Fidel Castro's brother has used new tactics to crush dissent since taking over power, according to Human Rights Watch
Cuban repression has continued under Raúl Castro, says watchdog
Fidel Castro's brother has used new tactics to crush dissent since taking over power, according to Human Rights Watch
Cuban president Raúl Castro, who took over from his brother Fidel in July 2006. Photograph: ADALBERTO ROQUE/AFP/Getty Images
The Cuban president, Raúl Castro, has crushed dissent and continued repression in the country since taking over from his brother Fidel, according to a Human Rights Watch report published today.
The government has extended use of an "Orwellian" law that allows the state to punish people before they commit a crime on suspicion they may do so, a tactic designed to cow actual and potential opponents, it said.
The report, New Castro, Same Cuba, paints a near-dystopian image of an island where those who step out of line risk being beaten and jailed in horrific conditions which verge on torture.
Since taking over from Fidel in July 2006 Raúl has kept up repression and kept scores of political prisoners locked up, it said. "Raúl Castro's government has used draconian laws and sham trials to incarcerate scores more who have dared to exercise their fundamental freedoms," said the report.
The New York-based group said its report was based on a clandestine fact-finding mission in June and July that conducted dozens of in-depth interviews in seven of Cuba's 14 provinces. It spoke to human rights activists, journalists, clerics, trade unionists and former political prisoners and their relatives.
The report was scathing about the international community's policies towards Cuba. The decades-old US economic embargo gave Havana a pretext to crack down on dissenters as US-backed saboteurs, it said, and should be abandoned.
The EU and Canada preached human rights but failed to pressure Havana for compliance, it added. "Worse still, Latin American governments across the political spectrum have been reluctant to criticise Cuba, and in some cases have openly embraced the Castro government. [This] silence … perpetuates a climate of impunity that allows repression to continue."
There was no immediate response from the Cuban government. In the past it has accused Human Rights Watch of being a pro-US mercenary group.
When an intestinal illness forced Fidel to step aside there were cautious hopes for greater openness and tolerance after almost half a century of communist one-party rule. Raúl, a veteran defence minister, did not promise such change but did call for honest debate about the island's severe economic problems.
In fact, according to the report, he tightened repression with greater use of a provision in the criminal code which allows people to be convicted for "dangerousness", defined as behaviour which contradicts socialist norms.
"The most Orwellian of Cuba's laws, it captures the essence of the Cuban government's repressive mindset, which views anyone who acts out of step with the government as a potential threat and thus worthy of punishment," the report said. It documented more than 40 cases in which individuals were jailed for "dangerousness", including such things as handing out copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, staging rallies, writing articles critical of the government, and trying to organise independent unions.
The report suspected there were many more cases. "We found that failing to attend pro-government rallies, not belonging to official party organisations, and being unemployed are all considered signs of 'antisocial' behaviour, and may lead to 'official warnings' and even incarceration in Raúl Castro's Cuba."
Jails were overcrowded, unhygienic and unhealthy, leading to extensive malnutrition and illness, the report said, and political prisoners were routinely subjected to extended solitary confinement, beatings, restrictions of visits and the denial of medical care. "Taken together, these forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment may rise to the level of torture."
Fear permeated the lives of dissidents. "Some stop voicing their opinions and abandon their activities altogether; others continue to exercise their rights, but live in constant dread of being punished."
Human Rights Watch acknowledged advances in education and healthcare for the general population but lamented that they were not matched by respect for civil and political rights.
Most ordinary Cubans tend to complain more about food shortages and making ends meet with monthly wages of £20. Students and academics in Havana recently told the Guardian there was more open debate than before but also frustration that economic reforms had stalled.
One European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the mood had lightened despite the repression. "As Fidel's power wanes, people are less scared. There is a perception you can speak more freely. But we haven't seen the turnaround we had hoped for."
Brian Latell, an analyst at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies, said that apart from an apparent suspension of the death sentence, human rights had not improved. "Raúl's imperatives for remaining in power are no different from what Fidel's always were. That is to say, no organised or potentially threatening opposition of any kind is tolerated. And there is virtually no disagreement about that within the top ruling circle of gerontocrats surrounding the Castro brothers."
Washington-Havana relations: A slight thaw, but chill remains
In the last year the US has taken incremental steps toward easing the decades-long embargo against Cuba, lifting restrictions on family travel and holding talks aimed at restarting a direct postal service.
The improvement is due in part to President Barack Obama's desire to engage with US adversaries. In addition, America's prime anti-Castro force – the ageing Cuban exile population in Florida – has seen a steady decline in its power and been replaced by a new generation of Cuban-Americans that lack strident anti-Castro animosity.
Meanwhile, the deterioration of the Cuban economy following the collapse of the Soviet Union has led the regime to rethink relations with the US, 90 miles to the north.
US-Cuba hostilities peaked with the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, when US-backed Cuban-exile fighters sought to overthrow the Castro regime. In July 1963 the US enacted a comprehensive set of sanctions that largely remain in effect today, including strict embargoes on trade and financial transactions.
Although Obama has eased some restrictions, he has pledged to maintain the embargo to keep pressure on Raúl Castro, Fidel's brother and successor.
In September a US diplomat made a six-day trip to the island, meeting top officials and opposition figures, the highest-level visit in years.
In June, in a move symbolic of the thaw, the US shut off an electronic billboard outside the office looking after its interests in Havana. It had irked the Castro government with pro-Democracy news and messages. The Cuban government had taken down anti-US billboards surrounding the building earlier in the year.
Daniel Nasaw
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