Amnesty International Report 1996 - Cuba

Scores of political dissidents and members of unofficial organizations were arbitrarily detained for short periods and subjected to frequent harassment. A few were tried and imprisoned. Some 600 prisoners of conscience and several hundred other political prisoners arrested in previous years remained in prison. Trials in political and death penalty cases fell far short of international fair trial standards. There were frequent reports of ill-treatment in prisons. At least five unarmed civilians were shot dead by law enforcement officials in disputed circumstances. Two men were executed and at least three others were sentenced to death. The government of President Fidel Castro continued to resist international pressure to implement political reforms. In October the US Congress passed legislation to further tighten the trade embargo on Cuba in place since 1962. In November the UN General Assembly again overwhelmingly condemned the US embargo. The Cuban authorities continued to argue that the US Government's hostile stance towards Cuba obliged them to take strong measures against those inside the country whom they perceived to be supporting US policy. These included independent journalists and human rights monitors who transmitted unofficial reports to the foreign news media and others outside the country. Independent human rights monitoring remained severely limited. Members of unofficial political, human rights and lawyers groups, journalists and trade unionists were subjected to frequent short-term detention and intimidation by the authorities. In October around 95 such groups came together to form the Concilio Cubano, Cuban Council. Following discussions in Paris between President Castro and Danielle Mitterrand, a delegation from four international non-governmental human rights organizations visited Cuba in April to examine the situation of prisoners of conscience on a list supplied by Amnesty International. The delegation interviewed 24 of the prisoners on the list and had talks with government officials, including President Castro. Four of the prisoners interviewed were released shortly afterwards. The government continued to deny access to the UN Special Rapporteur on Cuba. In May Cuba ratified the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. A change was detected in the way the authorities dealt with peaceful dissent. Previously, members of unofficial groups were generally detained for months before being brought to trial, usually on a charge of "enemy propaganda". From mid-1994 onwards, they tended to be kept under close surveillance, detained frequently, but for short periods, and threatened with prosecution on charges such as "enemy propaganda" or "dangerousness" (see Amnesty International Reports 1994 and 1995) or, in some cases, common crimes, unless they gave up their activities or left the country. In some cases, although charges were brought, the person concerned was released to await trial but encouraged to leave the country. In May, 16 members of the Partido Pro Derechos Humanos en Cuba, Cuban Human Rights Party, were arrested in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Villa Clara and Havana. All those detained were released within days, but 14 were charged with "enemy propaganda" and one was charged with "illegal association". Four from Villa Clara were later tried and convicted but were sentenced only to pay a fine. Dozens of people were briefly detained for questioning in the week before the first anniversary on 13 July of the sinking of a tugboat in which some 40 people died (see below). Among those detained by the authorities, who apparently feared some kind of coordinated protest, was Rafael Solano, a journalist who had set up an independent press agency called Habana Press in May. He was detained and accused of writing "damaging articles about the system" for "subversive" radio stations and newspapers abroad. He was released with an official warning that if his activities continued, he would face a charge of "enemy propaganda". Several other journalists were briefly detained around the same time and given similar warnings. In September and October journalists from Habana Press and another agency, the Buró de Periodistas Independientes de Cuba (BPIC), Bureau of Independent Journalists of Cuba, faced further harassment and threats of imprisonment. Both Rafael Solano and Yndamiro Restano Díaz (see below), BPIC's founder, were questioned in September and their relatives were reportedly warned that the state would not be responsible for any future violent action taken against them because of their activities. Over the following two weeks at least four journalists working with BPIC or Habana Press were detained and threatened with a charge of "dangerousness". One of them, Olance Nogueras Roce, of BPIC, was arrested three times during October. When he was released for the third time on 31 October, he was forbidden to have contact with other independent journalists and told not to leave Cienfuegos, his home town. In November and December dozens of members of groups belonging to the Concilio Cubano were taken into custody and threatened with imprisonment. They included lawyer Leonel Morejón Almagro, Executive Secretary of the alliance, who said that he had been told by a State Security official that the authorities would not permit the Concilio Cubano to exist and that, if necessary, they would arrest all its members. Upon his release, he was warned not to communicate with exile groups or the foreign news media or to meet other dissidents. There were also indications of a deliberate campaign on the part of the authorities to discredit prominent members of the Concilio Cubano and divide opposition groups. For example, they claimed to have evidence that Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, a former prisoner of conscience and President of the Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y de Reconciliación Nacional, Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, was receiving funds for political prisoners from a Miami-based exile group, a claim which he emphatically denied. He subsequently received several visits from people unknown to him who insisted, sometimes in an intimidating manner, that he owed them money. Prisoner of conscience the Reverend Orson Vila Santoyo, a Pentecostal minister belonging to the Assembly of God Evangelical Pentecostal Church, was arrested in May in Camagüey and sentenced after a summary trial the same day to 23 months' imprisonment, later reduced on appeal to 18 months, for "disobedience" and holding "illegal meetings". The charges related to his refusal to close down a casa culto (house church) which he had been operating in his home since 1991. The authorities had that month ordered the closure of 85 of the 101 house churches in Camagüey province. While freedom of religion is guaranteed in the Cuban