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HUMAN RIGHTS
BRIEF SITUATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
In the article 53 of the present Cuban Constitution, the following is
said concerning freedom of speech and press:
"Article 53: It' recognized freedom of speech and press to all
citizens according to the goals of the socialist society. The material
conditions for its exercise are obtained by the fact that press, radio,
television, cinema and others mass media are social or state property
and can not be object, in any case, of private property; which assure
its use to the exclusive service of the working people and to the
interest of the society.
The law regulates the exercise of these liberties"
As it was demonstrated in the previous article it's noticeable that
individual liberties don't exist at all, remaining indivisibly
conditioned to the official stand over any aspect of the political,
economical and social life of the society in general.
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are state the basic rights
to which each individual is entitled at birth. Opposed to the previously
stated in the Cuban Constitution regarding freedom of speech and press,
it could be found in article 19 of the current Universal Declaration
when it's stated the following: "Any individual has the right to freedom
of speech and expression. This right includes the right of not being
disturbed because of his opinions, the right to investigate, obtain
information and opinions and spread them without any frontier
limitations and by any means of expression"
In Cuba you could be sent to jail, because your personal opinion is
against the government's. You are not allowed to have quiet and pacific
gatherings against the government, create parties or political
organizations, religious associations or any other form of opposition
that might be considered contrary to the official ruling of the
communist party. You are also not allowed to, promote assemblies and
peaceful meetings, writing documents, posters and articles opposed to
the official propaganda or just for professing religions such as Jehovah
Witness, etc...
STATE SECURITY DEPARTMENTS
Previously we saw some of the mass and political organizations led by
the upper level of the Communist Party and the restrictive way in which
they operate. Now is time for us to mention the State Security
Department and the Interior Department. Both of them are an intelligence
service provided with the most sophisticated resources given by the
former soviet K.G.B., which has been directed to neutralize the most
minimum outbreak of opposition from the citizenship. Constantly
infiltrating agents within citizens allow them to know very closely the
society internal movements and to report any anomaly within them to the
superior instances. It is very important to point out that the mentioned
apparatus of intelligence is not only in charge of this particular
activity, but also the majority of their members know that they are also
being watched by themselves, which force them to be more merciless than
what they usually are. this system of terror and fear covers today's
daily living in Cuba and constitute the fundamental weapon that owns the
Cuban government to be perpetuated in power.
Despite of this delicate situation, the struggle pro-human rights in
Cuba are getting stronger every day. In a titanic and clever effort, the
Cuban people have managed in an admirable way to organize themselves
through dozens of groups and dissident cells that work under the most
adverse and difficult circumstances that any other tyrannized people have
ever developed.
PRISON AND FIRE-SQUAD
For a totalitarian dictatorship like the one in Cuba, the firing squad
and jail constitutes the most usual method of confrontation against
political dissidents. If massive executions have decreased lately in a
considerable percentage, it has been because of international pressure
directed toward the Cuban Communist Government. This has been seen most
significantly in the field of human rights. However the endless list of
executions exist, and can be verified through our website.
In reference to the prison system, it is one of the most dramatic and
monstrous of the world. It counts with more than 241 prisons all
throughout the country. The inhumane and monstrous tactics perpetuated
to political prisoners, both man and woman is evidenced in the thousands
that have narrated their experiences in these dungeons. These facts come
from recorded tapes and newspaper articles and books published abroad.
The book titled:: "Against all odds" from the ex-political prisoners
Armando Valladares, is a striking evidence of this reality.
DENUNCIATION AT INTERNATIONAL FORUMS
Throughout years, the United States delegation at the General Assembly
sessions to be held every year in Geneva, Switzerland has presented an
extensive number of violations condemning the human rights of the Cuban
Government side throughout jails along the island. Facing the approval
of such said condemns by the majority of countries during many
consecutives years, the General Assembly approved a Resolution by which
a Special Reporter is designated in order to travel to Cuba where he
would supervise the conditions in jails according to human rights
objectives.
Thereafter, we will transcribe literally from the Special Reporter
Report that will give us a better understanding of what is happening in
those mentioned jails.
"UNITED NATIONS REPORT FROM THE SPECIAL REPORTER"
The conditions in Cuba' s prisons not only are inconsistent with the
minimum standard norms for the treatment and the Conduct Code for those
civil servants that apply the law, but also are inconsistent with the
provisions of the Cuban Penal Code regarding imprisonment. Many of these
reports are addressed to the scarcity and low quality of food served to
prisoners which is inadequate for human consumption. Protests arising
from such situations are repressed through imprisonment in special
confinement areas assigned for punishment and brutal beatings. Reports
often repeat the alarming lack of medical care for prisoners where the
majority of them are sick because of food scarcity and anti hygienic
conditions. Many of the beri beri cases are present in various prisons.
There are also reports about a group that suffers from AIDS, which is
confined in a punishment area named: "Los Candados" in Combinado del
Este prison. Prisoners are denied consistently to medical care for such
illness like tuberculosis, diabetes, duodenal ulcers, etc.
Beatings is another topic that repeatedly appears in such reports. Far
from being insolated incidents, it seems like beatings are administered
on a regular basis by prison authorities just for punishment or to
frighten."
For the readers to know about the sad situation regarding human rights
that the Cuban people have had to go through, the Cuban American
National Foundation published in its May 20, 1992 issue, a chilling
relation of numbers and facts that witness this cruel reality. Under the
subtitle: "Cuba, a country of tears and death" states as follow:
"- 266 000 men, women and children in 241 prisons and concentration
camps;
- 2,000,000 political exiles;
- 54,000 dead for political reasons, including 12,486 killed by fire
squads;
- 52,000 rafters tried to escape from Castro's Cuba, only 17,000 made it.
(In 1994, two years after the Cuban government authorized anybody
wishing to leave the country to do so, in
the month of August, more than 35,000 Cubans jumped into the sea in
barely constructed
rafts bringing amazement and panic to the world's opinion);
- 54,000 minors imprisoned in 73 prisons for young people;
- 35, 150 women imprisoned in 27 prisons for women."
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