gave warning to future developments, and the failure of this institution.

Did these outrages change anything the next time Venezuela or Cuba were to be voted onto the UN Human Rights Council in 2019 and 2020 respectively? The short answer is no, but the longer response is even more devastating.

China, Cuba, and Russia elected to the UNHRC in 2020. Venezuela was already a member

In 2020, Cuba got 170 votes out of 192 possible.Twenty two countries did not vote in favor of the Castro regime, but there are 27 member countries of the European Union. One can also count the United States among the votes against. This means that most probably [at least] six members of the European Union voted in favor of the Castro regime," and that runs counter to the shared values of the European Union which include ‘respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.’ Those democracies that voted for a 63 year old communist dictatorship that systematically violates human rights and seeks to undermine international human rights standards, did not live up to those principles.

In addition to Cuba, China and Russia were also elected to the UN Human Rights Council in 2020, and Venezuela had already been a member for a year having been easily re-elected to the Council in 2019.  

On April 7, 2022 the Russian Federation was expelled from the UN Human Rights Council by a full vote of the UN General Assembly. “Today should be a turning point. EU states and others that often defend the election of gross abusers as somehow a good thing have now effectively abandoned that position in favor of a principled approach, more consistent with the rights council’s own membership criteria,” said Hillel Neuer, of UNWatch, who had campaigned for years for Russia's removal.

The next time that Cuba will be subjected to a universal periodic review is in 2023. The last examination did not reflect the human rights situation on the island. The Cuban government corrupted and abused the process turning it into a circus. Havana had flooded the compilation of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with front groups celebrating the dictatorship's "human rights achievements" and drowning out the reports by legitimate NGOs. 

Hopefully, the expulsion of Russia will mark a new chapter for the UN Human Rights Council and a time for reflection. “The 158 UN member states who two years ago voted to make Putin a world judge on human rights—and the others who stood by silently—should ask forgiveness from the Ukrainian men, women and children who are now paying the price of Russia’s brutal invasion of their country, in Bucha and elsewhere,” said Neuer.

Now is the time to clean up the dysfunctional UN Human Rights Council, and remove the worse human rights abusers, so that it can carry out its duties at this critical time. This would also symbolize a moral renewal of the United Nations to face the critical challenges to peace that are unfolding on the world stage today.

Vladimir Putin's Russia was first, let the communist dictatorship of Cuba be next to be voted off the UN Human Rights Council. May Cuba's 2023 Universal Periodic Review hold the dictatorship accountable for the atrocities committed between 2018 and 2022.

Remembering the Black Cuban Spring, the failure of the UN Human Rights Council, and the legacy today

 Remembering the Black Cuban Spring, the long winter, and the future spring

2003 - 2021 Spring will return

Eighteen years ago on March 18, 2003 a crackdown began in Cuba on the eve of the United States going to war in Iraq. Scores of Cuban dissidents were rounded up and subjected to political show trials. 75 were condemned to lengthy prison terms of up to 28 years in prison. This became known as the Black Cuban Spring. 

 

The majority of the imprisoned activists had participated in the Varela Project, a petition drive that called for a referendum under the terms of the Cuban Constitution on whether there should be more freedom of expression, an amnesty for political prisoners and a chance for ordinary citizens to own small businesses. 11,020 signatures had been turned in 10 months earlier on May 10, 2002. 

 

The regime responded with its own mandatory petition drive to make the Cuban Constitution unchangeable. 

 
The Economist in its December 14, 2005 issue published a conversation with Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas titled "An unsilenced voice for change" that outlined what had taken place:

Between 2001 and 2004, Mr Payá's movement gathered 25,000 signatures in a vain attempt to persuade Cuba's National Assembly to change the constitution to allow multi-party democracy. Activists of his Christian Liberation Movement made up more than two-thirds of the 75 dissidents and journalists rounded up and jailed for long terms in April 2003. [...] Spain is “complaisant” with Mr Castro's regime, Mr Payá says. “We need a campaign of support and solidarity with peaceful change in Cuba” of the kind that brought an end to apartheid in South Africa and to the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile.

It took over eight years, but the last of the group of the 75 were eventually released. Oswaldo was murdered along with the Christian Liberation Movement's youth leader Harold Cepero on July 22, 2012. His successor Eduardo Cardet was a prisoner of conscience from November 30, 2016 through September 3, 2019. He was jailed for giving a frank assessment of Fidel Castro's legacy following his death on November 25, 2016.

11,020 Varela Project signatures turned in on May 20, 2002

On April 2, 2003 three young black men were arrested, tried and executed by firing squad nine days later on April 11, 2003 for trying to flee the island in a hijacked ferry, in which no one had been physically harmed. This drew worldwide condemnation at the time, and became known as Cuba's Black Spring, but it did not prevent the end of the mandate for monitoring human rights violations in Cuba in a backroom deal for the establishment of the UN Human Rights Council on March 15, 2006.

