Cuba

Cuba: Amnesty International Annual Report 2013

Published by on May 23, 2013

Amnesty International 23 May 2013 Repression of independent journalists, opposition leaders and human rights activists increased. There were reports of an average of 400 short-term arrests each month and activists travelling from the provinces to Havana were frequently detained. Prisoners of conscience continued to be sentenced on trumped-up charges or held in pre-trial detention. Follow the hyperlink to access the full report.

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Human Rights and Democracy: The 2012 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report

Published by on April 1, 2013

UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office April 2013 SECTION IX: Human Rights in the Countries of Concern This section contains our review of the human rights situation in 27 countries where the UK Government has wide-ranging concerns. For this year’s report, we decided to review thoroughly the criteria we use for deciding which countries are of most human rights concern to the UK. We drew on feedback from the Foreign Affairs Committee and consulted with the Foreign Secretary’s Advisory Group on Human Rights in doing so. Our geographical directors, with input from our embassies and high commissions overseas, subsequently assessed all Read the full article…

Cuba: must stop ‘cat-and-mouse game’ with political activists

Published by on August 2, 2012

Amnesty International 2 August 2012 available at UNHCR RefWorld The Cuban authorities must end their ongoing harassment of political and human rights activists, Amnesty International said today after a former prisoner of conscience was released following his latest arrest and detention in a police station for 36 hours. José Daniel Ferrer García, coordinator of the organization Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unión Patriótica de Cuba, UNPACU), was set free on Wednesday, two days after police arrested him in the eastern province of Holguín. He was not charged with any crime. His family had no idea of his whereabouts until he was Read the full article…

Cuba: Sakharov prize-winner Fariñas detained at funeral of Cuban activist

Published by on July 25, 2012

Published by Reporters Without Borders 25 July 2012 Available at rsf.org The Cuban cyber journalist and dissident Guillermo “El Coco” Fariñas Hernández, recipient of the European Parliament’s Sakharov prize in 2010, was detained and assaulted by police yesterday during the funeral of the leading activist Oswaldo Paya (click here to read the story in Spanish). “The arrest of Guillermo Fariñas highlights the inability to take part in dialogue on the part of the government, which refuses to apply UN accords on civil and political rights which it signed in 2008,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We stress the need for a debate on the Read the full article…

Cuba: Dozens arrested at funeral of prominent rights activist

Published by on July 25, 2012

Amnesty International, 25 July 2012 available at UNHCR RefWorld The Cuban authorities’ arrest and short-term detention of more than 40 activists as they paid their respects at the funeral of human rights activist Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas is another sign of how entrenched repression against dissidents on the island remains, Amnesty International said. Among those arrested and shoved onto buses immediately following Tuesday’s funeral mass in the capital Havana were former prisoner of conscience Félix Navarro Rodríguez and outspoken dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas. Elizardo Sánchez, President of the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, told Amnesty International how as Read the full article…

Cuba: Freedom House report - The World’s Most Repressive Societies 2012

Published by on July 4, 2012

Worst of the Worst 2011: The World’s Most Repressive Societies Published by Freedom House 4 July 2012 Available at UNHCR RefWorld Freedom House has prepared this special report entitled Worst of the Worst: The World’s Most Repressive Societies, as a companion to its annual survey on the state of global political rights and civil liberties, Freedom in the World. The special report provides summary country reports, tables, and graphical information on the countries that receive the lowest combined ratings for political rights and civil liberties in Freedom in the World, and whose citizens endure systematic and pervasive human rights violations. Read the full article…

Cuba: US State Dept Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2011

Published by on May 24, 2012

United States Department of State, 2011 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - Cuba, Published 24 May 2012, available at UNHCR RefWorld EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cuba is a totalitarian state led by Raul Castro, who is the chief of state, president of the council of state and council of ministers, and commander in chief of the armed forces. At the Sixth Communist Party Congress held in April, delegates also elected Castro as party first secretary. The constitution recognizes the Communist Party (CP) as the only legal party and “the superior leading force of society and of the state.” The 2008 legislative elections Read the full article…

Cuba: Amnesty International Annual Report 2012

Published by on May 24, 2012

AI Country Report Published 24 May 2012 available at UNHCR RefWorld Head of state and government: Raúl Castro Ruz Death penalty: retentionist Population: 11.3 million Life expectancy: 79.1 years Under-5 mortality: 5.8 per 1,000 Adult literacy: 99.8 per cent The last 11 prisoners of conscience detained during the March 2003 crackdown were released in March, along with 62 other political prisoners. However, government repression continued, resulting in hundreds of short-term arrests and detentions. Journalists and political dissidents faced harassment and intimidation by security officials and government supporters acting with government acquiescence. Background The Cuban authorities continued to stifle freedom of expression, association and assembly, in spite Read the full article…

Cuba: Amnesty report - “The authorities attack us because we talk about the issues people face”

Published by on May 2, 2012

Amnesty International report Published 2 May 2012 Available at UNHCR RefWorld For Cuban journalist and blogger Luis Felipe Rojas, posting an entry on his blog Crossing the Wire Fences or even sending an email is a daunting task. Every time he wants to access the internet, he has to leave his house in the early hours of the morning and travel 200 kilometres from his hometown of Holguín, in eastern Cuba, to the closest cybercafé. If he is lucky, and he is not stopped at a police checkpoint on the way, he will get to a computer in about three Read the full article…

Cuba: Sharp rise in harassment and attacks against activists and journalists

Published by on March 22, 2012

Amnesty International report published 22 March 2012 available at UNHCR RefWorld Authorities in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero must cancel arrest warrants for five indigenous activists after their colleague was set free because of irregularities in the case against them, Amnesty International said. Prisoner of conscience Maximino García Catarino, one of the leaders of the Organization for the Future of the Mixtec Peoples (OFPM), was freed yesterday after two months in detention. He was arrested on false murder charges on 21 January and subjected to an unfair trial. Guerrero’s Superior Court set him free after finding that a lower court Read the full article…