ISSUE 22 - NOVEMBER 2020 - COPIES

Cuba: 60 Years of Revolution, 60 Years of Oppression

Image for post — Berta Soler and the Ladies in White marching in Havana (March 20, 2016)
Last month, the Cuban regime reportedly released over 6,500 prisoners
 to curb the spread of COVID-19. It was also reported that more than 300
 people were imprisoned for “spreading an epidemic” by refusing to wear 
face masks.
It
 is unclear whether political prisoners were among those granted an 
“early release,” but pursuant to a petition signed by Cuban 
organizations operating in exile, political prisoners continue to be 
subjected to the most deplorable conditions during the pandemic.
The
 Cuban regime’s actions clearly demonstrate the implementation of 
repressive policies under the guise of “modernization” — further 
entrenching the government’s totalitarian dictatorship.
Introduction
Cuba
 is the largest island in the West Indies archipelago, positioned at the
 intersection of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
Caribbean Sea. Roughly 90 miles north of the country is the United 
States’ Straits of Florida.
Cuba
 has been under authoritarian rule since 1952, when dictator Fulgencio 
Batista took power. As Batista made fortunes and built up his influence 
over the country, he developed a reputation as a corrupt and ruthless 
ruler. He controlled the press, suspended free and fair elections, and banned protests.
 Batista was overthrown in 1959 by a coup d’état, or “revolution” led by
 Fidel Castro, which resulted in Castro’s political domination, and 
condemned the island to continued isolation from the rest of the world, even today.
Castro
 imposed severe internet censorship and state-controlled media 
regulations, and the Cuban government continues to have the most repressive media conditions in the Americas. Reporters Without Borders ranked Cuba 171 out of 180 countries on its 2020 Press Freedom Index.
Behind
 Castro’s revolutionary image was a lethal intent: he used his influence
 as an oppressor to persecute and punish those who engaged in dissent 
and opposed his dictatorship. Fundamental freedoms — particularly civil 
and political rights — were abused, and thousands of Cubans were imprisoned, beaten, and executed.
In the 1960s, the regime even went as far as profiting off of these executions by harvesting the blood
 of political prisoners prior to their execution. Roughly seven pints of
 blood were harvested from each prisoner, resulting in their state of 
paralysis. They were then lifted on stretchers, executed by firing 
squad, and buried in common graves. The Cuban government proceeded to 
sell their blood at $50/pint to Communist Vietnam.
Not even children were spared from the waves of arbitrary imprisonment and execution. According to Cuba Archives, at least 22 minors were killed by firing squad and 32 by extrajudicial killings under Castro’s regime.
These horrific acts of exploitation and injustice are only glimpses into Castro’s dark legacy.
Political Regime Type
At
 the end of 1958, Fidel Castro and his rebel forces began the process of
 ousting Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Their efforts and 
preparation, however, had begun years earlier when Batista canceled the 
1952 Cuban elections and seized power. Fidel Castro, who was running for
 a seat in congress, was thus deprived of his opportunity to be elected.
 He subsequently began leading a “Movement” to purportedly return the Caribbean island to a democratic nation.
In
 January 1959, Fidel Castro and his rebel forces — including Raúl 
Castro, Ché Guevera, and Camilo Cienfuegos — finally entered Havana and 
began to centralize their power, unilaterally determining how the 
country would operate. Although Castro claimed to be a democratic 
nationalist, his consolidated power quickly led to the rounding up and execution of approximately 500 remaining Batista officials.
Fidel
 Castro became largely influenced by socialism and communism. After 
demolishing the remains of Batista’s era, he quickly allied with the 
Soviet Union, which provided Cuba with substantial agricultural support 
and subsidies. The two countries’ alignment provoked the United States 
during the Cold War era and brought about international events including
 the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban Missile Crisis. In addition, the United States imposed a trade embargo in 1962.
Castro’s government formally proclaimed Cuba a socialist state in 1961. The announcement was made one month after the failed United States-sponsored Bay of Pigs invasion,
 which resulted in the imprisonment and execution of hundreds of 
anti-Castro rebels. Fidel Castro then declared the annulment of 
elections, which consolidated his power and was later enshrined in 
Cuba’s 1976 constitution.
The
 1976 constitution, which formally entrenched socialist domination, was 
inspired by the ideologies of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Criticism toward 
the constitution was rooted in how it was drafted, and the mechanism 
that determined its approval. Lack of citizen participation regarding 
the drafting of the constitution was a major deficit. The referendum was
 established by the Communist Party and the National Assembly — overseen
 by Fidel Castro — whose members were not elected publicly. The 
constitution, which controlled every aspect of citizens’ way of life, 
ultimately gave the regime the capacity to crush any and all dissent.
Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba entered into what was euphemistically called a Special Period,
 which included food rationing, gasoline shortages, and the 
proliferation of small-scale gardens for Cubans to meet basic 
nutritional needs, among other things. While spreading propaganda 
internationally about the implementation of universal health care and education, he left Cubans without economic opportunities and liberty, which was particularly devastating during the Special Period.
Half a decade later, Cuba’s economy began to stabilize as its human rights record continued to decline. In 2003, Cuba’s “Black Spring”
 drew international condemnation when 75 journalists were arbitrarily 
arrested, tortured, and detained. These journalists were held on 
spurious charges, subjected to show trials, barred from consulting with 
legal counsel outside of the courtroom, and denied medical care while in
 prison. Many of these political prisoners languished in prison for 
years. Among them was human rights activist Omar Rodriguez, who was 
arrested for his involvement in the Varela Project,
 a draft bill spearheaded by prodemocracy activist Oswaldo Payá that 
proposed a referendum in which Cubans would decide on reforms that would
 enable the effective respect of fundamental rights.
That
 same week, three men attempted to reach the United States by hijacking a
 ferry. Days later — after a show trial — they were executed
 by firing squad for what the government claimed to be acts of 
terrorism. Four other men who had aided in appropriating the boat were 
sentenced to life in prison.
The
 Cuban regime’s systematic repression represents the widespread sense of
 injustice that permeates the island. For example, Cuba’s 
anti-expression law, Decree 349
 — one of the first laws signed by Mr. Díaz-Canel — came into force in 
2018 and requires artists, musicians, and writers to receive 
governmental approval prior to presenting their work publicly or even in
 the privacy of their homes. The decree allows the Ministry of Culture 
to suspend performances and advise on cancelling the authorization to 
engage in artistic work altogether. These judgments can only be appealed
 before the very same Ministry of Culture, as opposed to an independent 
and impartial body.
Decree
 349 builds on an already existing system of laws and regulations that 
threaten freedom of expression. The Decree is wholly inconsistent with 
international human rights standards, jeopardizes free speech and 
liberty, and is ultimately intended to silence voices that criticize the
 government. The law’s language is extremely broad
 and prohibits, for example, the “use of patriotic symbols that 
contravene current legislation” and “anything that violates the legal 
provisions that regulate the normal development of our society in 
cultural matters.”
Cuba’s “New” Constitution
In February 2019, the 1976 constitution was replaced with a new constitution through an orchestrated referendum process. Approximately 86.9% of voters of the roughly 8 million who voted, supported the referendum.
While
 a voter turnout of nearly 87% would be considered very high for 
democracies around the world, in Cuba’s case, it’s the natural outcome 
of a tightly controlled process whose sole purpose is to secure a 
predetermined result.
Government officials go door-to-door coaxing citizens to go to the polls, and political dissident Antonio Rodiles notes
 that voter turnout is typically extremely high “because even though 
people know it’s theater, they also know that they keep track of who 
votes.” Michael Svetlik, vice-president of the International Foundation 
for Electoral Systems, confirms that elections are typically rigged
 in authoritarian regimes, and that citizens vote out of fear of 
punishment. The Cuban regime’s system is no exception; there are no 
political opposition parties or secret votes to challenge the 
constitution or regime, so referendums are not free or fair.
Dissidents, who deemed the political process fraudulent, reported that citizens were temporarily detained
 for either voting “no” or abstaining from voting altogether. The 
referendum triggered arbitrary arrests across the country and led to the
 detention of over 400 citizens, as well as a minimum of “48 acts of harassment and 12 physical attacks.”
The police also raided homes of opposition activists and threatened dissidents,
 warning that “the next time they will end up in a jail cell,” when 
referring to activists who had given a workshop on voting observation. 
José Daniel Ferrer, for example, who promoted the “No” vote in a public 
park, was detained and, alongside 70 other members of his organization, 
went on hunger strike to protest the Cuban government’s monolithic 
state.
The new constitution preserves
 Cuba’s one-party socialist system and is “committed to never returning 
to capitalism as a regime,” yet this time openly endorses foreign 
investment (Article 28). While in theory the new constitution reflects 
some of the proposed changes that were put forth by Cuban citizens, 
Cuba’s authoritarian regime continues to actively oppress Cuban citizens
 by withholding fundamental rights of expression.
For
 example, citizens campaigned for a constitution that would pave the way
 for same-sex marriage. However, the Drafting Commission removed 
gender-neutral descriptions of marriage and left members of the LGBTQ 
community without equal rights. In addition, Cuban citizens are able to 
“combat through any means, including armed combat when other means are 
not available, against any that intend to topple the political, social, 
and economic order.” The term “topple,” however, is not defined in the 
constitution and could be used broadly to target dissidents for 
political reasons. Furthermore, while the state now prohibits 
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (Article 42), protects
 women from gender violence, and safeguards their sexual and 
reproductive rights (Article 43), gender and sexual equality continue to
 be theoretical and abstract improvements. Women are consistently excluded as decision makers, and fall victim to horrific forms of domestic abuse
 that have only escalated during the COVID-19 quarantine. Yoani Sánchez,
 a celebrated Cuban blogger and prodemocracy activist, provides a list 
of resources that Cuban women so desperately need including, shelters 
for battered women, fair pay, and the opportunity to assume government 
positions.
Perhaps
 most notably, the new constitution limits the president’s term to two 
consecutive periods of five years and highlights that, similar to 
parliamentary systems, the president will be selected by the National 
Assembly (Article 126), which may seem like a significant change from 
the previous era of Castro rule for nearly six decades. However, in 
practice, the Cuban regime remains a fully authoritarian regime without 
an independent judiciary or lawful administration of justice by which to
 hold the government accountable.
The Economy
Fidel Castro relinquished most of his power in 2008, and appointed his hand-picked successor, his brother, Raúl Castro, as Head of State. Raúl’s presidency supposedly resulted in the expansion of the economy,
 allowing for foreign investment, the buying and selling of property, 
and permitted entrepreneurs to open small businesses. In addition, 
Cubans gained access to cellphones, computers, and the internet.
In 2014, Raúl Castro and then-President of the United States, Barack Obama, announced
 a prisoner exchange and the restoration of diplomatic relations, 
further presenting the façade of a modernizing Cuba. However, in the 
background of these developments, Raúl Castro continued to implement 
many of the abusive tactics that his brother had relied on. For example,
 a “dangerousness law,”
 gives the state permission to incarcerate citizens based on a suspicion
 that they might perpetrate crimes in the future, rather than on the 
basis of actually having committed a crime. The existence of such 
legislation allows for an overly broad application of the law, thus 
enabling the regime to crackdown on various forms of dissent.
Critics
 of the Cuban regime assert that Raúl’s presidency did not result in the
 expansion of the economy, and that reforms have been slow and subject 
to several restrictions. Roughly 12 percent of the country’s G.D.P,
 generated through private businesses, is heavily controlled by the 
state. Ministries that operate on national, provincial, and municipal 
levels have the authority to oversee and report on private businesses 
under their jurisdictions. These ministries subject business owners to 
overwhelming requirements and permit government officials to enforce heavy fines, suspend licenses, and seize properties.
 Furthermore, Cuban citizens are only permitted to acquire one license 
for one business, blocking them from diversifying their trades.
Other regulations
 that have prevented the growth of the private sector or imposed 
restrictions on it include the demand that private taxi drivers document
 their fuel purchases from government gas stations, preventing them from
 purchasing fuel on the black market. The informal economy, however, 
provides a critical means for innovation, autonomy, and 
entrepreneurialism that is otherwise stifled by state control. In 
addition, restaurants and bars have set capacities at 50 customers. 
Furthermore, daycare centers must apportion a minimum of two square 
meters per child, with no more than six children per daycare aide. 
Perhaps most damaging, are the laws that enforce an upward-sloping wage 
scale. Wages increase as more employees are hired, becoming acutely 
expensive and inaccessible to the average business owner, who earns a 
salary of roughly $32 per month. Meanwhile, farmers are forced to sell their crops at prices set by the state and that are below market value, rather than being allowed to sell their crops at prices set by supply and demand.
Amid a deepening economic crisis, the government imposed price controls
 that apply to state-run companies, as well as private sector 
cooperatives, farmers, small businesses, and self-employed citizens. 
Pork, for example, which was previously set at 65 pesos per pound is now
 set at 45 pesos per pound, illustrating the loss of income that farmers
 have to bear when their monthly wages are already so meager. “With the 
new prices we are super asphyxiated because the farmer who moves his 
pigs to Havana still charges 28 pesos a pound,” said Mr. Soler,
 who is a Cuban butcher. These measures of control indicate the 
government’s unwillingness to support the expansion of the economy, and,
 according to Paul Hare, the former British ambassador to Cuba, they 
also indicate that the Cuban regime is worried about the influence of 
self-employed and cooperative businesses in the agricultural sector. The
 government’s control over supply and demand creates an economy that 
does not conform to citizens’ needs, and effectively damages their 
standard of life.
The
 state’s control over the private sector confirms that the regime’s 
expansion of the economy is deeply superficial. Rather than promoting a 
capital-rich and diversified economy, the state suppresses any 
competition against its political interests.
In 2018, Miguel Díaz-Canel
 succeeded Raúl Castro as President of Cuba. He is the first person 
outside of the Castro family to take power since the Cuban Revolution 
over half a century ago. His election, however, did not take place in 
the context of a free and fair election. He was selected by the National
 Assembly as their sole candidate, which ensured his appointment and the continuation of Cuba’s one-party state.
While
 cell phones, computers, and the internet exist within Cuba’s economy, 
President Miguel Díaz-Canel continues to restrict Cuban citizens’ access