Fifteen years ago the United Nations Human Rights Council was founded on a small moral compromise that sacrificed human rights oversight in Belarus and Cuba in what U.N. officials called the dawn of a new era. Special rapporteurs with mandates to specifically monitor the human rights situation in those two countries were formally gotten rid of in 2007 and a code of conduct established that undermined the independence of all special rapporteurs.

Ending oversight of Belarus and Cuba not only left the victims of these dictatorships exposed to more repression, with impunity by their oppressors, but emboldened these dictatorships not only to worsen their practices at home but to undermine human rights abroad. Worse yet, both would be elected to serve on the UN Human Rights Council with other outlaw regimes.

These failings have real world consequences.

UN Human Rights Council member 🇨🇺 Cuba gives speech justifying genocide by UN Human Rights Council member 🇨🇳 China. On behalf of 64 countries.

We urged 🇪🇺 European Union & member states to oppose the election of China & Cuba to the UNHRC. They did nothing. This is the result. pic.twitter.com/y4ktdGH3nJ

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 12, 2021

Cuba led the charge to back up China's new security law for Hong Kong that strips citizens of Hong Kong of their human rights last year. On July 1, 2020 the Cuban dictatorship introduced a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council praising China for passing the Hong Kong National Security Law, also known as the 66 article law. 53 governments backed this resolution, endorsing the death of a free Hong Kong. Official Chinese media "celebrated" their victory at the human rights body. Belarus has also continued to back the new security law at international forums.

In spite of Cuba's terrible human rights record at home, and leading the charge to back China stripping Hong Kongers of their rights the Castro regime was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council on October 12, 2020 with 170 out of a possible 192 votes at the General Assembly.

This did not improve Havana's behavior.

"Cuba, speaking on behalf of 64 countries including China [on March 12, 2021], said Xinjiang is 'an inseparable part of China' and urged states to 'stop interfering in China’s internal affairs by manipulating Xinjiang-related issues, (and) refrain from making unfounded allegations against China out of political motivations'." These countries led by the Castro regime are defending an ongoing genocide. 

Over the past 15 years the world has entered a long winter when it comes to human rights.

Spring will return to Cuba, but the struggle continues today in 2021 and the failures of solidarity by the international community with free Cuban is having a negative impact on human rights globally as the Castro regime backs the end of a free Hong Kong, and defends genocide in Xinjiang.

How many EU members voted for the Castro regime despite its unsuitableness for the UN Human Rights Council?

A majority of the world's democracies failed to defend human rights today. A sad day.

 The Center for a Free Cuba sent out the following 2020 Human Rights Briefing on Cuba to dozens of democratic missions to the UN in New York City yesterday and asked them to speak out on Cuba's unsuitableness for the UN Human Rights Council and to abstain from voting for Cuba. "We are disappointed that only 22 countries voted against another dictatorship hostile to human rights joining the Council. Placing the Castro regime on the United Nations Human Rights Council is the equivalent of placing Jack the Ripper on the committee to end knife violence in London. It not only makes a mockery out of this important human rights body, but places on it a regime that seeks to actively subvert it." said John Suarez, Executive Director of the Center for a Free Cuba. "This is why we requested that democratic governments speak out on Cuba's human rights record, and abstain from voting for the Castro dictatorship," added Mr. Suarez.

Today, 51% of U.N. Human Rights Council members FAIL to meet the minimal standards of a free democracy.

Thanks to today's election of China, Russia, Cuba, Pakistan & Uzbekistan, that figure will rise to a staggering 60% beginning on January 1, 2021.

Have a nice day. https://t.co/CmNSwnRd7s pic.twitter.com/LIik4XAop2

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 13, 2020

"Cuba got 170 votes out of 192 possible.Twenty two countries did not vote in favor of the Castro regime, but there are 27 member countries of the European Union. One can also count the United States among the votes against. This means that most probably [at least] six members of the European Union voted in favor of the Castro regime," and that runs counter to the shared values of the European Union which include ‘respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights.’ Those nations that voted for a 61 year old communist dictatorship that systematically violates human rights and seeks to undermine international human rights standards, did not live up to those principles," said Mr. Suarez.

Below is the text that was sent out yesterday.

