Showing posts with label UPR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UPR. Show all posts

Friday, January 4, 2019

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


 February 2018
March 2018

April 2018

May 2018

June 2018


July 2018
August 2018

September 2018

October 2018


November 2018
December 2018











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Thursday, September 27, 2018

Speaking truth to power: Cuban dissident and machete attack victim Sirley Avila Leon addresses the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva

"An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it. Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self sustained." - Mohandas Gandhi, Young India 1924-1926 (1927), p. 1285

Sirley Avila Leon in Geneva, Switzerland at the statue of Mohandas Gandhi.
The United Nations Human Rights Council has failed to hold the Castro regime accountable, and too often has legitimized the 59 year old dictatorship and its henchman. Lamentably, the Universal Periodic review has also been rendered impotent by the machinations of the despots in Havana, and the indifference of too many democracies around the world. Cubans are being beaten up, mutilated, and murdered by agents of the Cuban government for trying to exercise their human rights and the chief human rights body in the world says nothing about it.

Nevertheless, over the course of this past year Cuban pro-democracy activists journeyed or tried to journey to the UN Human Rights Council to speak truth to power. (Cuban democrats did the same in 2009 and again in 2013 during the first two cycles of the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba). They all spoke truth to power, and their testimony exposes the lies propagated by the Castro dictatorship.

Earlier this week, on September 24, 2018 during Item 6 of the UN Human Rights Council on the general debate over the Universal Periodic Review, one of the victims of repression was able to address the Human Rights Council. Sirley Avila Leon addressed the Council about the May 24, 2015 machete attack orchestrated by Castro regime agents in Cuba. Below is a translation of the original Spanish statement to English:

Item 6: Universal Periodic Review 
39th regular session of the Human Rights Council

Thank you, Mr. President,

My name is Sirley Avila Leon, I am Cuban and I will speak on behalf of UN Watch.

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.

Mr. President, as a direct victim of repression in Cuba, I ask: How can the Cuban government be a member of the Human Rights Council, committing so many crimes against humanity for 59 years?

Thank you very much.

Later that same day I also spoke before the UN Human Rights Council touching on pressing issues: the continuing unjust imprisonment of Eduardo Cardet; the August 9, 2018 extrajudicial killing of Alejandro Pupo Echemendia, and the threats, harassment and detention of witnesses, family members and rights defenders who spoke out; and finally addressed with great concern the plight of Tomás Núñez Magdariaga, a Cuban political prisoner on his 40th day on hunger strike this past Monday.

The life of Tomás Núñez Magdariaga continues to hang in the balance as he enters his 44th day on hunger strike on Friday.


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Saturday, September 22, 2018

From the Archives: Former Cuban Political Prisoner Denounces Human Rights Violations at UN Council

José Gabriel Ramón Castillo (age 61) passed away on July 16, 2018 from a cirrhosis of the liver product of a hepatitis infection contracted while imprisoned in Cuba as a prisoner of conscience during the 2003 Black Cuban Spring. In 2009, shortly after his release from prison he addressed the UN Human Rights Council. Below is the statement and press release published in 2009 by the Cuban Democratic Directorate.


Geneva. June 10, 2009. Cuban Democratic Directorate. Former Cuban political prisoner José Gabriel Ramón Castillo addressed the 11th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday June 10, in order to denounce human rights violations on the Island.

“In the name of those thousands of Cubans who have been repressed and tortured, and whose fundamental rights are violated, I ask the Council to do justice for the Cuban people,” concluded Ramón Castillo’s remarks before the Council.

The statement, referred to as an intervention, took place during the open debate on the human rights situation on the Island, after the presentation of the final report on the Universal Periodic Review process carried out at the beginning of February, 2009

“The interventions by Ramón Castillo as well as by the representative for Human Rights Watch were critical and persuasive, despite the allegations against them before the Council made by the Havana regime’s ambassador,” stated John Suárez, director of International Relations for the Cuban Democratic Directorate (Directorio) who is attending the session in Geneva.

The activists were able to participate in this international forum thanks to the support of the Centrist Democrat International. The representatives of the cause for human rights in Cuba also held a press conference previous to the presentation in the Council chamber.