 to the mobile internet through prohibitively high pricing;
 four gigabytes of data, for example, cost roughly $30 per month, which 
is equivalent to the average monthly salary of most citizens. The 
internet also continues to be heavily censored
 by the state. The Cuban regime actively blocks independent news, as 
well as websites that oppose the government and advocate for fundamental
 reform.
Healthcare and Education
The
 Cuban Revolution may be seen by some as having transformed the country,
 in terms of both challenging foreign interests and policy and how 
Cubans structure their daily lives, inspiring many who have stayed in the country, as the state has claimed to make improvements to healthcare, education, and literacy, and initiated international humanitarian missions.
However, the Cuban Revolution has also pushed millions of people to leave the country. Sixty-one years after Fidel Castro’s coup d’état, the revolution’s darker legacy
 continues to pervade Cuban society. The state’s revered social system 
is simultaneously a system of near-universal poverty. Universal 
healthcare and education mean little if medical products are depleted, 
if machinery is outdated, and if buildings are crumbling. Sources convey that medicines are missing, and that entire shelves at pharmacies are bare. Those who fall ill are often expected to bring their own sheets, food, and water to the hospital.
Hilda Molina, the former chief neurosurgeon in Cuba, has lamented
 over the state of Cuba’s health sector and described the politicization
 of the health system by the Cuban regime, where control is exerted over
 medical and scientific institutions, universities, and professionals. 
Within this context, medical statistics are managed — and often 
falsified — by the state, as opposed to independent experts. Dr. Molina 
also revealed that sewage and garbage are often strewn along streets, 
contaminating the country’s drinking water supply and further 
entrenching deficient and dangerous health conditions.
The Cuban regime hinders
 doctors’ capabilities under a highly controlled system that stifles 
medical progress. The country’s closed society bars health care 
professionals from traveling, consulting, and engaging with other 
medical experts in the international community, which affects their 
ability to receive up-to-date information and collaborate with others in
 innovative ways.
While
 Cuba’s “esteemed” medical missions are often doted on by the media and 
host governments around the world — including a recent COVID-19 mission to Italy — they are unjust as they represent a modern form of slavery.
 Cuban doctors commonly share stories of their forced participation into
 Cuba’s medical missions and describe strict regulations enforced by the
 Cuban regime in order to prevent them from defecting while they are 
overseas. They report
 being surveilled by Cuban authorities while abroad, having their 
passports confiscated, and being subjected to horrific forms of 
intimidation, including sexual harassment and abuse. Some doctors have 
revealed that they were stationed in areas infiltrated by criminal 
gangs, and were threatened at gunpoint. Despite their perseverance 
through these dangerous conditions, doctors are only paid a fraction of 
what they are owed, while the rest of their remuneration is funneled 
back to the Cuban regime. The UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary 
forms of slavery and the UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons
 even noted that, “forced labor constitutes a contemporary form of 
slavery,” in their letter to the Cuban regime in 2019.
In addition, Cuban doctors have noted that they are often coerced into falsifying statistics and political propagandizing.
 Doctors are forced to falsify statistics while they are overseas — 
inventing patients and clinic visits — because amplifying their medical 
missions’ efficacy permits Cuban officials to demand more payment from 
various host countries. Thaymi Rodríguez, a dentist who was stationed in
 Venezuela, confesses
 that she was obligated to see 18 patients a day, but might only see 
five. As a result, she would have to throw away leftover medicine, 
“because we simply had to,” expressing how painful it was to throw away 
medicine in countries where it is so greatly needed.
These
 abuses revealed by Cuban doctors, coerced into participating in the 
state’s medical missions, highlight the Cuban regime’s exportation of 
corruption and exploitation abroad.
As for the education system, sources contend that Fidel Castro did not help Cuban citizens achieve literacy. Cuba already had near-universal education and high literacy rates prior to the revolution in 1959. In addition, according to data collected
 by Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a professor emeritus of Pittsburgh University and
 expert on Cuba, the economic crisis of the 1990s — which caused the 
economy to plummet by 35% — resulted in the deterioration of the 
education system. Cuba’s education system has yet to recover, and education indicators remain below 1989 levels.
In
 addition, low wages and lack of incentives prompt teachers to emigrate 
or abandon their professions for more lucrative opportunities. 
Educators’ salaries are insufficient to maintain an adequate quality of 
life, and serve to reinforce an educational system that is deeply flawed
 and unjust. The Cuban regime controls the education sector to promote a
 revolutionary psychology that in turn sustains the socialist state. As 
Fidel Castro once said: “The universities are only available to those who share my revolutionary beliefs.”
Case Studies
As
 has been made clear, Cuba is not a democratic country where there is 
independence and separation of powers. Under this type of regime, there 
is no guarantee of independence in the administration of justice which 
will be highlighted through the following case studies.
Oswaldo Payá and Ángel Carromero
On July 22, 2012, Oswaldo Payá
 and his young associate, Harold Cepero, died in a car crash in eastern 
Cuba. The circumstances of the crash are still in dispute and cannot be 
determined without an independent investigation.
Mr.
 Payá was one of Cuba’s most celebrated human rights activists and 
dissidents, championing peace and civil liberties, and was a recipient 
of the 2002 Sakharov Prize, which is awarded to an individual who fights
 for human rights and fundamental freedoms. He was the founder and 
leader of the Varela Project, a petition drive calling for a referendum 
in which Cubans would decide on legal reforms to guarantee freedom of 
speech and assembly, among other fundamental rights. Formally, the Cuban
 constitution allows citizens to introduce legislative reform if they 
collect 10,000 citizen signatures, and Oswaldo Payá successfully 
collected over 11,000.
Despite
 his peaceful efforts, Mr. Payá endured continuous harassment and 
intimidation by the regime. The Inter-American Commission on Human 
Rights has denounced
 the Cuban government’s harassment and persecution against civil society
 groups and human rights defenders since 1962, and noted that “for 
decades the Cuban State has organized the institutional machinery to 
silence voices outside the regime, and to repress independent 
journalists, as well as artists or citizens who try to organize 
themselves to articulate their demands.”
The
 government has alleged that the car crash that killed Mr. Payá and Mr. 
Cepero transpired when the driver, Ángel Carromero, a former youth 
leader of Spain’s ruling party, lost control of the vehicle and crashed 
into a tree. They determined that the crash happened because of the 
speed at which Mr. Carromero was driving, and because of his abrupt 
braking when the car was on a slippery surface. Mr. Carromero was 
subsequently convicted of vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to four 
years in prison. He has since been released to Spain to serve out the 
remainder of his term.
Cuban dissidents and Mr. Carromero, however, have a different account of those same events that unfolded in 2012. In an interview with The Washington Post,
 Mr. Carromero asserted that government officials followed his car and 
rammed into it, resulting in the deaths of Mr. Payá and Mr. Cepero, and 
in his own loss of consciousness. Once taken to the hospital, Mr. 
Carromero was surrounded by government officials who ruthlessly 
dismissed his details of the accident. He was drugged and coerced into 
signing statements with fabricated, self-incriminating evidence. 
According to Mr. Carromero, the officers warned him that “depending on 
what [he] said things could go very well or very badly for [him].”
In addition, his false confession was broadcasted on television under deplorable conditions.
 He was held incommunicado among cockroaches and other insects, with a 
toilet that lacked a tank, while water streamed from the roof. These 
forms of cruel and degrading treatment may amount to torture, and are in
 standing violation of Articles 18, 25, and 26 of the American 
Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man (“American Declaration”), 
and Articles 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human 
Rights (“UDHR”), to which Cuba is bound. The UDHR expressly states that 
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading 
treatment or punishment.”
The Human Rights Foundation’s legal report
 on the state-sanctioned and premeditated murder of Mr. Payá extensively
 documents the cruelty of Cuba’s totalitarian regime to which Mr. 
Carromero also fell victim.
The
 Cuban regime systematically violates the due process rights of 
activists, particularly through trials that are purely symbolic and held
 to strengthen the regime, as opposed to finding the truth and 
administering justice. After his arrest, Mr. Carromero did not have 
access to legal counsel for many weeks, and later, had all of his 
conversations with his attorney overseen by a Cuban official. According 
to international human rights law, the right to defense counsel shall 
not be delayed, and opportunities to consult with a lawyer shall not be 
intercepted or censored.
In
 addition, during Mr. Carromero’s trial, his lawyers were prevented from
 accessing his case file or evidence on which his accusations were 
grounded. Mr. Payá’s family was never included in the investigation and 
was barred from attending Mr. Carromero’s trial.
Human Rights Watch has reported
 that political prisoner trials in Cuba are virtually-closed hearings 
that last less than an hour. The organization was unable to document a 
single case under Raúl Castro’s regime wherein a court had acquitted a 
political detainee. Mr. Carromero’s trial was no exception — the 
authorities barred the public from attending his trial and only 
permitted members of the Communist Party of Cuba into the courtroom. The
 openness of hearings, however, is imperative to assuring public 
confidence in the integrity of the legal system, as well as in the 
administration of justice.
Almost
 eight years later, justice has yet to be secured for Mr. Payá’s family 
and for Mr. Carromero. While the UDHR guarantees equality before the 
law, including the right to a fair and public hearing by an impartial 
tribunal, the Cuban regime continues to abuse its power for political 
purposes, and, ultimately, to act with impunity.
Ramón Velásquez Toranzo
At a press conference
 in 2016 with then-President of the United States Barack Obama, Raúl 
Castro unequivocally denied the presence of any political prisoners in 
Cuba. Human rights groups, however, continue to document the cases of 
Cuban dissidents who continue to be persecuted under the Cuban regime.
The Cuba Archives documented at least 500,000 people who have fallen victim to arbitrary detention since January 1, 1959; Ramón Velásquez Toranzo
 is one of them. On International Human Rights Day in 2006, Mr. Toranzo 
set out on a “march of dignity” with his wife Bárbara and their 
daughter, Rufina. While marching, they held signs that read, “respect 
for human rights,” “freedom for political prisoners,” and “no more 
repression against the peaceful opposition.” They called for the respect
 of their civil liberties, which are guaranteed under the UDHR, the 
American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and formally in 
the Cuban Constitution, but are ignored by the Cuban regime.
They
 marched silently, and, at night, slept on curbsides, at bus stops, and 
in the homes of those who offered shelter. They started in Santiago de 
Cuba and hoped to walk the entire length of the country, but were 
stopped and arrested on the outskirts of Holguín. The Cuban government’s
 rapid response brigade intimidated them with metal rods and threatened 
to rape Bárbara and Rufina. Four days later, when Mr. Toranzo was 
released from prison, they continued marching. State forces, however, 
continued to torment them by trying to run them over with cars.
They
 reached Camagüey — over 185 miles from where they began their march — 
on January 19, 2006, and were arrested again. After being detained for 
four more days, Mr. Toranzo was taken to a municipal court, where he was
 charged with “dangerousness,” subjected to a closed trial, and 
sentenced to three years in prison. Cuba’s “dangerousness” law permits 
Cuban authorities to incarcerate citizens prior to having committed any 
crime. Their imprisonment is based on suspicion that they might commit 
crimes in the future.
A former high-ranking judge
 revealed that legal cases against dissidents are managed by state 
security forces, and that judges often acquiesce to fabricated evidence.
 In Mr. Toranzo’s case, the regime’s evidence against him entailed 
“official warnings” for being unemployed; these warnings were presented 
while Mr. Toranzo was marching, and as a result, had never been seen by 
him. Furthermore, during Mr. Toranzo’s trial — which lasted less than an
 hour — the presiding judge called a recess to confront Mr. Toranzo’s 
legal counsel. Upon returning, Mr. Toranzo’s legal counsel stopped 
defending him and remained silent for the remainder of the trial.
The
 American Declaration expressly states that every person has the right 
to a fair trial, the right to protection from arbitrary arrest, and the 
right to due process of law. No one can be subjected to “cruel, infamous
 or unusual punishment.” After Mr. Toranzo’s sentencing, and in flagrant
 violation of his rights, he was stripped down to his underwear and 
detained in solitary confinement without a bed and in a cell that was 
flooded with water.
The
 Cuban regime not only torments political prisoners, but also preys on 
their family members. After Mr. Toranzo’s arrest, “Death to the worms of
 house 58” (his address) was spray-painted on a bus stop close to his home. This dehumanizing terminology, targeting political prisoners and their families, is common practice.
The
 regime also assigned a man near Mr. Toranzo’s home to follow the 
family. Cuban officials demanded that Rufina’s friends report on her 
activities, and the constant surveillance eventually led her to flee to 
the United States. Likewise, her brother René, reported monitoring by 
the state and noted that Cuban officials questioned everyone he 
interacted with.
The
 case of Mr. Toranzo is a looking glass into Cuba’s repressive 
government — a regime that is unrelenting in its abuse of power and 
denial of fundamental rights and freedoms.
Conclusion
Although
 Cuba’s constitutional referendum might have been propagandized as 
progress toward a more open society, President Díaz-Canel continues to 
implement the Castros’ dangerous, and sometimes deadly, tactics. The 
cases of Oswaldo Payá and Ramón Velásquez Toranzo are only two examples 
of the Cuban regime’s exploitation of justice.
In 2019, Cuban opposition members were consistently arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. There were reports
 of several cases of prisoners of conscience who were targeted for their
 peaceful beliefs, and the NGO Cuban Prisoners Defenders reported a 
minimum of 71 people who were incarcerated on political charges.
The
 real figures are likely to be higher, but the Cuban government prevents
 independent groups from entering the country to report on the human 
rights situation. In addition, the government’s censorship and 
state-controlled media silence Cubans who oppose the regime, continuing 
to cover up the government’s corruption and criminality. The state’s 
lack of transparency further entrenches the government’s totalitarian 
dictatorship, where even the most peaceful protesters are punished for 
calling for what they are owed: civil liberties and fundamental 
freedoms.
At
 the same time, Cuban artists, journalists, lawyers, and members of the 
opposition continue to languish in the Cuban gulags. We must speak up on
 their behalf and continue to echo their calls for freedom and the rule 
of law. While the Cuban regime continues to avoid accountability for its
 heinous crimes, we must end its culture of impunity by standing up for 
human rights and calling for the immediate and unconditional release of 
Cuba’s courageous human rights defenders.
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 ‘Absolute Control’: Cuba Steps Up Artistic Censorship 
      