2020 Human Rights Briefing on Cuba: Petition to Democracies to speak out on Cuba's unsuitableness for the UN Human Rights Council

On October 13, 2020 the United Nations General Assembly will be voting on membership to the Human Rights Council in Geneva. There are three openings and three candidates for Latin America, and one of them is Cuba. The human rights record of the regime in Havana is actively hostile to the stated agenda of the UN Human Rights Council that claims to be "responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights around the globe." In addition to Cuba, candidates for this election cycle in other geographical regions include China, Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The failure of the UN Human Rights Council to hold competitive elections and hold candidates to account for their respective records is compounded by the world's democracies, through these elections for the UN Human Rights Council , legitimizing dictatorships with their votes. This is why the Geneva based NGO UN Watch is proposing to scrap elections to the Council "altogether, and make every country a member, as is the case in the General Assembly’s human rights committee."

The vote this time comes in the aftermath of a crackdown in Cuba on Saturday, October 10th that is a historic day to celebrate an uprising for freedom in 1868 against Spanish colonial rule. This year around the island and the world Cubans and the Cuba diaspora sought to observe the day with a call for freedom. In Cuba this meant, preventive arrests, homes surrounded by regime mobs to prevent dissidents from exiting their residence, and abuse by police of nonviolent activists. 

The past few months have been deadly. Cuban dissident Yosvany Arostegui Armenteros died on August 7, 2020 in Cuba while in police custody following a 40 day hunger strike. He had been jailed on false charges in the Kilo 8 prison of Camagüey. His body was quickly cremated by the dictatorship. On June 24, 2020 in Guanabacoa, Cuba an unarmed 27 year old Black Cuban, Hansel E. Hernández was shot in the back and killed by the police, and Cubans that wanted to protest his death were prevented from doing so by regime agents. The human rights group Cubalex identified 17 Cubans detained by the political police and CubaDecide reported 20 arbitrary detentions and 41 registered incidents.

Reporting on human rights violations in Cuba is a dangerous practice as highlighted by independent journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa in his column in The Washington Post on October 5, 2020.

Below is a human rights briefing, made up of summaries of various recent human rights reports on Cuba, that outlines why the regime in Havana should not be on the UN Human Rights Council.  We are requesting that democratic governments speak out on Cuba's human rights record, and abstain from voting  for the Castro dictatorship.

 

Amnesty International Human Rights in the Americas. Review of 2019 – Cuba

February 27, 2020

A year after President Díaz-Canel took office, the authorities continued to employ long-standing mechanisms of control to silence critical voices. The Cuban authorities continued to arbitrarily detain and imprison independent artists and journalists, and members of the political opposition. During the year, Amnesty International named six people prisoners of conscience, representing only a fraction of those likely to be detained solely because of the peaceful expression of their opinions or beliefs. The island remained mostly closed to independent human rights monitors.

[Full Report]

https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/amr01/1353/2020/en/

Freedom House Freedom in the World 2020: Cuba 

March 4, 2020  

Overview

Cuba is a one-party communist state that outlaws political pluralism, bans independent media, suppresses dissent, and severely restricts basic civil liberties. The government continues to dominate the economy despite recent reforms that permit some private-sector activity. The regime’s undemocratic character has not changed despite a generational transition in political leadership between 2018 and 2019 that included the introduction of a new constitution.

Key Developments in 2019

●     A new constitution was approved in a February national referendum that included a historic number of abstentions and “no” votes. The charter maintained the one-party state and socialist management of the economy, but contained some modest changes, including the recognition of private property.

●     Miguel Díaz-Canel, who had served as president of the Council of Ministers and head of Council of State since April 2018, took on the newly created post of president of the Republic in October. In December, he appointed Manuel Marrero as Cuba’s prime minister. Raúl Castro, who left the presidency in 2018 after two five-year terms, continues on as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) until 2021.

●     New laws approved during the year legalized electronic surveillance and banned citizens from hosting web content on foreign servers, effectively placing all independent digital media outlets in greater legal jeopardy.

●     Cubans took advantage of the availability of third-generation (3G) mobile data service to criticize government policies and confront ministers via social media, using popular hashtags linked to periodic public protests, including ones demanding lower internet prices and calls to abstain from voting or vote against the new constitution.

[ Full Report ]

https://freedomhouse.org/country/cuba/freedom-world/2020

Committee to Protect Journalists

CPJ calls on Cuban security forces to stop threatening Washington Post columnist Abraham Jiménez Enoa

October 6, 2020 

By Committee to Protect Journalists

Miami, October 6, 2020—Cuban authorities must immediately cease harassing and threatening journalist Abraham Jiménez Enoa, and allow him and all journalists in the country to work freely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On October 2, state security agents dressed as civilians strip-searched and handcuffed Jiménez and transported him to their headquarters, where he was interrogated for close to five hours and threatened, before letting him go, according to local news reports, and to Jiménez, who spoke with CPJ via phone yesterday. That day, Jiménez had presented himself before a police station in Havana, after being summoned the day before, he told CPJ. Jiménez posted a copy of the summons on his Twitter account.