“It has been a marvelous experience to participate in this international dialogue where, once again, the regime resorted to rhetoric and its claims were laid bare thanks to the remarks we made and those by Human Rights Watch. It makes no sense for the regime to speak of human rights if it has not adhered to the covenants on civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights,” stated former political prisoner José Gabriel Ramón Castillo by telephone to Directorio.

José Gabriel Ramón Castillo met President Havel in 2009

 Below is the full text of José Gabriel Ramón Castillo’s statement before the Council:


INTERVENTION AT THE 11th SESSION OF THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL,
June 2009.

Thank you, Mr. President:

My name is José Gabriel Ramón Castillo. I was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and I testify before this forum as a victim of repression in Cuba. I will refer concretely to two points contained in the Responses provided by Cuba on the recommendations listed under paragraph 131 of the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review of Cuba (A/HRC/11/22) Adopted during the Fourth Session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review.

The ratification of the International Covenants on Civil, Political, Social, Economic, and Cultural rights is still a pending matter. My question concerning this- Will it be possible to put a date on definitive adherence to these Covenants? As long as Cuba does not ratify these Covenants, the human rights situation will continue to depend on the political will of the Government, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that the current situation will change.

On page 2, the aforementioned document indicates that “Cuba is a State Party to the Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishments (CAT) from May 17, 1995 assures respect for the physical and spiritual integrity of persons. In the country there are no existing practices of torture or of other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or punishments. Cuba has the effective national resources to ensure the rigorous application of the CAT.”

The reality is that in Cuba there are hundreds of political prisoners recognized by Amnesty International. Many are ill and do not receive treatment. Human rights defenders enter prison healthy and in a short time suffer serious illnesses as in the cases of, among others, Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, Librado Linares García, Normando Hernández González, and Ariel Sigler Amaya, who has been left an invalid. In Cuba, there is physical and psychological torture, and I am a direct victim of these practices.

On page 8, the aforementioned document speaks of the self-determination of peoples, and economic, social, and cultural rights are mentioned. Nevertheless, the self-determination of Cuban workers is not respected in Cuba. Workers lack the right to organizer labor unions independently of the state, and 5 Cubans are currently in prison for attempting to organize independent labor unions. This has been well documented by the relevant international institutions.

The Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba has documented 21 deaths in prison in 2009 due to denial of medical attention and/or psychological harassment. There have been 500 cases of arbitrary arrests and 26 imprisonments of human rights activists. Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, executive director of the Council, as well as Julio Romero Muñoz of the Free Expression Solidarity Movement, have been persecuted for sending reports to the Universal Periodic Review Committee.

Mr. President, in the name of those thousands of Cubans who have been repressed and tortured, and whose fundamental rights are violated, I ask the Council to do justice for the Cuban people.

Thank you.
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Cuba's UPR record is a shameful indictment: A regime that beats and imprisons doctors who dissent

"Facts are difficult things."  - John Adams

Prisoner of conscience Dr. Eduardo Cardet
Cuba will undergo its third Universal Periodic Review from 2:30pm to 6:00pm on May 16, 2018 Geneva time. The propaganda machine has already started up, but facts are difficult things.

The regime in Cuba calls itself a medical superpower and boasts of its medical doctors, but these health care professionals are not free, and not entitled to their opinion. Take a moment and review the case of Eduardo Cardet MD.

Medical doctor, beloved by his community, husband, and father of two. Today his life hangs in the balance in Cuba. On November 30, 2016 in front of his wife and kids he was beaten up by Castro's political police and taken away.  Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. He was sentenced to three years in prison on March 20, 2017 in a political show trial that violated international norms. He was badly beaten and stabbed twice by three prisoners on December 19, 2017 most likely on orders of regime agents. Family fears that he has a carcinoma on his nose that is not being treated. 

Eduardo Cardet continues to suffer this injustice in Cuba today. He is the national coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement, a Cuban opposition movement that mobilized tens of thousands of Cubans to peacefully petition the Castro regime for democratic change. When members of his movement, on April 5, 2018, attempted to turn in a petition signed by 10,000 Cubans they were detained for 24 hours and the signatures seized by the political police. There are fears that those who signed will be persecuted.