          New leader toughens rules as a generation of artists and 
performers gain more independence from the communist government
        
    Cuban painter Italo Expósito, left, 
who opens his Havana house and studio on Saturdays to a group of young, 
deaf artists, recently had his artist’s license revoked.
    Diego Muñoz
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          Updated Dec. 25, 2018 6:10 pm ET
        

HAVANA—Security officers recently fined Cuban painter Italo 
Expósito $120 and revoked his artist’s license for opening his house to 
an independent art festival.
As a result he’ll be banned from selling works from the 
paintings-and-sculpture-filled house in Havana’s stylish Vedado district
 that was once his grandfather's shoe-repair shop. And Mr. Expósito will
 no longer be able to host young, deaf artists at his Saturday 
workshops.
Cuban government efforts to be the sole arbiter of what is and isn’t art is about to get tougher. 
A decree tightening control over artistic expression that 
President Miguel Díaz-Canel signed after taking office in April is among
 the first signs that Cuba’s first leader not named Castro since the 
1959 revolution won’t waiver from the iron-fisted, one-party rule of his predecessors. 
“The decree aims for absolute control, you can’t exhibit your 
work anywhere without prior authorization,” said Mr. Expósito, a lanky, 
long-haired 40-year old painter.
Decree 349
 is part of a broad crackdown on artistic freedom in recent months aimed
 at a young generation of musicians and artists who have achieved 
financial independence from Cuba’s communist government. They now demand
 more artistic freedom as well. Many artists now sell their works at the
 private galleries that have proliferated in Havana amid rising demand 
from foreign art collectors. Musicians collect money from concert ticket
 sales.
The government’s move comes as the end of oil subsidies from Venezuela and President Trump’s freeze of​President Obama’s detente
 with Cuba squeezes its economy. Basic goods such as flour and eggs are 
scarce, Havana residents say. Cuba’s decree on art is a response to 
growing demands for autonomy from an emerging middle class.
In recent weeks, Cuban authorities have banned concerts by 
performers who address taboo subjects like racial discrimination. They 
have detained dissident artists who have staged protests against the 
decree. Among those targeted are visual artists and underground 
reggaeton and hip hop musicians.
  