Jiménez, a freelance journalist who is one of the co-founders of the Cuban online literary journalism magazine El Estornudo, has a monthly column in the Spanish edition of The Washington Post and in regional news magazine Gatopardo, where he mostly writes about life in Cuba. During the interrogation, the agents specifically warned Jiménez that he would face retaliation in the form of legal proceedings and actions against his relatives if he continued to publish in The Washington Post, he told CPJ. 

“They told me that if I publish in The Washington Post they will prosecute me for usurpation of functions, because the outlet is not accredited in Cuba, that they will start a war against my family and my relatives, that all this was because behind me is the United States government, ” Jiménez wrote the day of his interrogation on his Twitter account.

[ Full Report]

https://cpj.org/2020/10/cpj-calls-on-cuban-security-forces-to-stop-threatening-washington-post-columnist-abraham-jimenez-enoa/

Civil Rights Defenders  Cuban Doctors Abroad at Risk of Human Rights Violations

April 24, 2020

During the last couple of months, the Cuban government has sent more than one thousand medical professionals to approximately 20 countries around the world, in order to participate in the fight against the coronavirus. Cuba has sent medical staff abroad for decades. In November 2019, two UN Rapporteurs expressed concern over the working and living conditions for the Cuban medical staff abroad. Civil Rights Defenders now fears the pandemic will lead to an increased number of Cuban medics suffering from these human rights violations.

Cuba has been sending medical staff abroad for decades, both in order to participate in international efforts such as the campaign against the Ebola virus, and to retrieve funds for the government. In November 2019, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Urmila Bhoola, and the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro, sent a worrying letter to the Cuban government regarding the export of medical staff.

The two rapporteurs expressed their concern over the working and living conditions for Cuban medics abroad. One of their main concerns relates to the health care professionals’ working hours, which were up to over 64 hours per week, potentially representing labour exploitation. They also highlight the pressure being put on the medics, including threats of reprisals such as prison sentences for doctors who refuse to fulfill some of their mission. In addition, they report that the Cuban government is “freezing” a part of the wages which doctors can only access once they return to the country, and in many cases medics do not even receive the full payment.

The rapporteurs also state that “Working conditions reported could be understood as forced labor, according to the forced labor indicators established by the International Labor Organization (ILO). Forced labor is a modern-day form of slavery.”

“We are very concerned by the reports from the UN Special Rapporteurs about the working conditions for the Cuban medical staff abroad, and by the fact that the Cuban government has not replied to their letter. It is therefore particularly important that the countries receiving or employing Cuban medical staff ensure that their rights are guaranteed and protected,” says Erik Jennische, Director for the Latin America Department at Civil Rights Defenders.

https://crd.org/2020/04/24/cuban-doctors-abroad-at-risk-of-human-rights-violations/

Center for a Free Cuba Human Rights in Cuba: Beyond the Veneer of Reform

July 11, 2019

Excerpt from Testimony of John Suarez, Executive Director, Center for a Free Cuba Hearing on “Human Rights in Cuba: Beyond the Veneer of Reform” U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security, and Trade July 11, 2019

Past is prologue

To understand the human rights situation in Cuba, one must understand what came before. Cuba had regular competitive elections, and between 1944 and 1952 presidents who respected human rights and civil liberties. This was reflected in the role Cuban diplomats played in 1948 in pushing for regional and international human rights covenants. All of this came crashing down with Fulgencio Batista’s military coup in 1952. 

The Castro brothers promised to restore democracy, while imposing a communist dictatorship in 1959. 

In May 1961 they confiscated private schools and most seminaries to eliminate religion. In September 1961, the Castro regime at gun point collected 131 priests, brothers and a bishop, placing them on board the Spanish ship Covadonga and deported them from Cuba.

Today, the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA), an arm of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, still oversees religious affairs in Cuba, and exists to monitor, hinder and restrict religious activities. 

Sixty years later, Fidel Castro is gone, but his brother Raul remains along with the communist regime.

The non-transition

What is called reform in Cuba has been a fraud for the dynastic succession of the Castro family. Raul Castro remains in control of the government as head of the Communist Party.  His son, Alejandro Castro Espín, a colonel in the Ministry of the Interior presided over the Cuban side in the secret negotiations to normalize relations during the previous Administration. 

In 2018 Raul Castro presided over the revision of the current constitution that was subjected to a referendum on February 24, 2019.

On February 24th Cubans were called to the polls to ratify a new constitution that despite cosmetic changes, enshrines the principles of the existing one-party political system. Basic conditions for free and fair elections were not fulfilled, independent observers were not allowed, and numerous voting irregularities were reported.

This is the third time during the communist era that the constitution was changed.

The Communist Party remains the only legal political party. The maximum authority in the regime resides with the head of the Cuban Communist Party.