This is the reality that the Castro regime is trying to hide behind an avalanche of propaganda. Dr. Eduardo Cardet should never have been jailed. He is a prisoner of conscience and should be free. 

He is not the first doctor imprisoned for what he thought. Decades earlier Dr. Armando Valladares would spend many years in prison for his dissenting opinion. Dr. Desi Mendoza imprisoned because he spoke out about a dengue epidemic. There have been others whose names we do not know.


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Saturday, May 12, 2018

Cuba is a dictatorship that brutalizes blind dissenters: Time to hold it accountable

Note to UPR 30 and the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights: Cuba is a dictatorship.

Blind Rights Defender Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva
The dictatorship in Cuba systematically violates all human rights both in law and in action. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes the right of all persons to to travel into and out of their own country. The regime in Cuba does not recognize that right and treats it as a priviledge to be granted or taken away at the whim of the dictatorship. The concerns raised by the Office of the High Commissioner calls attention to the problem but with diplomatic language that minimizes the true extent of the problem.

Will the Office of the High Commissioner speak out against the physical assault of Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva, a blind human rights defender, on January 9, 2014 at 10:30am?  Together with his wife, Tania Maceda Guerra, and six other activists in Ciego de Avila, his home town, he was distributing "Voz Avileña", a dissident publication. Juan Carlos described what happened next.
I carried in my hand a copy of the newsletter "The Avileña Voice." There was a very large state security operation and they demanded that we give them the newsletter. When I refused and we eight activists sat on the ground, and began to shout, " Freedom", "Long live human rights" and "Down with Fidel" military troops reinforcements arrived and they beat us up. We were taken by car to the First police headquarters. During the trip a police officer pulled my wife's hair and bit her hands. I responded to the police officer biting him and then the official gave me a savage beating to the point that it made ​​me lose consciousness. They hit me so many times that I have both the right foot and index finger of the left hand broken. I have aches and bruises throughout my entire body . To all the activists who were with me Junior Ortega Rivero, Daniel Camacho Marchena, Daniel Martínez, Alberto Pla Risco, Quintana Sarría and others that were with me, all were violently beaten and dragged away and were also detained. Without any explanation we were all released around 3:00pm in the afternoon.
Ignorance is not an excuse for the Human Rights Council. On September 16, 2014 Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leiva spoke before the Council and denounced the brutal beating he and the other activists suffered placing it in the larger context. Seven months later another Cuban human rights defender, Sirley Avila Leon, was the victim of a machete attack that cost her a hand and the use of both knees.

Allowing the Castro regime to operate with impunity is unacceptable and there needs to be a cost for the criminal actions taken.  Time to indict Raul Castro.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Déjà vu: Venezuela's Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council

Today reading UN Watch's report on the UN Human Rights Council review of Venezuela's human rights record it gave me déjà vu because I'd seen this before during the last Cuba UPR in 2013. Below is a summary of the report released earlier today by UN Watch.
Nicolas Maduro with UN prize for combating hunger—Venezuelans are in fact starving.

Venezuela used 500 front groups to subvert today’s UN review of its rights record 

