Freedom House, an organization founded in October 1941, whose first honorary chairpersons were Wendell Willkie and Eleanor Roosevelt, has called for the release of all prisoners of conscience in Cuba, and has pointed out the case of former prisoner of conscience José Daniel Ferrer.
Eight years ago today, Cuban opposition and human rights defender Laura Pollán died under circumstances that Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet described as "death by purposeful medical neglect."
Today, a brutal sixty year old totalitarian dictatorship organized a farce that it called an election to attempt to legitimize its continued totalitarian rule. This is the latest rebranding of the Castro regime by shuffling titles that mean little with regards to the exercise of power. Despite all the misinformation in the press, Raul Castro remains in charge of the country as head of the Cuban Communist Party.
The mystery surrounding the physical harm done to scores of Canadian and U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana continues along, with attempts to deflect the Cuban government's responsibility to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats in Cuba.
The last CubaBrief addressed the crisis in Europe and how it is reflected in the 2016 abandonment of the European Common Position on Cuba. This one focuses on recommendations to the European Union by Cuban civil society and what the Castro regime has been doing to rebrand itself.
The European Union (EU) and the Castro regime elevated whataboutism to the level of international agreements. The European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Union's diplomatic service's press release on the EU - Cuba human rights dialogue that was held on October 3, 2019 requires a suspension of disbelief to read it.
Yesterday, September 30th, the State Department announced that it was "imposing visa restrictions under the Immigration and Nationality Act Section 212(a)(3)(C) on Cuban officials responsible for certain exploitative and coercive labor practices as part of Cuba’s overseas medical missions program."
Good news today from Geneva. After years of advocacy by non-governmental organizations for the UN Human Rights Council to condemn human rights violations in Venezuela and establish an independent commission of Inquiry, the international rights body by a vote of 19 in favor, 7 against, and 21 abstentions earlier this afternoon strongly condemned human rights violations in Venezuela and called for the creation of a fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations and crimes against humanity that are taking place in Venezuela.
The decision by the United States today to impose travel sanctions on Raul Castro and his progeny is targeted and holds the dictator, and the family members benefiting from his rule accountable. Matt Spetalnick, in his Reuters article, "U.S. issues travel ban for Cuba's Castro over human rights accusations, support for Venezuela's Maduro," calls it "symbolic," but if strictly applied so that regime elites are unable to go on shopping sprees in the United States it will have a real impact. It finally breaks the bubble of impunity that they have too often enjoyed.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on Monday, September 23rd at 9:00am held a hearing titled "Serious Human Rights Violations in Cuba" that highlighted the persecution of journalists and human rights activists by the Castro regime. This was the first hearing of the 173rd Period of Sessions of the IACHR.
Alexis de Tocqueville, in his best and most well known work, Democracy in America, observed that “the happy and powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune.”
Over the past sixty years the international community has become accustomed to the systemic injustices perpetrated by the Castro dictatorship. During these past six decades there have been prisoners of conscience and political prisoners in Cuba. Between 1959 and 1988 no international organizations were allowed to visit prisons in Cuba. This included the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Reporters Juan Forero and José de Córdoba in The Wall Street Journal have written an important expose titled "Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez Worked to Flood U.S. With Cocaine, U.S. Prosecutors Say" on the role played by the late Venezuelan strong man in flooding the United States with deadly drugs.
The International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights released a report Wednesday, September 11, 2019, 9:30-11:00 at an event co-hosted with the Inter-American Dialogue titled "Weaponizing Justice - Rule of Law and Cuba's New Constitution." The report is an important analysis of the justice system in Cuba that exposes the systematic denial of human rights within the Castro regime.
Cuba Archive has taken on an important educational campaign. The Ernesto "Che" Guevara cult is not only offensive to the families of victims he murdered, but dangerous for free societies. Che Guevara's writings were borrowed from Mao Zedong and were all about guerrilla warfare.
Las protestas coinciden con la visita a la Isla de la Alta Representante para Asuntos Exteriores y Política de Seguridad de la UE, Federica Mogherini
Next week the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini will be visiting Cuba.
On September 1, 2019 the CBS news program 60 Minutes raised the question: "Are U.S. diplomats being targeted abroad?" Between 2016 and 2017 a total of 25 Americans working in the US Embassy in Havana, Cuba suffered serious brain injuries and now 60 Minutes "has learned that at least 15 American officials in China suffered unexplained brain trauma soon after."
For six decades Castro regime agents have plotted and facilitated terrorist attacks, attacked and bitten protesters , and participated in the cover up of extrajudicial killings.
The Castro regime is cracking down in Cuba on independent elements of civil society. Some of them, such as SNET, the largest private network in the country, were not political but have been taken over by the dictatorship.