The late dissident leader Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas called this fraudulent change.  There have been no improvements that alter the nature of the Cuban regime. It is a one-party communist dictatorship run by the Castros.

[ Full Statement]

https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2019/7/11/cubabrief-video-and-testimony-from-congressional-hearing-on-human-rights-in-cuba-beyond-the-veneer-of-reform

Question for Democracies in the international community of nations: Will you speak out tomorrow?

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph.” - Haile Selassie I, Address in Addis Ababa (1963)

Dictatorships in China, Russia, Cuba and Saudi Arabia, that systematically violate human rights, and undermine international human rights standards will be elected to the UN Human Rights Council tomorrow. Will democracies speak out at the United Nations General Assembly during the vote on October 13th against their election? 

 

The Castro Regime's role in legitimizing Communist China ending Hong Kong's autonomy

The Castro regime stabbed Hong Kong in the back on July 1st, but it should surprise no one.
 

Cuba diplomat introduces 53-country pro-CCP resolution at UN Human Rights Council 

On July 1, 2020 the Cuban dictatorship introduced a  resolution at the UN Human Rights Council praising China for the passing of the Hong Kong National Security Law.  Fifty three governments backed this resolution endorsing the death of a free Hong Kong.

The Chinese Communist Party in a secretive legislative process circumvented Hong Kong's sovereignty and imposed this new law a day earlier on June 30, 2020, the 23rd anniversary of the British handover of Hong Kong. This action is a breach of the agreement made with the British.  Professor Johannes Chan, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong in a BBC news report explained that "effectively, they are imposing the People's Republic of China's criminal system onto the Hong Kong common law system, leaving them with complete discretion to decide who should fall into which system." Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, in an interview with the BBC put it more succinctly, "It spells the death knell for Hong Kong."

However, this is consistent with Cuba's actions on the UN Human Rights Council over the years when they have been members. Below is a partial accounting of their defense of Communist China and its atrocities: 

The Castro regime was one of the few voices applauding the June 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre in China congratulating them for "defeating the counterrevolutionary acts." 

On February 2, 2009 during the Universal Periodic Review of China the Cuban Ambassador, Juan Antonio Fernandez Palacios encouraged the Chinese regime to repress human rights defenders in China with more firmness. 

On March 21, 2014 at the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Castro dictatorship again applauded the human rights record of the People's Republic of China, and voted to block the effort of human rights defenders to hold a moment of silence for Cao Shunli. She was an activist who had tried to participate in China’s Universal Periodic Review, but was detained at the airport trying to get on a flight to attend the current session  and accused of "picking quarrels and provoking troubles." Within three months in detention and being denied medical care Cao Shunli died on March 14, 2014.

The Castro regime has had a relationship with China that stretches back to 1959 and saw a close relationship in the first years of Cuba's Communist revolution, but cooled with the Sino-Chinese split in 1966. Ernesto "Che" Guevara left Cuba siding with Mao Zedong and Communist China, while Fidel and Raul Castro backed the Soviet Union. Relations between the Castro regime and Communist China warmed again with the cooling of relations between Cuba and the Soviet Union during the Gorbachev years.  Cuba's defense of the Tinananmen Square massacre in 1989 was a key step to this new era of China-Cuba relations. Below is a presentation from earlier this year that explores this relationship in more detail.

However, the Cuban dictatorship's attack on human rights standards crosses ideological and geographical boundaries that extend far beyond China.

In the 1970s in addition to supporting guerrillas and terrorists the Castro regime also began an unusual relationship with the military dictatorship in Argentina helping to block efforts to condemn it at the United Nations Human Rights Commission for thousands of leftists disappeared by the regime. 

On April 15, 2004 when the United Nations Human Rights Commission decided by a single vote to censure Cuba for its human rights record a Cuban human rights defender Frank Calzon was physically attacked by members of the Cuban diplomatic delegation. According to Freedom House: "Witnesses said a Cuban delegate punched Mr. Calzon, knocking him unconscious. UN guards reportedly protected him from further assault by additional members of the Cuban delegation."

On March 28, 2008 the Castro regime’s delegation together with the Organization of Islamic Congress (OIC) successfully passed resolutions undermining international freedom of expression standards at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The non-invitation invitation of Manfred Nowak, the UN special rapporteur on torture, by the Cuban Ambassador and the Cuban Minister of Justice in January of 2009 to visit Cuba later that same year. Only to be put off without notice again and again through 2009 and 2010 leading to this expert missing opportunities to visit other countries and on June 9, 2010, making the following statement:

“I regret that in spite of its clear invitation, the Government of Cuba has not allowed me to objectively assess the situation of torture and ill-treatment in the country by collecting first-hand evidence from all available sources.”

On May 28, 2009 amidst a human rights crisis in Sri Lanka the Cuban government's diplomats took the lead and successfully blocked efforts to address the wholesale slaughter there.