GENEVA, Nov. 1, 2016 – UN chief Ban Ki-moon and human rights high commissioner Zeid Hussein are being called upon to investigate how their officials allowed Venezuela to commit “fraud on a massive scale” to influence today’s UN review of the country’s human rights record by using hundreds of “front groups” to submit comments favorable to the regime, a watchdog group reported.
While “an astronomical amount of 519 supposedly non-governmental organizations” submitted comments for Venezuela’s review, only 54 commented on Uganda, 26 on Syria,  23 for South Sudan, and 20 on Zimbabwe, according to a new report published by UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights monitoring group.
Although “critiques by genuine NGOs do appear, they are overwhelmed by an unprecedented amount of submissions by fraudulent ‘NGOs’ that, if  they do exist, are either controlled by the government of Venezuela, or by its allies Cuba and Bolivia,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and an international lawyer.
“This is fraud committed on a massive scale,” said Neuer, as Venezuela’s foreign minister appeared before the UN Human Rights Council this morning in Geneva, Switzerland, to present her government’s case. The UNHRC audits each nation every five years for its Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
“Venezuela used hundreds of front groups to hijack the United Nations database and compilation summary of NGO submissions, and turn it into a propaganda sheet for the regime of President Nicolas Maduro,” said Neuer.
The UPR is not binding on anyone “but does have an impact because it’s a megaphone, a podium, which does shape the way people think and it’s a source of legitimacy,” said Neuer.
“Among the 500 groups absurdly praising Venezuela’s alleged human rights accomplishments include the Bolivian Baseball Association, the Cuban Federation of Canine Sports, and the ‘Association for Obvious Things,’ a group in Slovenia that hailed Venezuela’s record on combating hunger,” said the UN Watch report.
“The result is that the review today of Venezuela’s human rights record is being conducted based on a massive amount of manifestly false information,” concludes the report.
Under UN rules, the world body is only supposed to gather submissions that provide “credible and reliable information.” The report calls on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Hussein to investigate “how and why their officials failed to screen out submissions that clearly do not meet this standard.”
“Ban Ki-moon and High Commissioner Zeid should declared Venezuela guity of conempt for the Human Rights Council on which it sits,” said Neuer.
UN Watch has often criticized the Council itself for electing non-democracies, including Venezuela itself last year, as members.
On Friday UN Watch slammed the re-election of Saudi Arabia, China and Cuba to the Council. “Electing the Saudis to the UN’s highest human rights body like making a pyromaniac into the fire chief,” said Neuer.
During the UNHRC meeting today on Venezuela, the Syria, North Korea, and Iran praised Venezuela while Western nations criticized its abuses and lack of democracy. All the comments and Venezuela’s responses are eventually added to the UPR.
The UN Watch report, titled “Fraud on the UN: Venezuela’s Corruption of its 2016 UPR Human Rights Review,” gives 20 examples of praise heaped by the NGOs on the socialist-run regime.
Among the “NGOs” were several organizations controlled by the Cuban Communist Party—and having no obvious expertise on the human rights claims in their submissions—such as the Cuban Association of Animal Production, the Cuban Federation of Underwater Activities, the Cuban Society for Philosophical Investigations, and the Cuban Society for Urology.
Also commenting were numerous Bolivian groups including the Bolivian Association of Plastic Arts.
According to the UN compilation document, despite Venezuela’s mass hunger, a Slovenian-based group called the “Association for Obvious Things” hailed Venezuela for being “recognized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization for surpassing the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger.” (See full submission here.)
The UN document also reported that “a total of 238 organizations” welcomed “the reinforcement of people’s power and popular governance” in Venezuela. “Yet the truth is that the democratic opposition leaders like Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo Lopez have had their freedom taken away,” said Neuer.
“A total of 40 organizations” reported Venezuela’s alleged “advances in the provision of free education at all levels.” A group called Desarrolo Humano Integral stated that in Venezuela “there is freedom of religion, belief, expression of ideas and thought, association, assembly and peaceful demonstration.” Neuer said this too was false: “The regime routinely arrests dissidents for the crimes of peaceful demonstrations.”
The UN reported that 24 organizations praised Venezuela for “positive outcomes” including a “reduction in school dropout rates and the introduction of a school meals program.” A total of 21 organizations reported that “progress had been made in adopting health legislation to ensure compliance with constitutional provisions prescribing free, high-quality health services for all.” In reality, said Neuer, the state of health in Venezuela is “a catastrophe—people are desperate for basic medicines.”

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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Genuine NGOs and the 2013 UPR Review of Cuba

"Yet is it far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness." W.L. Watkins (1907)

United Nations Human Rights Council
UN Watch in their report "Massive Fraud: The Corruption of the 2013 UPR Review of Cuba" exposed how the Cuban government has corrupted and abused the Universal Periodic Review process. One of the regime's tactics was to flood the NGO process with front groups. In its summary, UN Watch described how:

Cuba used hundreds of front groups to hijack the United Nations compilation of NGO submissions and turn it into a propaganda sheet for the Castro Communist regime. While critiques of genuine NGOs do appear, they are overwhelmed by an unprecedented amount of submissions by fraudulent “NGOs” that, if they do exist, are mere puppets of Cuba and its allies abroad. UN Watch examined 28 recent UPR country reviews. There were 9 NGO submissions on Turkmenistan, 12 on Romania, 23 on Germany, 32 on Russia, and, the highest, 48 on Canada. For Cuba, however, the number soars to an incredible 454. 
One way to counter the abuse and corruption of the process is to highlight the genuine NGOs that offered a genuine critique of the dictatorship in Cuba.  Respected international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, the Centrist Democrat International, Human Rights Watch and Reporters sans frontières submitted important reports as did independent groups from inside Cuba such as the Alianza Democrática Oriental, Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba, Coalición Central Opositora and the Movimiento Femenino por los Derechos Civiles Rosa Parks. Outside of Cuba diaspora organizations such as the Cuban Democratic Directorate and the Coalition of Cuban-American Women submitted reports.

