|
|
HUMAN RIGHTS
By: The Foundation for Human
Rights in Cuba
Introduction
For the past 47 years Cuba has been, and continues to be, a totalitarian
state controlled single-handedly by Fidel Castro, who occupies all the
relevant: Head of State, Head of Government, Commander in Chief of the
Armed Forces and First Secretary of the Communist Party.
The authority and control Castro wields over the population is
supported, mostly by his enormous military-repressive apparatus, by the
totalitarian and antidemocratic system in place, and by the total
impunity he enjoys to apply the most severe measures against his
opponents, including the death penalty and arbitrary imprisonment.
Castro's control is so absolute that it transcends the political arena
to include all aspect of human activity such as the economy, commerce,
education, employment, property, culture, religion and even the family.
The most salient feature of the system established in Cuba is that it
denies the people the capacity and possibility of changing, by legal
means, the totalitarian powers that Castro has assigned himself and that
have allowed him to become Cuba's dictator for life.
In fact, the very structure of Cuban politics is the antithesis of the
democratic systems known to the West that are based on the independence
and equilibrium between the executive, legislative and judicial powers.
Article 5 of the current Socialist Constitution establishes that "The
Communist Party is the guiding force of all Cuban society." In effect,
the State, the Government, the Legislative Assembly and the Judicial
Power are submitted to the authority of the Communist Party controlled
by Fidel Castro. As can be observed, members of the Communist Party
elite are the ones who occupy the positions of importance in the state,
government, National Legislative Assembly, Judicial Power and Armed
Forces.
|
|
|