On August 23, 2011 the Cuban government along with China, Russia and Ecuador voted against investigating gross and systematic human rights violations in Syria.

On February 5, 2012 ALBA Countries reiterated rejection of "foreign interference" in Syria's internal affairs, expressing support for President Bashar al-Assad and confidence that he would resolve the Syrian crisis. ALBA Countries include Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. Meanwhile in Syria President al-Assad  engaged in massacres throughout the country

On June 1, 2012 at a Special Session on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria with a special focus on the massacre in El-Houleh the Cuban regime and its allies took a stand against holding the Assad regime accountable for its gross and systematic human rights abuses.

On July 15, 2013: “Panama captured North Korean-flagged ship from Cuba with undeclared military cargo.”  On March 6, 2014 the United Nations released a report indicating that the Castro regime was in violation of international sanctions placed on North Korea and had not cooperated with the investigation.

On March 17, 2014 the UN Human Rights Council “was divided” in its discussion of the atrocities in North Korea between those who want the case to be elevated to the International Criminal Court and those who reject outright the existence of a commission of inquiry and conclusions. The Castro regime vigorously defended the North Korean regime and denounced the inquiry.

On March 28, 2014 at the United Nations Human Rights Council a resolution for “The promotion and protection of human rights in the context of peaceful protests, tried to safeguard this right” passed but with the narrow defeat of amendments that would have watered it down led by South Africa with the backing of Algeria, Belarus, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Out of that list of countries the one with the closest relationship with South Africa is Cuba.  

Prior to the Castro regime there had been a democratic order that instead of undermining international human rights standards, championed them and played an important role in the drafting of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Castro regime seeks to return to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2021-2023 term and their application is a mockery of the process and full of falsehoods.  Cuba, under the Castros' has spun the yarn that they are the David to the United States' Goliath, but the reality is that they are the villain both on the international stage and domestically terrorizing and exploiting their own populace.

If there is a country that best fits the definition of a David then it is Taiwan that for the past 70 years has faced off against the Goliath of Communist China.  Betrayed by the Democratic West, they have managed to not only survive and endure, but thrive building a free society with rising living standards, and competent governance that is the envy of the world.

If the international order were one based in freedom and human rights then Taiwan would be on the United Nations Human Rights Council and the Castro regime would be banned from this international human rights organization.


 

Democracy and Human Rights in Crisis: Lessons from the UN General Assembly and Forum 2000

"Each time the West made the wrong decision of support [for] what they call stability, instead of supporting the peoples right to be free they end up with the situation as the one we are facing today in our hemisphere, Latin America." - Rosa María Payá, Opening Panel of Forum 2000

Challenges and opportunities for Cuban democrats at the UN General Assembly and Forum 2000

Source: CubaBrief

There is an international crisis that finds both human rights and democracy in retreat around the globe. The roots of this crisis are found externally, with the rise of communist China as a great power, and internally with a crisis of values in established democracies.

On October 17th at the United Nations the 193-member General Assembly, elected Brazil and Venezuela to the region’s two vacant spots. Brazil obtained 153 votes, followed by Venezuela with 105 votes both beating Costa Rica, that obtained only 96 votes. The two countries will each serve three-year terms on the UN Human Rights Council beginning January 1, 2020. Costa Rica has the best human rights records of the three candidates, but did not garner enough votes to get elected.

The Washington Post reported on the consequences of this vote and quoted U.N. director at Human Rights Watch, Louis Charbonneau, who observed that “with the seat, Venezuela will try to undermine scrutiny of its abuses and the abuses of its allies,” and that in "votes on some issues can be close, so we don’t need countries like Venezuela who try to undermine the good work.” This vote is an insult to international human rights standards.

Meanwhile in Cuba, U.S. economic sanctions are impacting the Castro regime and forcing it to open up the economy to obtain more hard currency for the dictatorship. The prices of household appliances and other items have been lowered, but Cubans will have to purchase them in dollars.This is part of an effort to limit US economic leverage. The United States has tightened sanctions over the Cuban dictatorship to push for the Castro regime to end its bad actions in Venezuela. Paradoxically it is forcing the regime to open up economically to its own population.

Oved Lobel, a policy analyst at the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, outlined the Cuban role in Venezuela in his June 6, 2019 article "What are Russia, Iran and Cuba doing in Venezuela?" in the publication The Strategist.