The Universal Periodic Review Process


Below is a complete listing of these groups with links to their reports stored by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

Alianza Democrática Oriental; comunicación conjunta para el examen periódico universal; Cuba
 http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/ADO_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_AlianzaDemocraticaOriental_S.pdf

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SUBMISSION TO THE UN UNIVERSAL PERIODIC REVIEW 16TH SESSION OF THE UPR WORKING GROUP, APRIL-MAY 2013
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/AI_UPR_CUB_s16_2013_AmnestyInternational_E.pdf

ASOCIACIÓN JURÍDICA CUBANA Cuba Información para el Examen Periódico Universal de la ONU
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/AJC_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_AsociacionJuridicaCubana_S.pdf

Contribution de Reporters sans frontières, organisation non gouvernementale dotée du statut consultatif spécial, à propos de la situation de la liberté de la presse à Cuba
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/RSF_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_ReportersSansFronti%C3%A8res_F.pdf

Informe del Observatorio Cubano de Derechos Humanos para el Grupo de Trabajo de la Revisión Periódica Universal (UPR)http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/OCDH_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_ObservatorioCubanoDeDerechosHumanos_S.pdf

Consejo de Relatores de Derechos Humanos de Cuba. (CRDHC). En coordinación con los Círculos Democráticos Municipalistas. (CDM)
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/JS1_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_Jointsubmission1_S.pdf

Coalición Central Opositora y Movimiento Femenino por los Derechos Civiles Rosa Parks Agresiones contra mujeres defensoras de derechos humanos en Cuba Revisión Periódica Universal de Cuba 2013
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/JS2_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_Jointsubmission2_S.pdf

Contribución Conjunta del Centro de Información Legal “Cubalex” y la Asociación Cubana para el Desarrollo de la Educación Infantil
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/JS7_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_Jointsubmission7_S.pdf

CUBA: SYSTEMATIC STATE VIOLENCE AGAINST THE CHILDREN OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
Coalition of Cuban-American Women
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CCAW_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_CoalitionOfCubanAmericanWomen_E.pdf

Informe del Comite Ciudadano Contra los Malos Tratos.
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CCCMT_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_ComiteCiudadanoContraLosMalosTrat_S.pdf

Presentación de la Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional (CCDHRN)* para el Examen Periódico Universal (EPU)
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CCDHRN_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_Comisi%C3%B3nCubanaDeDerechosHumanosYRecoS.pdf

Comunicación Individual del Centro para la Apertura y el Desarrollo de América Latina (CADAL), ante el Examen Periódico Universal de Cuba.”
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CADAL_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_CentroParaLaperturaYElDesarrolloDe_S.pdf

Individual report from the Centrist Democrat International for the April-May 2013 Universal Periodic Review of the government of Cuba
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CDI_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_CentristDemocratInternational_S.pdf

Universal Periodic Review – 16th Session CSW – Stakeholder Submission CUBA
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/CSW_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_ChristianSolidarityWorldwide_E.pdf

Extrajudicial Killings and Suspicious Deaths in Cuba 2009 - 2012
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/DDC_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_DirectorioDemocr%C3%A1ticoCubano_E.pdf

Human Rights Watch UPR Submission Cuba October 2012
http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session16/CU/HRW_UPR_CUB_S16_2013_HumanRightsWatch_E.pdf













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Monday, April 25, 2011

The Cuban Regime's International Impact on Human Rights in China

“Dime con quién andas y te diré quién eres”. ["Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are."] - Spanish proverb


When dealing with human rights and Cuba there is an obvious focus on the systematic human rights violations inside of Cuba that often leads to overlooking the impact of the regime in multinational and international institutions. In the past this blog has reported on some of the many countries the Castro regime has made an impact in: Angola, Argentina, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka and Venezuela now China is added to this list.