    

Decree 349 was set to take effect this month when authorities 
said they would hold off and soften some of more controversial 
provisions following a backlash that included a letter of protest signed
 by 250 artists, some of whom met with senior Culture Ministry 
officials. Even artists close to the regime spoke out. “Decree 349 was 
something that was put before our president for him to sign, without 
discussing it with artists,” Silvio Rodríguez, a renowned folk singer wrote on his blog in early December.
But few expect many changes to the art decree. After the 
government delayed it and other rules to restrict entrepreneurship, Mr. 
Díaz-Canel cautioned on Twitter this month not to “confuse them with 
weakness when we are listening to the people.” 
Ernesto Hernández Busto, a Cuban writer who is exiled in Spain,
 said authorities will censor art as they see fit no matter what form 
the new decree takes. “Censorship existed, it exists now and will 
continue to exist,” he said. “The purpose of the decree is to regulate a
 new world: private businesses, art galleries, people working from their
 homes. The alarm went off because it is a sector that is not under 
state control.”
The office of Cuba’s Culture Minister Alpidio Alonso didn’t return calls seeking comment.
The revolutionary regime’s relationship with artists, and 
especially Cuba’s writers, has always been fraught. In 1961 Fidel Castro
 established his bedrock policy on art, censorship and freedom of 
speech. “Within the revolution, everything; outside of it, nothing,” Mr.
 Castro told intellectuals and artists.
A notorious clash took place in 1971 when poet Heberto Padilla 
was imprisoned after his book “Out of the Game” was deemed 
anti-revolutionary. Mr. Padilla was freed after 37 days in prison when 
he made a Stalinist-like statement of self-criticism. The affair led to 
the Castro regime’s break with leading intellectuals such as Nobel 
laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, a Peruvian.
In recent years, many Cuban artists and performers have become 
members of a new aristocracy, able to earn hard currency and travel 
off-island at will.
Still, they are subject to strict censorship. In 2016, Cuban 
graffiti artist El Sexto was jailed for two months for writing “Se fué,”
 or “He left,” on the wall of the landmark Havana Libre hotel on the day
 Mr. Castro died.
Now, Decree 349 would take censorship to a new level. The law 
bans the exhibition and sale of artworks and music shows not authorized 
by the state. Performing artists will need a government license. State 
inspectors will verify that artwork, exhibits and concerts comply with 
regulations on national symbols such as the Cuban flag. Inspectors will 
be empowered to cancel shows and revoke licenses.
The decree also targets vulgarity, obscenity or sexually 
explicit lyrics in pop songs, singling out reggaeton music. The “abusive
 use” of electronic media or audio equipment can result in fines and the
 confiscation of equipment and studios.

          Performance artist 
Luis Manuel Otero was detained by state security agents on public 
disorder charges after he sought to cover himself with his own excrement
 in Havana earlier this year to protest a new art-censorship law.
      
            
              Photo: 
            
        Santiago Pérez/The Wall Street Journal
          
  The decree has sparked several protests in recent months. 
Performance artist Luis Manuel Otero attempted in July to cover himself 
with his own excrement in front of the emblematic Capitolio—the domed 
building housing the Communist legislature. He said he was detained for 
two days.
“In Cuban prisons, when inmates don’t want guards to touch them, they cover themselves with excrement,” Mr. Otero said.
Tania Bruguera, who now has an installation on display at 
London’s Tate Modern, and a group of fellow artists were detained before
 staging a protest in front of Cuba’s Culture Ministry this month. In a 
statement on her

            Facebook


      page, Ms. Bruguera said she has been harassed and under constant surveillance by authorities.
A group of artists organized a soccer tournament in Havana to keep up the pressure against the decree.
“Since they won’t let us do anything, we’ll just play soccer on Sunday,” said Cuban writer Carlos Manuel Álvarez.
Artists fear that modifications to the decree will be cosmetic 
and that its totalitarian spirit will prevail, said Abel Gónzalez, the 
Cuban curator who wrote the protest letter signed by 250 artists.
“They would be able to go after you over business violations, removing political connotations,” he said.
Earlier this month, the organizers of the Eyeife electronic 
music festival were told by authorities that the hip-hop duo La Alianza 
won’t be allowed to perform. No further explanation was given, said 
Mauricio Abad, the festival’s artistic director. His team decided to 
proceed with the festival after months of hard work.
“The guys from La Alianza told me, don’t get in trouble because
 of us,” Mr. Abad said, adding that state curbs are ultimately 
counterproductive because “those who are censored become public 
figures.” 
La Alianza’s singers, who go by the names Navy and Nene 9mm, 
believe the censorship is linked to the advocacy in their songs’ lyrics.
“We generate discomfort because we talk about hidden realities,
 such as racial discrimination,” said the artist known as Navy. “It is a
 subject that is known to exist, but it is not openly discussed.”
 A hip-hop duo, 
Alianza, performed recently in Havana. The men, whose stage names are 
Navy, left, and Nene 9mm, sing about social issues like racial 
discrimination.
      
            
              Photo: 
            
        Rodrigo Feijóo  
 As Criminalization of the Arts Intensifies in Cuba, Activists Organize
A
 Cuban decree seeks to censor artists to an unprecedented level, 
essentially regulating any and all artistic and cultural activity in the
 country.
  
Jasmine WeberAugust 15, 2018
 Cuban artists and activists organizing in opposition to the decree (image courtesy Yanelyz Nuñez Leyva)

Cuban
 artists are approaching a moment of reckoning as the country’s 
government takes a firm legal stance on “vulgar” audio and visual 
displays in the Republic. On April 20, newly instated president Miguel 
Díaz-Canel signed a proposal for a new regulation, Decree 349,
 surrounding artistic freedom and institutional censorship in the 
Republic. The vague parameters of the decree essentially regulate any 
and all artistic and cultural activity in Cuba.
A group of Cuban 
visual artists and curators have taken a vehement stand against the 
government’s criminalization of the arts through a series of protests, 
performances, and even a rogue biennial. Their actions have amounted in a number of artists’ arrests.
Among
 those organizing are Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Yanelyz Nuñez Leyva, 
Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz, Soandry Del Rio, and José Ernesto Alonso, 
utilizing the rallying cries #NOALDECRETOLEY349 (#NOTODECREELAW349) and 
#artelibre (#freeart) across social media to spread awareness. Núñez 
Leyva, a curator and art critic, told Hyperallergic in an email 
interview that she and the aforementioned artists have started 
formulating a legal demand against the decree, processed with the help 
of Laritza Diverset, a lawyer and founder of human rights organization 
Cubalex. They have been working in hopes of securing a meeting with the 
Council of State and Ministers.
 

 What Does Decree 349 Mean for Artists in Cuba?
The
 Decree 349 ruling is backed by legislation that is hard to work around,
 allowing governments to shut down concerts, performances, galleries, 
and art and book sales if they do not comply with the strict list of 
prohibited subject matter. It also restricts artists from 
commercializing their work without government approval. The decree was 
published in Gaceta de Cuba on July 10 and is slated to go into effect on December 1 of this year.
The 1976 Constitution of the Republic of Cuba includes the phrase,
 “artistic creativity is free as long as its content is not contrary to 
the Revolution.” The institution of Decree 349 puts a severe limitation 
on this definition of contrarian.
The decree essentially grants 
the Cuban Republic complete control over independent artistic production
 in the private sector. Banned content includes:
a) 
use of national symbols that contravene current legislation; b) 
pornography; c) violence; d) sexist, vulgar and obscene language; e) 
discrimination due to skin color, gender, sexual orientation, disability
 and any other harm to human dignity; f) that attempts against the 
development of childhood and adolescence; g) any other that violates the
 legal provisions that regulate the normal development of our society in
 cultural matters.
All performances, public or 
private, need to be contracted by the government, and any artistic 
expression without adequate contracting (or found violating their 
contract, including getting too loud) are subject to penalizations 
including getting fined and “confiscation of instruments, equipment, 
accessories and other assets.” This legislation is to be carried out by 
inspectors appointed by the Cuban Ministry of Culture.
Yanelys Núñez Leyva told Hyperallergic in an email (translated from Spanish):
I
 think that the Cuban government knows that it is in a moment of total 
vulnerability … So they turn their repressive actions toward the 
cultural circuit that has been empowered independently, that does not 
need the institutions to survive and that does not believe [its] 
hegemonic ideology.
She says artists have 
historically been leaders of change, but “with access to the internet, 
the change in president, the deep economic crisis, the support of 
independent journalism, the collaboration between artists, [and more] 
have converted it into an even greater threat.”
Artists Respond Artists
 have been on their toes since the cancellation of the 13th Havana 
Biennial. Following Hurricane Irma in 2016, the government postponed the
 biennial, and earlier this year it announced the biennial would be 
delayed for a second time — this time indefinitely. In protest, artists 
including the well-known Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara took to social 
media for a call to protest the decision and organized an alternative #00 Havana Biennial. The Havana Times reported
 that the Ministry of Culture targeted Cuban participants, threatening 
to revoke their accreditation to operate as independent artists in the 
country. Organizers were accused of “distorting Cuba’s cultural 
policies.”
According to a July statement
 made to Cuban officials by artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Yanelys
 Nuñez Leyva, Iris Ruiz, Amaury Pacheco, and Tania Bruguera, the #00 
Biennial’s promotional materials and artwork were confiscated, 
organizer’s cell phones were tapped, international artists’ were made ineligible to enter the country with their artworks being withheld in airport customs, and arrests were being made against artists and activists involved.
Since
 the statement was released, Cuban artists have worked tirelessly in 
opposition to the decree and the constraints it has set on Cuban 
artistry. Artists organized a protest performance on July 21, where they
 intended to cover themselves in human excrement in front of the Cuban 
Capitol as a symbol of artists’ treatment by the Cuban government.
Before the performance was set to begin, 14ymedio reports
 Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz, Soandry Del 
Rio, and José Ernesto Alonso were arrested by Cuban police officials 
near the performance site. They were charged with public disorder and 
detained in Vivac, a detention center in Calabazar, south of Havana. 
Nuñez Leyva went to assist, and when she arrived and saw the 
participating artists had been arrested, she chose to carry out the 
performance herself. During the protest she called out, “We are artists,
 we want respect, we ask to meet with the Minister of Culture.”
Ruiz
 was the first to be released, followed soon after by the other 
detainees, though Otero Alcántara was held for an additional two days. 
“I was beaten from the Capitol to the unit and they told me I have to 
respect the police. They beat me as if they wanted to break my spine,” 
said Otero Alcántara in a conversation with 14ymedio hours after his release.
They
 are not the only artists who have come under direct legal fire since 
the decree was passed. Iris Ruiz told Hyperallergic in an email that 
artist Gorky Águila, leader of the punk rock band Porno para Ricardo, 
was confronted by state security and the police, who confiscated his 
home recording studio equipment used to perform his alternative radio 
show Cambio de Bola.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara told Hyperallergic:
Art
 has always been persecuted or used in all systems, both dictatorial and
 democratic, because for the most part it is the echo of the sufferings 
and ills of societies, it serves as the denouncement or visibility of 
them.
… For government systems, it is impossible to control art, 
because it is capable of being born of the most unexpected places and 
situations. In these moments of such fragility and therefore repression,
 art is a very powerful weapon and the system knows it.
https://hyperallergic.com 

Cuba: Fidel Castro’s Record of Repression
Misguided US Embargo Provided Pretext for Abuse 

    
(Washington, DC) – During his nearly five decades of rule in Cuba,
 Fidel Castro built a repressive system that punished virtually all 
forms of dissent, a dark legacy that lives on even after his death.