"Amid the continuing political, economic and humanitarian meltdown of Venezuela, an anti-American alliance consisting of Russia, Cuba and Iran is coalescing to counter US economic and diplomatic pressure on embattled President Nicolas Maduro. The anchor of the alliance is Cuba, which colonised Venezuela through its security services when Fidel Castro’s protege Hugo Chavez came to power in 1998. Castro then began shipping tens of thousands of barrels of oil a day back to Cuba, while Venezuela became what is widely considered a ‘mafia state’. He also expanded his relationships with the narco-terrorist insurgencies plaguing the region, most famously FARC and the National Liberation Army in Colombia. Cuba’s security services helped stand up loyalist paramilitary organisations called colectivos to terrorise opponents of the Maduro regime. More recently, Cuba assisted in creating the Special Actions Force, or FAES, which strikes at opposition figures."

Despite Cuba's role as a bad actor in Venezuela, and the unfolding crisis there, the European Union has pursued an engagement policy with the Castro regime while marginalizing the role of the Cuban opposition both at diplomatic gatherings in Cuba and international meetings in Europe. Leaders of the European Union have forgotten the lessons of 1989 and statues of Karl Marx are being erected in Europe once again.

In contrast to the European Union, much of European civil society has maintained its commitment to Cuban democrats and independent civil society.

Opening Panel of Forum 2000

Earlier this week, over two days on October 15th and 16th in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, Forum 2000 gathered to analyze the challenges to a democratic world order that defends human rights. Forum 2000 is a joint initiative of the late Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and the late Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel that was founded in 1996.

Over the past 23 years beginning in 1997, Forum 2000 has organized an annual gathering to focus on pressing international issues. This year's Forum 2000 Conference theme was "Recovering the Promise of 1989" and looked back at the optimism of thirty years ago and the pessimism and challenges of today:

"Thirty years ago, the world was full of hope that, finally, democracy, freedom, and a global order based on peace and responsibility would prevail. In the tumultuous year 1989, people rallied against governments with a dismal human rights record and a lack of respect for the rule of law. Protests in Beijing, Berlin, or Prague coincided with ongoing or looming democratic transitions in Chile, Nicaragua, South Africa and elsewhere. Citizens globally asked for more freedom and democracy and hoped for a just society. Western democracies served as a model to which many looked up to.
Since then, the spirit of freedom and civic responsibility in new democracies, as well as in the more established ones, has faced many difficult tests and today, we are at perhaps one of liberal democracy's most demanding moments."

Cuban dissidents were prominently featured during this edition of the Forum 2000 Conference.

Lech Walesa and Rosa María Payá at Forum 2000

Cuban dissident Rosa María Payá took part in the opening panel, "Ambitions of 1989? Ambitions of Today?" at Žofín Palace, Forum Hall together with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkol Karman, Mikuláš Minář, Šimon Pánek, Maia Sandu and moderator Jacques Rupnik. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Karman addressed how "bad choices are made between tyranny and terrorism," and she declared that "we will fight both. Any war against terrorism is also a war against dictatorship. Every dictator is a terrorist and every terrorist is a dictator."


Rosa María Payá warned of the dangers of ignoring the Castro regime in Latin America, citing her martyred father Oswaldo Payá who said "the cause of freedom is the cause of peace" and no strategy that ignores the authoritarian presence and interference of Castroism in Latin America will be successful in obtaining and maintaining either."

Manuel Cuesta Morúa responds to a question on the Forum 2000 anniversary panel

Cuban dissident Manuel Cuesta Morúa spoke on the anniversary panel, "30 Years of Czech Human Rights Policy Abroad: Achievements and New Challenges" in the Žofín Palace, Forum Hall with speakers Arzu Gebullayeva, Carl Gershman, and Alexandr Vondra.



During the panel discussion Carl Gershman highlighted the criminal nature of the Castro regime and the fact that Cuba's secret police had murdered Oswaldo Payá in 2012.

Tania Bruguera addresses Forum 2000 panel

Cuban artist Tania Bruguera took part in the panel discussion, "60 Years of Communism in Cuba" at Žofín Palace in the Conference Hall along with Wilhelm Hofmeister, Miriam Kornblith, and Danae Vilchez. According to the event description: "Cuba is one of the five remaining modern-day communist countries in the world along with China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. Its communist regime, established in 1959, survived even the collapse of its one-time supporter, the Soviet Union. Despite the new constitution and the so-called 'transition of power' to the new President Miguel Díaz-Canel in 2018, Cuba remains a country ruled by a communist government. What lessons can Cuba learn from the countries that successfully overthrew their communist regimes in 1989? Is there a role for the international community and regional actors in supporting Cuba's eventual transition to democracy?"


This past week demonstrated both the challenges and opportunities for Cuban democrats.

International institutions such as the UN General Assembly are dominated by anti-democratic actors. The election of Venezuela to the UN Human Rights Council adds to the roster of the world's worst human rights offenders sitting on that body with the objective of neutralizing it.

This is due in part to the West's failure of prioritizing human rights over economic interests. The rise of China as an international power aggravates this negative trend.