The communist regime in Cuba has been a staunch ally of the Chinese communists at international forums such as the United Nations Human Rights Council and both regimes engage in a mutual admiration society and make a mockery of human rights concerns. For example when the Chinese communists released a report attacking the human rights record of the United States Fidel Castro praised the Chinese regime's report while decrying "Washington's hypocrisy." International media covers this kind of "news" as a Tibetan monastery remains under siege by Chinese military forces and hundreds of monks have been detained and sent for "reeducation" while others were beaten to death during a military assault on the monastery. Not surprisingly the Castro brothers' dictatorship has nothing critical to say about the Chinese occupation of Tibet nor of its treatment of the Tibetans. Nor is it surprising that China and Cuba are two of the top four countries in the world when it comes to restricting internet use.

Nevertheless, when these regime's start recommending that the other be tougher on their human rights defenders a new low has been reached that has managed to surprise some. For example, China underwent its first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on February 9, 2009. During this session the Cuban Ambassador, Mr. Juan Antonio Fernández Palacios, after a short, ideologically biased and rambling run through of Chinese history then recommended that the Chinese regime repress human rights defenders in China.



The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) declared in a formal statement on February 13, 2009 that it was:
all the more concerned that China accepted a recommendation formulated by Cuba, according to which China should “maintain, in strict compliance of law, to avoid the impunity for people who are qualifying themselves as human rights defenders with the objective of attacking the interests of the state and the people of China”.
"This recommendation is unacceptable, and sends a very bad signal to Chinese human rights defenders who are strongly repressed on a daily basis due to their peaceful human rights activities, and as such is a flagrant violation of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998", said Eric Sottas, OMCT Secretary General.
One month later on March 13, 2009 the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders spoke before the 10th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council on Item 3 stating:
We believe in this regard that it is of utmost importance that such recommendations comply with the Declaration on human rights defenders and other international human rights standards and instruments. We were outraged by the recommendation formulated by Cuba on the occasion of the UPR of China, that encourages repression against human rights defenders. We insist on the fact that such recommendations shall not be taken into account in outcome reports. In the event that recommendations of this nature are adopted, they will not only contradict the recommendations of other mechanisms, such as treaty bodies and special procedures but also internationally recognized human rights standards.
The Chinese rejected serious recommendations to improve its human rights standards and accepted the Cuban regime's recommendation to increase repression on human rights defenders. This is another example, of many, in which the Cuban dictatorship is a counterproductive actor in international affairs and in the case of the people of China and Tibet the Cuban regime's statements and actions have left them less protected.


There are real life consequences to what takes place at these international forums as are taking place now at the Kirti Monastery that erupted into a crisis requiring the world's attention due to the loss of life and brutality visited on nonviolent people. The Tibetan government in exile reports on events in occupied Tibet:
The Chinese government has sealed off Kirti Monastery by deploying armed security forces to crackdown on Tibetans following the monk's suicide on 16 March. Since then a large group of Tibetans stood guard at the Kirti monastery to prevent the Chinese police from taking away monks for detention. The Tibetans gathered at the monastery, who were mostly elders, were severely beaten by the police as they attempted to resist the police from taking away around 300 monks in around 10 military trucks on the night of 21 April. The crowd was dispersed by the police who indulged in indiscriminate beating. Two elderly Tibetans, Dongko, aged 60, and Sherkyi, 65, died due to severe beating. The latest report we have says that 300 monks have been removed from the monastery and are detained at unknown locations.
The Chinese regime's response is to ban foreigners from visiting the affected area (to avoid eyewitness testimony) on the atrocities committed by the "Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Meanwhile Tibetans cry out for international attention and solidarity. In addition to the attack on the monastery Chinese Christians were detained to prevent them from celebrating Easter this past week.

The Cuban regime's participation in covering up human rights abuses in China along with its calls for increased repression on human rights defenders make it complicit with the Chinese regime in these crimes against the Tibetan and Chinese people.

"Ver con calma un crimen es cometerlo."
["To calmly witness a crime is to commit it."] - José Martí
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