Constitution, as revised in 1992, religious activities, particularly those relating to freedom of expression and assembly and proselytism, are tightly restricted by law. Reports were received in September from Nueva Gerona that Marcelo Rides Bofill and Amado Utria Fernández had been sentenced to three years' imprisonment for "continuous enemy propaganda". They were believed to be prisoners of conscience. Some 600 long-term prisoners of conscience remained in prison, the majority accused of "enemy propaganda". Several hundred other political prisoners were also serving lengthy jail terms. Although few people were reportedly imprisoned in 1995 solely for trying to leave the country illegally, dozens of prisoners of conscience were still believed to be serving prison sentences imposed for this offence in previous years. Scores of people, including prisoners of conscience, were also serving sentences for "dangerousness". At least eight prisoners of conscience were released early, four of them in March: Amador Blanco Hernández and Joel Mesa Morales, arrested in December 1992 and sentenced to eight and seven years' imprisonment respectively for "enemy propaganda"; Rodolfo González González, who finally succumbed to pressure to leave the country; and Marta María Vega Cabrera, arrested in June 1994 and charged with "enemy propaganda", who was provisionally released after her trial was postponed for the fourth time for lack of witnesses (see Amnesty International Report 1994). Yndamiro Restano Díaz (see Amnesty International Report 1994), Sebastián Arcos Bergnes (see Amnesty International Reports 1993 and 1994), Pedro Castillo Ferrer and Agustín Figueredo Figueredo were released in May after the international human rights delegation visited them in prison. Both Sebastián Arcos Bergnes and Agustín Figueredo Figueredo were suffering from cancer, for which they had received inadequate treatment while in detention. Detention and trial procedures in political cases and cases involving a possible death sentence fell far short of international fair trial standards. Prisoner of conscience Francisco Chaviano González, who was arrested in May 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995), was tried in April on charges of "revealing state security secrets", "revealing administrative secrets" and "falsifying public documents". He was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. The trial took place in a military court because one of the other defendants was a State Security official. Access to defence lawyers was severely limited, defence witnesses were prevented from giving evidence and the defence lawyers were denied access to important documentation submitted as evidence by the prosecution. The charges related to so-called "secret" documents which were handed to Francisco Chaviano minutes before his arrest by a person unknown to him and to allegations that he had provided false information to support applications for US visas. The real motive for his imprisonment was believed to be his peaceful activities in defence of human rights as the President of the unofficial Consejo Nacional por los Derechos Civiles en Cuba, National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba. A number of lawyers were subjected to harassment, including close surveillance and threats of imprisonment, apparently in reprisal for defending their clients in political cases. At least two, René Gómez Manzano and Leonel Morejón Almagro, who later became President and Executive Secretary respectively of the Concilio Cubano, were disbarred for spurious administrative reasons. Both were also prominent members of an independent lawyers group, Corriente Agramontista, Agramontist Current, which had been denied legal recognition despite several requests. A meeting of the group was violently disrupted in April by unknown intruders and members reported being threatened on several occasions. There were reports that prisoners were frequently beaten by guards in several prisons including Combinado del Sur, Matanzas; Kilo 8, Camagüey; and Guanajay, Havana province. Political pris-oner Raúl Ayarde Herrera reportedly lost consciousness after being stripped, hand-cuffed, beaten and dragged along a corridor for refusing to shout out pro-government slogans while held in Combinado de Guantánamo Prison. At least five apparently unarmed civilians died in circumstances suggesting excessive use of force by law enforcement officials, including security guards belonging to the Cuerpo de Vigilancia y Protección (CVP), Vigilance and Protection Corps, who were reportedly under orders to shoot to kill anyone who entered state property to steal food. In June, three CVP members opened fire on Ramón Acosta Martínez in Havana; one reportedly shot him in the head, killing him instantly. It was not clear whether any action was taken against those responsible for such killings. Despite requests from lawyers and others, no further official investigation took place into the deaths of some 40 people as the result of the ramming of a tugboat in July 1994 (see Amnesty International Report 1995). Survivors alleged that those responsible were acting on orders from government officials. Two men were executed and at least three others were sentenced to death. Armando Grinan Bell and Mario Magdaleno Pedrozo Cosme were executed in early 1995 after being convicted of the ritual killing of a young boy. Three men were sentenced to death for murder in Ciego de Avila in September. They included Juvencio Padrón Dueñas against whom there was said to be no evidence and whose arrest was alleged to be in reprisal for the political activities of other members of his family. One of the defendants in the case was reportedly beaten in order to force him to make incriminating statements about Juvencio Padrón Dueñas, which he subsequently retracted. In May Amnesty International requested permission to visit Cuba but received no reply. In August the organization received an invitation to attend an international conference on the protection of citizens' rights in Havana organized by the Attorney General's office. However, upon requesting visas, delegates were told they could only go as individuals and not as representatives of Amnesty International. Throughout the year Amnesty International appealed to the authorities to release prisoners of conscience and to allow independent groups of various kinds to carry out their legitimate activities without interference. The organization wrote to President Castro in August welcoming Cuba's ratification of the UN Convention against Torture. In September a letter was sent to the Attorney General raising the organization's concerns regarding allegations of torture and ill-treatment; reports of deaths of unarmed civilians following apparent excessive use of force by law enforcement officials; and several death penalty cases. No replies had been received by the end of the year.