          
  



  



	During Castro’s rule, thousands of Cubans were incarcerated in abysmal 
prisons, thousands more were harassed and intimidated, and entire 
generations were denied basic political freedoms. Cuba made improvements
 in health and education, though many of these gains were undermined by 
extended periods of economic hardship and by repressive policies.



	“As other countries in the region turned away from authoritarian rule, 
only Fidel Castro’s Cuba continued to repress virtually all civil and 
political rights,” said José Miguel Vivanco,
 Americas director at Human Rights Watch. “Castro’s draconian rule and 
the harsh punishments he meted out to dissidents kept his repressive 
system rooted firmly in place for decades.”



	The repression was codified in law and enforced by security forces, 
groups of civilian sympathizers tied to the state, and a judiciary that 
lacked independence. Such abusive practices generated a pervasive 
climate of fear in Cuba, which hindered the exercise of fundamental 
rights, and pressured Cubans to show their allegiance to the state while
 discouraging criticism. 
Raúl Castro speaks at a 
rally in Camagüey, Cuba, in July 2007, a year after being handed power 
by his ailing brother, Fidel Castro (depicted in the bas-relief in the 
foreground).

                    © 2007 Jose Goitia/The New York Times/Redux Pictures
          
  


	


	Many of the abusive tactics developed during his time in power – 
including surveillance, beatings, arbitrary detention, and public acts 
of repudiation – are still used by the Cuban government.



	Castro came to power in 1959 after leading a revolution that toppled 
the corrupt and abusive government of Fulgencio Batista. He ruled by 
decree until 1976, when a new constitution – whose drafting he oversaw –
 reformed the structure of the government. From that time until he 
transferred power to his brother Raúl in July 2006, Fidel Castro held 
all three of the most powerful positions in Cuba’s government: president
 of the Council of State, president of the Council of Ministers, and 
first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. Fidel Castro did not 
officially relinquish his title as president of the councils of state 
and ministers until February 2008, and stepped down as first secretary 
on April 19, 2011.



	Cuba made important advances under Castro in the progressive 
realization of some economic, social, and cultural rights such as 
education and healthcare. For example, UNESCO has concluded that there 
is near-universal literacy on the island, and the country either met the
 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that the UN established in 2000, or
 came close by the 2015 deadline.



	The progress on economic, social, and cultural rights was never matched
 in terms of respect for civil and political rights. The denial of 
fundamental freedoms throughout Castro’s decades in power was 
unrelenting, and marked by periods of heightened repression, such as the
 2003 crackdown on 75 human rights defenders, journalists, trade 
unionists, and other critics of the government. Accused of being 
“mercenaries” of the United States government, the individuals were 
summarily tried in closed hearings. Many served years in inhumane 
prisons, where they were subjected to extended solitary confinement and 
beatings, and denied basic medical care for serious ailments. More than 
50 of the remaining prisoners were released after Fidel Castro handed 
over power to his brother, most on the condition that they accept exile 
to Spain.

	


  

        

              
      
November 18, 2009
        New Castro, Same Cuba

      Political Prisoners in the Post-Fidel Era

            



Download report with cover

          



		Under Fidel Castro, the Cuban government refused to recognize the 
legitimacy of Cuban human rights organizations, alternative political 
parties, independent labor unions, or a free press. He also denied 
international monitors such as the International Committee of the Red 
Cross and international nongovernmental organizations like Human Rights 
Watch access to the island to investigate human rights conditions.



		Efforts by the US government during Castro’s rule to press for change 
in Cuba repeatedly failed. In the 1960s, those efforts took the form of 
covert military action to unseat Castro, including the failed Bay of 
Pigs invasion, and multiple botched assassination attempts. President 
Dwight Eisenhower established the embargo in 1960, which was later 
expanded by President John F Kennedy and eventually locked in place by 
the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act. Also known as 
“Helms-Burton,” the law prohibits the US president from lifting trade 
restrictions until Cuba has legalized political activity and made a 
commitment to free and fair elections. It also prohibits lifting the 
embargo as long as Fidel or Raúl Castro remains in office.



		The embargo imposed indiscriminate hardship on the Cuban population as
 a whole, and has done nothing to improve the situation of human rights 
in Cuba. Rather than isolating Cuba, the policy isolated the US. Castro 
proved especially adept at using the embargo to garner sympathy abroad, 
while at the same time exploiting it as a pretext to repress legitimate 
efforts to reform Cuba from within, dismissing them as US-driven and 
-funded initiatives.



		In December 2014, President Barack Obama began a long-overdue shift in
 US policy, announcing that the US would normalize diplomatic relations 
with Cuba and ease restrictions on travel and commerce, calling on 
Congress to consider lifting the embargo. In exchange, the government of
 Raúl Castro granted conditional release to the 53 political prisoners 
that it had been holding for between two months and two years.



		Nevertheless, the Orwellian laws that allowed their imprisonment – and
 the imprisonment of thousands before them – remain on the books, and 
the Cuban government continues to repress individuals and groups who 
criticize the government or call for basic human rights. Arbitrary 
arrests and short-term detention routinely prevent human rights 
defenders, independent journalists, and others from gathering or moving 
freely. Detention is often used pre-emptively to prevent people from 
participating in peaceful marches or political meetings.



		The two governments restored diplomatic relations in July 2015. In 
March, President Obama visited Cuba, where he met with President Raúl 
Castro, as well as with representatives of Cuban civil society. Obama 
gave a nationally televised address and joint press conference with 
Castro in which he urged the Cuban government to lift restrictions on 
political freedoms and reiterated his call for the US Congress to end 
the economic embargo of the island.



		“For decades, Fidel Castro was the chief beneficiary of a misguided US
 policy that allowed him to play the victim and discouraged other 
governments from condemning his repressive policies,” Vivanco said. 
“While the embargo remains in place, the Obama administration’s policy 
of engagement has changed the equation, depriving the Cuban government 
of its main pretext for repressing dissent on the island.”
https://www.hrw.org

 
Cuban government intimidates art curator Claudia Genlui with private photos posted under her door 
 
The art curator Claudia Genlui Hidalgo, partner of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, was threatened by State Security, who left her an envelope with intimate photos under the door of her house. "Today, September 23, I want to denounce the latest violation that I have suffered by the Cuban State Security," Genlui said on the social network Facebook.The young woman said that on the night of September 21, a yellow sealed envelope with her name was thrown under the door of her house, which contained 15 personal photos that had been sent by WhatsApp to Otero Alcántara when he was out of the country in January 2019, and that they were part of an intimate conversation (cyber sex)."They are obviously trying to intimidate us (remember that Otero was recently the victim of the same discrediting maneuver)," he said. "I want something to be very clear: I, Claudia Genlui, am a free human being and my sexual preferences or those of my partner are part of our privacy. Nothing and no one has the right to invade it," he added. The art curator accused the Cuban government of violating our most basic rights (freedom of expression, freedom of movement, freedom of artistic expression, etc.), and of its homophobic and invasive attitude, its manipulations and threats "carried out in the most possible coward, always from the contempt and dirt that characterizes these "anonymous identities". "I confess my concern not only about the lack of legal protection that all human rights activists in Cuba have, but also about the actions that the government is carrying out to neutralize (supposedly) our reach in society and that have repercussions on our families, friends and co-workers whether or not they are related to our ideals ... I hold the Cuban government responsible for any physical or psychological damage that these close beings may suffer,"he said.Genlui declared she was outraged and made public her current condition of presenting severe psychological damage due to the harassment and pressure to which she has been subjected by the Cuban State Security in recent times. "I am a woman who feels violated in every possible sense and helpless before a dictatorial regime that manipulates and submits us," she said. "The contempt and disgust at such ways of proceeding by the Cuban dictatorship to" discredit "the artists, journalists and activists who are fighting to achieve real change for Cuba is despicable," Genliu said. Both Claudia Genlui and her partner Luis Manuel Otero have been heavily harassed by the island's government in recent times. Recently, State Security hacked the page of the San Isidro Movement (MSI)on Facebook and published private images of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara on the Internet.For his part, Otero Alcántara said of this event: "For me sexuality, morality, intimacy, are tools of my work, and more than tools of my work they are tools of my activism. They are exercises that I will not let they have that weapon to blackmail me. " "The regime must ensure security, for the culture where citizens can learn and abandon homophobia and abandon racism. Instead of working to eliminate homophobia, it encourages and uses it as a smear tool and a tool to attack activists, "he said.

 


 


Reported by Cibercuba and translated by Lighthouse Publisher Press team.


