Bad week for human rights in Cuba.
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| Ladies in White continue to be regularly repressed in Cuba. |
This has not been a good week for human rights in Cuba. On November 20, 2019 the Swedish Parliament approved the appalling EU-Cuba Agreement. Now there are just two countries (Lithuania, and the Netherlands) that are preventing ratification of this agreement. Meanwhile a new law was made public in Cuba codifying the police state of the Castro regime.
Civil Rights Defenders, a Swedish NGO that defends human rights around the world, tweeted the bad news in Spanish on November 21st and the message it sends to the Castro dictatorship.
The parliament of Sweden approved the EU-Cuba agreement yesterday. It is a pity, given that there are currently serious human rights violations in Cuba. This decision gives the signal to the Cuban government that disrespect for human rights is not a problem.
The EU-Cuba agreement divided Sweden's political parties and until this past week a majority had refused to ratify it. The Centre Party, Liberals, Sweden Democrats and Christian Democrats voted again against the agreement, but the Left Party and unexpectedly the conservative Moderates voted for it. This is terrible news for Cuban human rights defenders.
Rosa María Payá in an open letter Civil Rights Defenders published on October 2, 2019 warned that "European governments abandoned their previous position, the EU Common Position on Cuba [brought into force] in 1996, that condemned human rights violations, demanded democratic reforms in Cuba and kept their embassies on the island open to opposition activists and members of independent civil society, but that [today's position] is used by the Cuban government to try to legitimize its actions."
The European Union established a Common Position in 1996 with respect to Cuba, that was consonant with fundamental EU values as expressed below:
“The objective of the European Union in its relations with Cuba is to encourage a process of transition to pluralist democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as a sustainable recovery and improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people. A transition would most likely be peaceful if the present regime were itself to initiate or permit such a process. It is not European Union policy to try to bring about change by coercive measures with the effect of increasing the economic hardship of the Cuban people. The European Union considers that full cooperation with Cuba will depend upon improvements in human rights and political freedom”
Unfortunately, it was the Obama Administration's Cuba policy announced on December 17, 2014 and the President's official state visit in March 2016 that both negatively impacted international solidarity and human rights in Cuba that included Europe. The decision of the European Union to "open a new chapter" on relations with Cuba that dropped human rights as a condition for normalization ended the 1996 European Common Position. This abandonment of a linkage between human rights and commerce was formalized in a December 12, 2016 signing ceremony.
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| WiFi symbol in Havana, Cuba. Photo by Nano Anderson, Flickr CC License BY 2.0. |
Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic the same signal was being given by the White House and tech firms such as Google. Cuban civil society organizations gathered in Puerto Rico in 2016 to condemn Google for siding with their oppressor.
"Denounced the indifference of the company Google in violation of its code of corporate conduct and demanded that it establish a correct policy to provide wireless internet service with no censorship and without dependence on the regime in benefit of the Cuban people."
On December 13, 2016 Google signed an agreement with the Castro regime to speed up faster access to the "companies branded content." Marta Dhanis, a news correspondent, visited Cuba to investigate if there had been an improvement in internet access, following Google's partnering up with the Cuban dictatorship.
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| Google's Eric Schmidt signs agreement with the Castro regime in December 2016 |
She talked to Cubans in the island and wrote the January 25, 2017 article, "Google entering Cuba is 'Trojan Horse' that could reinforce regime, residents say." A Cuban academic outlined what the internet was becoming in the island:
“We call the internet a ‘Trojan Horse.’ The success of this government has been possible thanks to the people’s lack of information,” said a 57-year-old retired professor who requested anonymity for fear of retribution by the communist regime. “I would have a patrol car at my door tomorrow to monitor my life,” he said. On the other hand, he and others contend, this Trojan Horse is also providing the communist regime with technology that will empower the secret police with detailed reports of the users’ searches and profiles, right down to their location.
Civil Rights Defenders is right that the signal has been given to the Cuban government that disrespect for human rights is not a problem for the European Union.