On the other hand Forum 2000 continues its work of bringing together people of good will from around the world to engage in a democratic conversation on the pressing matters of the day. It also serves as a platform for democrats to network and coordinate their efforts.

This is of great importance to counter the coordination and networking of authoritarians and totalitarians to undermine democracies and international human rights standards.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and President of Poland Lech Walesa in the concluding panel of Forum 2000 explained the concept of solidarity. He described it as follows: "If you can't lift heavy weights, you need to ask somebody for help. The Soviet Union was such a weight. We asked Europe, the United States, and Canada for help and together we got rid of the system. Now we need the same spirit of global solidarity in the world."

The rest of the panels are available here.

Top 12 Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter tweets of 2018

"History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory." - George Santayana 

These are the top tweets for each month of 2018 arranged in chronological order. George Santayana understood the importance of remembering the past in order to avoid repeating the same mistakes and injustices. This was the year of the Cuba UPR and victims of the regime speaking truth to power as it sought to carry out its fraudulent change. It was the year that the steady work of completely undermining democracy in Nicaragua finally brought forth the murderous assault of the regime as it clamped down its totalitarian cage on the people of Nicaragua. The year ended with a campaign to release political prisoners in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.

January 2018

Today, January 29, 2018 would have been Harold's 38th birthday but he was killed with Oswaldo Payá on July 22, 2012 at the age of 32 in what appears to have been an extrajudicial killing engineered by Castro's State Security. https://t.co/55IRJUu9A3 pic.twitter.com/qwymy3UfLv

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) January 29, 2018

 February 2018

Remembering some of the victims of Cuban communism: Génesis Carmona, Venezuelan fashion model, beauty queen, and college student. Shot in the head on February 18, 2014, died a day later.https://t.co/eIK3OmD40a cc: @GenesisCarmona pic.twitter.com/x5HQI2g5vY

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) February 22, 2018

March 2018

Mother and son of 2015 machete attack victim receive death threat from Castro regime agent https://t.co/nafbtnI5XP #StandUp4HumanRights #HRC37 pic.twitter.com/bvYxxWgHDR

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) March 5, 2018

April 2018

VIII Summit of the Americas in Lima Peru: Castro regime's shock troops try to silence other voices https://t.co/JbpeuEQyoN #SummitPeru pic.twitter.com/ZD9ctMV54A

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) April 13, 2018

May 2018

#OnThisDay in 1818, Karl Heinrich Marx was born. The man who was an anti-semite, racist, advocate of terrorism, and genocide, who changed the politics of the world for the worse causing the death of over 100 million. #KarlMarx200 https://t.co/77tkR5selZ #KarlMarxWasWrong pic.twitter.com/soyd90yQqy

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) May 5, 2018

June 2018

Free Cuban prisoners of conscience Dr. Eduardo Cardet Concepción and Dr. Ariel Ruiz Urquiola. 120 identified political prisoners in Cuba: spotlight on two prisoners of conscience https://t.co/0CIevn6cFA pic.twitter.com/CUHiXOzpkY

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) June 24, 2018

July 2018

A CRIME BEHIND THE BACK OF THE CHRIST OF HAVANA by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas https://t.co/Pw87WGvq3s pic.twitter.com/GhCPVJ1H36

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) July 13, 2018

August 2018

Family of jailed Cuban human rights defender denounces that he is being tortured https://t.co/2o13QPs1g9 #FreeEbert #Cuba #torture #HumanRights pic.twitter.com/xxMi9ryeTq

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) August 10, 2018

September 2018

Ortega's hooded police wielding AK-47s arrest, hold incomunicado Amaya Coppens, a human rights defender and medical student in Nicaragua. https://t.co/JsIpqshUdH #WHRDFAlert #DefendWHRDS #SOSNicaragua pic.twitter.com/r0hV0aTZUt

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) September 15, 2018

October 2018

Speaking truth to power: Cuban dissident and machete attack victim Sirley Avila Leon addresses the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. https://t.co/rtRQ0pXFTt #CubaUPR #Cuba #Justice #MeToo pic.twitter.com/7SSyTBgkTQ

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) September 28, 2018

November 2018

Not mourning the death of Fidel Castro is punishable by prison, beatings and death in Cuba. https://t.co/O5NUVyfhW4 1/15 pic.twitter.com/6CSko2sHPa

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) November 24, 2018

December 2018

Join the campaign for Christmas without political prisoners in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua https://t.co/malcep4qot #LiberenLosYa
#FreeThemNow #FreedomForPoliticalPrisoners #CubaNicaraguaVenezuela #ChristmasWithoutPoliticalPrisonersInCubaVenezuelaYNicaragua pic.twitter.com/EU1swq1dhi

— John Suarez ن (@johnjsuarez) December 24, 2018