 
 
 
 Art and LawCuban Authorities Detained Artist Tania Bruguera While She Was on Her Way to a Protest Against Police Violence in HavanaBruguera was one of at least 40 dissident artists and activists taken into custody by Cuban authorities prior to the event.
Taylor Dafoe, July 1, 2020
Tania Bruguera in Havana, in 2014. Courtesy Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images.Cuban
 authorities detained Tania Bruguera yesterday while the artist and 
activist was on her way to a peaceful protest against police brutality 
in Havana. 
Bruguera,
 who has been detained numerous times for speaking out against Cuba’s 
authoritarian regime and its censorship of the arts, spent 10 hours in 
jail before being released.
Updates
 were posted to Bruguera’s Facebook page, reportedly written by her 
sister, explaining that police or military personnel dressed as 
civilians took hold of the artist outside of her house. The posts were 
accompanied by a screenshot of a text message from Bruguera that read, 
“they are taking me.”
The day prior to her arrest, Bruguera shared a video on Facebook discussing her plans to participate in the protest.
The artist did not respond to a request for comment.
REPRESION #30JunioCubaTania Bruguera ha sido llevada (aún no sabemos si por militares o policías vestidos de civiles…
Posted by Tania Bruguera on Tuesday, June 30, 2020
“When
 an artist who uses her voice to call for justice and social change 
finds herself arbitrarily detained on her own doorstep, it is obvious 
that a serious injustice has occurred,” wrote Julie Trébault, director of the Artists at Risk Connection program at PEN America, in a statement.
 “Bruguera’s arrest is just one more iteration in the Cuban government’s
 efforts to exert a vice-like grip over the cultural sector.”
Bruguera was one of dozens of prominent demonstrators taken into custody before the event, according to human rights nonprofit Cubalex. Others include artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Anamely Ramos González, and activist José Daniel Ferrer.
#YoMañanaVoyAEstar/11:00 a.m.- Cine Yara¡RESPONSABILIZO AL GOBIERNO CUBANO! de cualquier evento que pueda suceder…
Posted by Tania Bruguera on Monday, June 29, 2020
The
 protesters were detained prior to an event scheduled as a response to 
the death of Hansel Ernesto Hernández Galiano, a 27-year-old unarmed 
Black man killed by state police in the capital city last week. News of 
Hernández Galiano’s death sparked outrage on social media after the 
victim’s aunt posted pictures of his dead body.
For
 three days, the Cuban government did not publicly acknowledge the 
incident. On Saturday, the country’s interior ministry issued a 
statement saying that Hernández Galiano was running from police after 
allegedly stealing items from a bus stop. After two warning shots, an 
officer fired at Hernández Galiano, not intending to kill. 

https://news.artnet.com/
 

Cuban Artists Fear Censorship with New Law




November 04, 2018








Painter
 Roberto Loeje shows his work at his studio in Havana, Cuba, September 
14, 2018. Picture taken on September 14, 2018. (REUTERS/Alexandre 
Meneghini) 



by VOA



 





Words in This Storylivelihood - n. a way of earning money in order to live
ideology - n. the set of ideas and beliefs of a group or political party
persecute - v. to treat someone unfairly especially because of race or religious or political beliefs
crack down - v. to control or put limit on someone or something
https://learningenglish.voanews.com 
 
 
Cuban Artists Rise UpWhile
 Cuba’s constitutional reform could help democratize the country, a new 
recently-enacted decree could lead to increased governmental censorship 
and repression in the arts.



Coco Fusco
Decree 349 protests in Havana. Photo by Coco Fusco.



During his time as president, Raúl Castro announced a series of reforms. One of these was to overhaul Cuba’s 1976 constitution,
 which was drafted at the height of Cuban socialism and has long been 
out of sync with the country’s post-Soviet reality. In July, Cuba’s 
National Assembly unveiled a proposed version for  the new constitution. This draft will undergo a process of public debate throughout the fall and should be ratified in February 2019.
The
 constitutional reform has intensified debates on the island about 
rights, citizenship, and the new economy. This essay forms part of a 
running forum NACLA is hosting to offer a range of views on this crucial
 process at a critical moment in Cuban history. Read part one of the 
forum here. 
While
 not strictly about the new constitution, Coco Fusco’s timely essay 
delves into closely related questions of governance and legal reform, 
addressing a controversial new decree to regulate the arts and freedom 
of expression.
—Michelle Chase
The
 recently announced constitutional reform process in Cuba includes 
unprecedented proposals that have attracted international attention. At 
the same time, the Cuban government is continuing its standard 
procedures for generating new laws. Among the many decrees that appeared
 in the Cuban Ministry of Justice's Gaceta Oficial on July 10, 2018 is Decree 349,
 which targets the island’s artistic community. Signed by President 
Miguel Díaz-Canel this April, the decree arises from closed-door 
discussions between the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of 
Culture. The laws it details are slated to go into effect in December 
2018. This comes at the same time as the appointment of a new Minister 
of Culture, Alpidio Batista Alonso Grau, whose last job was in the Ideology Department of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party.
Although
 the foreign press is heralding a more liberal era because the new 
constitution legalizes gay marriage and eliminates the word “communism” 
from the new constitution, for many in Cuba, these changes signal that a
 more hardline approach to culture has returned to the island.  
The
 decree outlines a series of restrictions and punitive measures to be 
imposed on artists, filmmakers, musicians, performers, and writers who 
operate without authorization from the Cultural Ministry, as well as for
 proprietors that offer venue space to artists who seek to present their
 work without this permission. Decree #349 has generated an outpouring of protests from arts professionals inside and outside the island. On August 24, Amnesty International issued a statement of concern about
 the arbitrary detentions of artists engaged in protests against the 
decree in Cuba. Such widespread protests in the artistic community have 
not been seen since the “Email War” of 2007, when scores of Cuban 
intellectuals spoke out on the Internet against
 the reappearance of Luis Pavón Tamayo—a former director of the National
 Council of Culture and leading Cuban censor—in the Cuban media.
Decree
 349 focuses on artistic activities that emanate from Cuba's growing 
independent cultural sector. It criminalizes the public presentation and
 commercialization of art, music, performances, and publications carried
 out without prior authorization of the Ministry of Culture. It 
transforms a burgeoning cottage industry of apartment-art 
galleries—workshops, recording studios, and private clubs all housed in 
private homes— into sites of potential liability. While much of the 
language of the decree focuses on the illegality of pornographic, 
violent, and discriminatory content as well as unacceptable noise 
levels, the most vague and politically-charged punishable category 
refers to “contents that are damaging to ethical and cultural 
values.” That rhetoric comes close to the terms used in the Cuban penal 
code to describe “social dangerousness” (peligrosidad predilectiva)
 as behavior that contradicts “socialist morality,” language that  has 
been used to entrap artists that manifest attitudes critical of their 
government.
The
 decree limits the ways that artists can appeal decisions made against 
them, leaving them without any access to independent arbiters in the 
event of a dispute.Decree 349 will also empower a 
new cadre of roving state agents to shut down events, confiscate 
artists’ equipment and property, impose heavy fines, and make arrests if
 they determine that the cultural activities merit sanction. The
 decree limits the ways that artists can appeal decisions made against 
them, leaving them without any access to independent arbiters in the 
event of a dispute. Fines for infringements start at 1,000 Cuban pesos, which amounts to about $40 USD, or 1.5 months of salary for the average Cuban worker. The
 greatest risk, however, is that artist's equipment and even homes can 
be seized  as a punishment. Many of those who are targeted by the decree
 have struggled for years to secure funds for equipment they use to 
record or perform, and that equipment is what ensures that they can eek 
out a decent living in a very fragile economy.
While
 Decree 349 doesn’t explicitly state which musical forms are likely to 
be punished, the language of the decree, with its many references to 
unsavory lyrics, high volume, unlicensed performers, and privately owned
 performance venues, makes it quite apparent that reggaeton musicians 
and rappers will take disproportionate heat. In recent years, many Cuban
 officials have decried the influence of reggaeton, which has displaced 
other popular Cuban dance music such as Timba. Just a few months ago, 
the former Minister of Culture Abel Prieto openly attacked reggaeton and other popular culture available through the paquetes of
 pirated media that circulate Cuba, calling them "chatarra" (junk) and a
 threat to the revolution's values. While the state-run Cuban music 
industry does not support reggaeton and rap, the genres are wildly 
popular among Cuban youth. Cuban rappers and reguetoneros are 
also for the most part self-taught, Black, and from humble origins. 
Their music speaks to the experience of a disenfranchised and frustrated
 underclass that the Cuban government is keen to keep in check to avoid 
large scale social unrest.
Moreover,
 many opponents to the decree on the island have pointed out that their 
professional success in the independent cultural sector has made it 
possible for them to support their families—and that in most cases they 
do not have relatives abroad who can send them remittances or properties
 that they can convert into tourist-oriented businesses.
Since
 the publication of Decree 349 in July, several artists in Cuba have 
staged performative protests in the street and online. In early August, 
artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Amaury Pacheco, and musician 
Soandry Del Rio were arrested during a performance in front of the Capitolio building in Central Havana.
 On August 11, curator Yanelys Nuñez Lleyva and Otero Alcantara were 
detained by police to prevent them from hosting a concert in protest of 
the decree, and more than a dozen musicians were beaten and herded off stage by Cuban police. A small but well-organized group of artists-activists and musicians have produced an informational video and a “No to Decree 349” poster campaign featuring
 cultural figures from both the diaspora and the island that is 
circulating on social media. David D. Omni spearheaded the production of
 a protest song featuring several rappers, and the music video is circulating on the internet. Meanwhile, artist Sandra Ceballos, founding director of Cuba's oldest independent art space, Aglutinador, published a letter critical of the decree,
 calling on more Cuban artists to join an effort against laws that she 
believes return the arts community to the repressive conditions of the 
1960s and ‘70s.
I am a member of a team that posted an open letter to President Díaz-Canel,
 calling for a meeting between Cuban artists and government officials to
 reconsider the decree. This letter has to date accumulated 1152 signatures.
 Last week the artists group, with the assistance of attorney Laritza 
Diversent from the Cuban human rights organization Cubalex, submitted a 
formal complaint to the Attorney General, the President of the Popular 
Power National Assembly, the President of the Commission on 
Constitutional and Judicial Affairs, and the President of the Council of
 Ministers.
As
 of this writing, no government official has responded to the outcry 
from the arts community beyond the arbitrary detentions of some of the 
protestors. It would seem that the state views the artists as a security
 threat: police have told the detainees that Cuban law enforcement is 
carrying out orders from the Ministry of the Interior's 
counter-intelligence unit, but that there are no formal charges against 
them.  In a recently-leaked  memo, Yansert Fraga León, Communications 
Director for the Ministry of Culture, described the protests as a "provocation"orchestrated
 by “so-called artists” paid by foreign interest who seek to confuse the
 country's “true artists.” Fraga León goes on to say that the Ministry 
of Culture has started a counter-campaign on social media under the 
hashtag #PorQueHaceFaltael349 (Why 349 Is Needed), housed on the 
Facebook page of Lillitsy Hernandez Oliva. Cuban state-sponsored blogs 
such as La Jiribilla have featured ad hominem attacks on the artists who have protested, suggesting that they are not real artists, or that their complaints are hysterical and irrational.
On
 the other hand, a few artists outside of the activist group have 
responded creatively to the decree: for example, the theater group El Ciervo Encantado posted a video of
 the  actress Chela Cuestarriba in kitschy attire, who scrutinizes 
graffiti with a magnifying glass and then offers a lecture to future 
Decree 349 inspectors on how to do their job. Artist Lázaro Saavedra has
 circulated satirical emails among Cuban artists, such as one on August 
18 declaring a new Decree, 350, which prohibits any attempt to discredit
 Decree 349 and offers a "stimulus package" for those who obey Decree 
350 that includes access to prostitutes, drugs, illicit business and 
yacht rides in waters prohibited to Cubans. These notable responses 
notwithstanding, there is no mass movement against the decree, which 
activists say is a sign of widespread fear of retribution.
Those
 outside Cuba may wonder what incentive the government has for clamping 
down on artists,  that Cuban cultural offerings are a major point of 
attraction for tourists and that Cuban art remains one of the 
revolution's few globally recognized success stories. Yet I would argue 
that the very fact that Cuban art is so successful internationally 
explains why the state would seek to maintain hegemonic control over its
 distribution. Artists in Cuba do enjoy liberties and benefits that many
 others yearn for: they have a professional justification for traveling,
 working independently, and socializing with foreigners, plus they make 
their money in hard currency and in many cases are among the most 
affluent of Cuban citizens.
During
 the extreme hardship years of the Special Period, artists were among 
the first Cuban freelancers to be allowed to sell their art for hard 
currency without a move by the government to entice younger artists to 
remain in the country when thousands of artists were fleeing. In doing 
so the state could maintain its claim to being a cultural superpower. In
 the last decade, the legalization of cell phones, the growth of 
internet access, the influx of digital media and the elimination of exit
 visas have worked together to empower Cuban artists, regardless of 
their pedigrees or political affiliations. Independent artists can now 
produce and distribute works, fundraise, and travel on their 
own—allowing them in recent years to be less reliant on powerful 
bureaucrats and union affiliations to engage in their trade. At the same
 time, consumption of state-produced Cuban culture and media is on the 
decline. The Cuban government relies on an influx of foreign capital to 
stay afloat, but it now has to contend with the political effects of a 
somewhat mixed economy and the growth of many freelance sectors. Sadly, 
the state appears to be taking a hard line instead of recognizing the 
symbolic benefits of a thriving and diverse independent culture.
Coco Fusco is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. She is the author of Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba.  
https://nacla.org/