Cuban dissident Cuesta Morua in a video tweeted by Civil Rights Defenders, on October 2, 2019 stated that "since 2016 when the deal was signed between the European Union and Cuba the human rights situation has worsened." Interviewed in the Swedish publication, Aftonbladet, Manuel Cuesta Morúa explained that “this is the chance to demand democratic reforms, but it isn’t being taken.” The Cuban dissident also explained that Sweden will be missing an opportunity to demand democracy in Cuba, if the EU-Cuba deal is approved.
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| National Revolutionary Police pat down Cuban attending Rolling Stones concert |
Cuba is a totalitarian dictatorship that has systematically violated human rights and privacy since 1959. However, in today's international environment the regime feels more comfortable in unveiling on November 18, 2019 how it purportedly spies on 11 million Cubans and uses a system of informants without any judicial oversight. (Extrajudicial killing of non-violent opponents, the use of physical and psychological torture are still not admitted to in the "new" government decree.)
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| Cuba is a surveillance state that seeks to modernize into a more terrible one. |
The formal title of the decree in Spanish is "Decreto-Ley no. 389 modificatorio del Código Penal, la Ley de Procedimiento Penal y la Ley de Actos contra el Terrorismo" that translates into English as "Decree-Law No. 389 amending the Criminal Code, the Law of Criminal Procedure and the Law of Acts against Terrorism." This is the latest in a series of "laws" that seek to modernize and perfect the Castro regime's totalitarian system for the 21st Century in building a more perfect panopticon.
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| Private network S-Net was shut down by the Castro regime in 2019 |
On July 4, 2019 the Castro regime
issued "Decreto-Ley No. 370 Sobre la Informatizaci
ón de la Sociedad en Cuba" that translates into English as "Decree-Law No. 370 on the Computerization of Society in Cuba."
Article 68 of the Decree-Law "prohibits Cuban citizens from running websites hosted outside of the country."
On May 29, 2019 both official and independent publications on the island reported that on July 29, 2019 the Cuban government would recognize private, informal networks and legalize them. Reuters reported that Cuba announced that "it would legalize private Wi-Fi networks to access the internet and connect computers," based on resolutions (98/2019 and 99/2019) issued by the regime's Ministry of Communication
What happened was the opposite of what was reported in May. "S-Net", a domestic, non-hierarchical, self organizing and self configuring private network that covers all of Havana and is also found in the country side has been declared illegal.The two resolutions issued by the Cuban dictatorship's Ministry of Communication in May 2019, interpreted positively by the international press, were used to target this mesh network. What had been long tolerated as a private initiative was absorbed by the dictatorship.
Under the decree, all artists, including collectives, musicians and performers, are prohibited from operating in public or private spaces without prior approval by the Ministry of Culture. Individuals or businesses that hire artists without the authorization can be sanctioned, and artists that work without prior approval can have their materials confiscated or be substantially fined. Under the new decree, the authorities also have the power to immediately suspend a performance and to propose the cancellation of the authorization granted to carry out the artistic activity. Such decisions can only be appealed before the same Ministry of Culture (Article 10); the decree does not provide an effective remedy to appeal such a decision before an independent body, including through the courts.
Decree 349 provoked protests by independent artists. Many were arbitrarily detained, and at least
two were jailed for prolonged periods.
At a time when
Amnesty International identified six new
Cuban prisoners of conscience (
José Pilot Guide , Silverio Portal Contreras, Mitzael Díaz Paseiro, Eliecer Bandera Barrera, Edilberto Ronal Azuaga, and Roberto de Jesús Quiñones Haces) and called for their
immediate release. The same organization also alleges that imprisoned Cuban opposition leader Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia is currently
at risk of being tortured. This move by Sweden,
an international human rights champion, to give a green light to the systematic increase in repression in Cuba sends a terrible message to the Cuban dictatorship, and other dictators around the world.
These are dark times for human rights in the world.
Civil Rights Defenders, a Swedish NGO that defends human rights around the world, tweeted the bad news in Spanish on November 21st and the message it sends to the Castro dictatorship.
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