Copyright © June 1999 by Human Rights
Watch.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
ISBN 1-56432-234-3
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number:
99-63561
CONTENTS
I. SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
Repression of Dissidents
Cuban Laws Restrict
Human Rights
Cuba's Prisons
Routine Repression
Labor Rights in Cuba
Religious Freedom
in Cuba
Cuba's Bar on International
Human Rights Monitoring
Impunity
The Role of the International
Community
The United States
The European Union
The United Nations
Ibero-American Nations
Recommendations
To the Cuban Government
To the United States
Government
To the European Union
To the Canadian Government
To the Ibero-American
Nations
To Foreign Investors
in Cuba
II. CUBA'S INTERNATIONAL
HUMAN RIGHTS OBLIGATIONS
Torture
Arbitrary Arrest,
Detention, and Exile
Detention Conditions
Freedom of Expression
and Opinion
Freedom of Association
Religious Freedom
Freedom of Movement
Due Process Protections
Children's Rights
Impunity
III. IMPEDIMENTS TO
HUMAN RIGHTS IN CUBAN LAW
Cuban Constitution
Codifying Repression
Measures Against
Persons Demonstrating Criminal Tendencies
Crimes Against Public
Authorities and Institutions
Crimes Restricting
Freedom of Association
Crimes Restricting
Freedom of Movement
Additional Crimes
Subject to Abusive Application:
Due Process Denied
Associations Law
New Legal Measures
Expand Government Control
IV. POLITICAL PROSECUTIONS
Manuel Antonio González
Castellanos, Leonardo Varona González, and Roberto Rodríguez
Rodríguez
Martha Beatriz
Roque Cabello, René Gómez Manzano, Félix Bonne Carcassés, and Vladimiro
Roca Antúnez
Jesús Joel Díaz
Hernández
Lázaro Constantín
Durán
Reynaldo Alfaro
García
Julio César Coizeau
Rizo
Cecilio Monteagudo
Sánchez and Juan Carlos Recio Martínez
Israel García
Hidalgo, Benito Fojaco Iser, Angel Nicolas Gonzalo, José Ramón López
Filgueira,
and Reynaldo Sardiñas Delgado
Bernardo Arévalo
Padrón
Eleven Members
of the Pro Human Rights Party of Villa Clara
Dr. Dessy Mendoza
Rivero
Orestes Rodríguez
Horruitiner
Maritza Lugo Fernández
and Raúl Ayarde Herrera
Cecilio Ruíz Rivero
Lorenzo Paez Núñez
and Dagoberto Vega Jaime
Nestor Rodríguez
Lobaina and Radamés García de la Vega
Ana María Agramonte
Crespo
Enrique García
Morejón
V. GENERAL PRISON
CONDITIONS
Bar on Domestic
and International Monitoring of Prison Conditions
Food
Health Concerns
Restrictions of
Visits
Restrictions of
Religious Visits
Political Indoctrination
Prison Labor
Isolation
Beatings by Police,
Guards and Prisoners' Councils
Sexual Abuse
Juvenile Justice
VI. TREATMENT OF
POLITICAL PRISONERS
Punitive Measures
Against Political Prisoners
Hardships for Family
Members
Hunger Strikes
Torture
Releases
VIII. ROUTINE REPRESSION
State Organs Charged
with Internal Surveillance and Repression
Repressing Independent
Activists
Independent Journalists
Human Rights Activists
International Journalists
Covering Cuba
IX. LABOR RIGHTS
Prison Labor
Government Repression
of Labor Activists
Labor Rights in
the International Investment Sector
X. LIMITS ON RELIGIOUS
FREEDOM
Pope John Paul
II's Visit to Cuba
Restrictions of
Religious Expression
Impediments to
Humanitarian Aid Programs
Restrictions on
Religious Visits to Prisons
XI. IMPUNITY
Impunity for the
Sinking of the 13 de Marzo
International Legal
Actions Against Fidel Castro
XII. INTERNATIONAL
POLICY
United States Policy
The Embargo
History of U.S.
Embargo
European Union
Policy
Canadian Policy
APPENDIX I: Universal Declaration of Human Rights
APPENDIX II:
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or
Punishment
APPENDIX III:
Protection of Persons Subjected to Detention or Imprisonment: Standard
Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners
We are indebted to all of the Cuban former political prisoners, family members of political prisoners, human rights activists, independent journalists, labor rights activists, and others interviewed for this report. We especially appreciate the willingness of those living in Cuba to speak to us. We also are grateful to Giselda Hidalgo and Amado J. Rodríguez of Human Rights in Cuba for their valuable assistance. We would like to thank David Nachman, board member of the Americas division of Human Rights Watch, who interviewed Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Díaz Sotolongo for this report.
The J.M. Kaplan Fund provided generous
support for the translation of this report into Spanish. The report was
translated by Juan Luis Guillén.
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