 
Cuba Fails to Pacify Artists as Backlash Against Censorship Law Builds
                        
As
 the campaign intensifies against Decree 349, the new federal law that 
criminalizes independent cultural activity in Cuba, the government has 
attempted to reassure artists by announcing that it plans to scale back 
some of the most heavily criticized parts of the legislation.
While
 the culture ministry has remained largely silent since Cuban President 
Miguel Díaz-Canel passed the law in April—one of the first bills signed 
since he took office—after several protests, arrests, and a growing 
outcry on social media, vice minister of culture Fernando Rojas spoke 
out about the controversy last week. In an interview with the Associated Press,
 Rojas chalked up the backlash to the government’s failure to properly 
explain the decree to the public. He also said that “artistic creation 
is not the target” of the law, which was supposed to go into effect on 
December 7. The government is now informing artists that the decree will
 not be enforced until new, detailed regulations are finalized.
Rojas
 clarified that even though the law stipulates that government 
inspectors can shut down cultural events, ranging from exhibitions to 
concerts, this would only occur in extreme cases of obscenity, racism, 
or sexism. The revised decree will also prohibit officials from entering
 studios, homes, and other venues that aren’t open to the public. He 
added that it would only be applied in “very clear situations.”
For
 some, the apparent softening of the law might seem like a small 
victory. Others see it as a ploy to mollify activists who are attempting
 to mobilize Cuba’s cultural sector. For Cuban American artist and 
educator Coco Fusco, who is based in New York and Florida, the Cuban 
government’s relentless campaign of harassing, threatening, and 
detaining artists who have been speaking out against the decree does not
 indicate that it intends to roll back the legislation.
Only last 
week, the authorities arrested several activists, including artists 
Tania Bruguera, Amaury Pacheco, and Michel Matos and Bienal de La Habana
 organizers Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Yanelys Nuñez Leyva, who 
were planning a sit-in at the ministry of culture in Havana. The police 
thwarted the protest by detaining most of the activists before they were
 able to attend.
While the organizers of and participants in the 
sit-in were all released on Thursday, December 6, two musicians who were
 taken into custody for publicly opposing the decree at a concert they 
held in September are still behind bars. 14medio
 reports that rapper Maykel Castillo Pérez, also known as El Osorbo, was
 taken to the hospital at Valle Grande prison on Monday because of his 
deteriorating health. In a statement written last month, the artist 
claimed that the authorities targeted him because of his activism. Since
 then, he has been on a hunger strike in protest of his detainment.
In response to the government’s crackdown on the most recent wave of protests against the decree, a petition
 penned by twenty-three international arts professionals—including 
Fusco; José Luis Blondet, associate curator of special initiatives at 
the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cuauhtémoc Medina, chief curator 
at the Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo, UNAM; and Jorge Rivas, 
curator of Spanish colonial art at the Denver Art Museum—and signed by 
139 people was launched Sunday. In addition to denouncing the continued 
detainment of activists opposing the decree, the petition urges the 
government to reconsider the law and to end its harassment of Cuban 
citizens.
Addressed to Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso Grau, 
Rojas, and president of the National Council of Fine Arts Norma 
Rodriguez, the document reads: “Nothing positive can come from arresting
 and detaining artists who seek to engage government officials in a 
discussion about new laws pertaining to culture, which happens to be a 
space for discussion. While state officials have claimed publicly that 
Decree 349 is designed to protect artists, it is already evident through
 the recent actions of Cuban law enforcement that Decree 349 is being 
used to punish artists deemed undesirable on political grounds and to 
instill fear among the rest.”
Fusco told Lauren Cavalli of artforum.com that Rojas also appeared on the televised program The Round Table
 on Friday alongside Grau; Rafael González Muñoz, president of the 
Hermanos Saíz Association; and Lesbia Vent Dumois, president of plastic 
arts at the UNEAC, among others. For Fusco, the segment attempted to pit
 artists against one another. “It communicated that ‘real’ Cuban artists
 supported the law because they understand the need to be rid of 
vulgarity, obscenity, and nonprofessionalism,” Fusco said. “It 
categorized those who stand against the law as enemies of the state.”
While
 cultural producers in Cuba are now forced to wait as the government 
spends the next few weeks making changes to the law, many are prepared 
to continue fighting the legislation. Despite being arrested twice last 
week, Bruguera made it clear she will not be intimidated by the 
government. In an open letter posted on Facebook,
 the artist announced that she decided to cancel her upcoming trip to 
India, where she was expected to participate in the Kochi Muziris 
Biennale, in order to stand with Cuban artists.
She wrote: “At 
this moment I do not feel comfortable traveling to participate in an 
international art event when the future of the arts and artists in Cuba 
is at risk. . . . As an artist I feel my duty today is not to exhibit my
 work at an international exhibition and further my personal artistic 
career but to expose the vulnerability of Cuban artists today.”
Various
 international art institutions and organizations have since voiced 
their support for artists advocating for artistic freedom in Cuba. Among
 those who have released statements in solidarity with the activists are
 the Kochi Muziris Biennale, the Van Abbemuseum in the Netherlands, the 
Asociación de Arte Útil, and the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester, among 
others.
https://www.artforum.com

 

                    Imprisonment of Cuban 'art-ivist' sparks charges of censorship
                
                     HAVANA (Reuters) - Dozens of renowned Cuban artists
 from across the political spectrum are calling for the release of 
dissident artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara who was 
arrested 10 days ago, decrying this as an outdated act of censorship. 
                

                        
                            
                                Reuters
                            
                        
                        
                            March 11, 2020 05:10:33 IST
                        
                    

                    
                    
                    
                
HAVANA (Reuters) - Dozens of renowned Cuban artists from across 
the political spectrum are calling for the release of dissident artist 
and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara who was arrested 10 days ago, 
decrying this as an outdated act of censorship.
The 32-year-old, known for his provocative performances criticizing 
communist authorities, has been put in "preventive prison" awaiting 
trial on charges of insulting national symbols and damaging property, 
according to his partner and art curator Claudia Genlui.
The insult charge, which carries a one-year prison sentence, came 
after the self-described "art-ivist" draped himself in the Cuban flag 
for a month last year, including in the bathroom, documenting his 
performance with photos and videos.






Luis Manuel Otero 
Alcantara has been jailed over his opposition to new rules banning 
public art that hasn't been sanctioned by the state

Credit:
VICTOR RAISON



Genlui said she did not know what property he was being accused of 
damaging but that was a more serious offence carrying a sentence of two 
to five years. His supporters have called this a trumped-up charge to 
portray him as a common criminal rather than a victim of censorship.
The Cuban government, which usually does not comment on police 
activity like the detention of dissidents, did not respond to a request 
for comment. But one pro-government blogger published a post on the "new
 hero of the counterrevolution," accusing him of being a U.S.-backed 
mercenary.
Otero Alcantara has been detained dozens of times at police stations 
over the past few years but never for more than 72 hours, and he had 
never been thrown in jail, Genlui said.
While more than 3,000 people including prominent Cuban intellectuals,
 artists and opposition activists have signed an online petition calling
 for his release, dozens of public figures have gone on social media to 
criticize what they call authorities' heavy handed actions.
These include even some staunch defenders of Cuba's 1959 revolution 
such as folk singer Silvio Rodriguez and painter-sculptor Alexis Leiva 
"Kcho," who was friendly with late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.
"We are giving a very sad impression of backwardness, of the Middle 
Ages," Rodriguez wrote on his blog. "How, in the middle of the 21st 
century, are we going to put ideological brakes on young artists?"
"Let's stop this now! We do not need it and the future of Cuba is freedom, not censorship," wrote Leiva on Facebook.
(Reporting by Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Richard Chang)
This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
https://www.firstpost.com

 
 Threats to Cuban Journalist Possible Revival of “Gag Law”

 October 6, 2020

By El Toque
Abraham Jimenez Enoa, Cuban journalist. Photo: Nuria Lopez Torres
HAVANA TIMES –
 Cuban journalist Abraham Jimenez Enoa denounced his arbitrary arrest 
and being stripped, handcuffed and transferred to the State Security 
Unit known as Villa Marista, on October 1st. Once there, he was 
interrogated and threatened.
Jimenez collaboration with the US newspaper The Washington Post
 is the alleged reason for his arrest. The authorities told him it could
 be a crime of “usurpation of functions” because the newspaper isn’t 
accredited in Cuba.
Cuban legislation stipulates to justify a person’s arrest, an incident must be reported beforehand linking the detainee to it.
It also recognizes an arrest if made in flagrante at a crime scene. In these cases, a report must be filed immediately after the arrest.
There
 is no record of Abraham Jimenez reported before or after his arrest. No
 crime relating to “usurpation” is applicable against the former 
director of the independent digital publication El Estornudo.
What is usurpation?The
 Penal Code recognizes four crimes linked to usurpation. Usurpation of a
 Political or Military Power (Article 102). This stipulates sanctions 
for people who illegally take on the command of troops and civil groups 
or usurp official functions.
The crime of Usurpation (Article 333)
 sanctions those who illegally occupy or take over a property (building,
 house or deserted dilapidated tenement) that doesn’t belong to them.
Article
 102 and 333 don’t condemn a journalist’s collaboration with foreign 
media. Neither does article 148 (Usurpation of Official Functions). This
 one condemns those who impersonate public servants or members of the 
Armed Revolutionary Forces or Ministry of the Interior.
Usurpation
 of Legal Capacity (Art. 149) is a crime the Cuban government uses to 
sanction the work of independent journalists who lack a degree.
International
 standards of freedom of expression recognize that no degree is needed 
to be a journalist. However, the Cuban government uses this argument to 
repress anti-establishment civil journalism.
Nevertheless, Abraham
 Jimenez has a degree. He graduated in Journalism from Havana 
University’s Communications Department, in 2012. His collaboration with The Washington Post doesn’t fall under any of the usurpation-related crimes stipulated in the Penal Code.
The gag law was never repealedUsing
 collaboration with foreign press unaccredited in Cuba to justify 
repression reminds us that Law 88 is still in force. This is the 
Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy law, known as the
 “gag law”. Even more so if this media outlet is linked to the United 
States
In Article 7.1, this law indicates that: “Any person who 
with the intent of succeeding in the objectives of the “Helms-Burton” 
Law, the blockade or the economic war against our people, aimed at 
breaking the internal order, destabilizing the country and liquidating 
Cuba’s socialist state and independence, collaborates by any means with 
foreign radio and television stations, newspapers, magazines or other 
media outlets commits a crime punishable by a prison sentence of two to 
five years, or a fine of three thousand quotas, or both.”
“Criminal
 responsibility in the cases cited in the above paragraph will apply to 
those who use said media. It does not apply to foreign reporters legally
 accredited in this county…”
“The prison sentence is three to 
eight years, or a fine of three to five thousand quotas, or both if the 
deed described in paragraph 1 is committed in search of profit or by 
means of a handout, remuneration, reward or promise of an advantage or 
benefit.”
Beyond the arrest no guarantees or rights as prisonersTherefore,
 rather than charge Jimenez with usurpation, they could turn to this 
other repressive legislation to justify his arrest. However, if the 
Cuban authorities wanted to repeat another Black Spring, like they 
unleashed in 2003, and which led to the imprisonment of 75 independent 
journalists and political opponents (the only time Law 88 was applied) 
to consider Abraham and other Cuban journalists who collaborate with US 
press criminals, this wouldn’t justify the unlawful treatment of them 
once in custody, not that the law provides them with many guarantees 
anyway.
Being considered a criminal doesn’t include a detainee 
being arrested or stripped naked for no reason. Things like this turn 
the “criminal” into a victim and the captors into “thugs”.
Just 
two weeks ago, during a UN Working Group meeting about Arbitrary 
Arrests, the Netherlands highlighted its concern regarding the arbitrary
 arrest of independent journalists, artists and activists in Cuba.
“We
 are concerned about the frequent reports of harassment, intimidation, 
restrictions to leave their homes and travel bans that independent 
journalists, artists and activists are subject to,” said The 
Netherlands’ representative his speech. He urged the Cuban government to
 resolve these problems and to respect every citizen’s human rights.
https://havanatimes.org 

If this is my last column here, it’s because I’ve been imprisoned in Cuba
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel speaks during the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 22. (Tiffany Hagler-Geard/Bloomberg)
Opinion byAbraham Jiménez Enoa
Columnista, Post Opinión
Oct. 5, 2020 at 1:13 p.m. PDT
HAVANA
 — As I felt the cold metal of the handcuffs dig into my wrists and 
tried to adjust my body after being forced to hunch forward, I looked at
 my shoes and wondered how a government can be so afraid of reality that
 it tramples with impunity over someone willing to show the world that 
reality. Shortly before, three state security agents dressed as 
civilians had strip-searched me and made me face a wall to handcuff me, 
and now I was being taken in a car to their headquarters for 
interrogation. One of the agents had his right arm pressing over my body
 during part of the trip to keep my head down.
Leer en español: Si esta es mi última columna aquí, es porque estoy preso en Cuba
I
 suffered a very serious act of violence on Thursday, but what happened 
to me was not even the worst of the arbitrary detentions that political 
dissidents, activists, artists and other independent journalists 
frequently suffer in Cuba. It is a fact that many fundamental rights, 
such as freedom of expression, press and association, don’t exist in 
Cuba, because the regime is incapable of coexisting with people who 
think differently. But the Cuban government not only systematically 
commits flagrant violations of human rights, it also has the nerve of seeking a seat on the Human Rights Council of the United Nations.
In
 Cuba, the only journalists authorized by the state to practice the 
profession are those who decide to do so in the Communist Party media, 
which is the only party recognized by the state. This is what the 
constitution dictates.
 Therefore, the regime has the power to harass and repress journalists 
who work outside that legal umbrella, in the ecosystem of independent 
media.
State
 security is the agency tasked with making our lives difficult, the one 
in charge of hijacking the reality of Cuba. State security can have your
 mother fired from her job. State security can summon your father for 
questioning. State security can write slanderous messages to your 
pregnant partner. State security can put a neighbor in jail and then 
question that neighbor just because he’s your friend. State security can
 detain you at your own home whenever they please. State security can 
prohibit you from leaving the country. State security can tap your 
phones and cut off your Internet.
State
 security can do all this, which is more or less the summary of what it 
has done to me in recent years, but I say, once again, that I have fared
 better than other victims.
Now,
 state security doesn’t want me to write this column. They don’t want me
 to write what I write here. The accounts of life in Cuba that I publish
 every month are part of what the Cuban government wants to keep under 
lock to protect the progressive image that it tries to cultivate 
worldwide. Part of the essence of totalitarian regimes is to silence the
 voices that narrate the most subversive aspects of daily life.
That’s
 why they stripped me, that’s why they handcuffed me, and that’s why 
they warned me that if I wrote one more column — meaning this one — they
 would take me to prison. What would be the charge? It doesn’t really 
matter: State security has been building legal cases against innocent 
people for more than six decades. If they decide to carry out their 
threat, they will find a crime and smear me with some interpretation of 
the law to criminalize my actions.
On the day of my detention, President Miguel Díaz-Canel posted on Twitter a photo of a smiling Fidel Castro,
 followed by the phrase: “The ridiculous pretense of imposing solutions 
by force is incompatible with all civilized reason and the essential 
principles of international law.”
It’s
 a coherent message, but where was the civility during my arbitrary 
detention? Where was the respect for international law and my rights 
during the hours of interrogation? It was all a despotic abuse. I urge 
the president of Cuba to truly comply with one of the essential 
principles of international law: Informing is not a crime. If I go to 
prison for writing this column, those words should be used to hold you 
accountable. 
Abraham Jiménez Enoa
Abraham Jiménez Enoa es periodista en Cuba y cofundador de la revista ‘El Estornudo’.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/
 
They threaten to take to the streets of Havana if the Cuban regime does not release detained activists     Present 10/10/2020     CiberCuba StaffDozens of Cuban activists threaten to take to the streets of Havana on Saturday if the island's regime does not release three artists and one journalist who were arrested on Friday and are missing.

  CiberCuba reporter Iliana Hernández, and the artists of the San Isidro Movement Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Anamelis Ramos and Maykel Osorbo, were detained by the government's political police and their whereabouts are still unknown, various activists denounced on Facebook. "If they do not release Luisma Libre, Iliana Hernandez, Anamelis Ramos and Maykel Castillo Pérez, all the more reason: tomorrow everyone to the streets !!", published the independent journalist Camila Acosta, who has also been the victim of harassment and repression in the last weeks.Oscar Casanella, who also opposes the repression in Cuba, demanded immediate freedom for the prisoners.Oscar casanella17 hours agoImmediate release for Anamely Ramos, Iliana Hernandez, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and Maykel Castillo Pérez (Osorbo). Until when the political repression? For her part, Claudia Genlui, who has even been beaten by police officers on several occasions, denounced that she is being detained at her home. "I am detained at my house. State security forbids me to go out. Without identifying myself they even tell me that if I go out there will be consequences. What consequences ?? Stop me or drag me away like they did to the art curator Anamely Ramos ???" on the social network. Claudia Genlui Hidalgo17 hours agoI am detained at my house. State security forbids me to go out. Without identifying themselves they even tell me that if I go out there will be consequences. What consequences? Stop me or drag me away like they did to the art curator Anamely Ramos ???

 


Another publication by Hector Luis Valdés Cocho denounces: "Three missing artists and a journalist. We demand the immediate freedom of the 4. One of them (Anamely Ramos) severely beaten by male state security agents. The Cuban dictatorship cannot under any circumstances concept to integrate the council of human rights of the UN ", expressed.Then he said that "Tomorrow this will be the color of a brava ant ...", referring to the initiative to go out to the streets to demand the release of the detainees. Hector Luis Valdés Cocho17 hours ago Tomorrow this will be the color of a brave ant ...Iliana, Luis Manuel, Anamely and Maykel ... this is for you warriors.#CubaLlora

 


The opposition Movement San Isidro of Havana is currently facing one of the strongest repressive waves in recent months from the Cuban State Security. Since Thursday, several of its activists have denounced harassment, violence and that the police have besieged the project headquarters in Old Havana. On the afternoon of this Friday Otero Alcántara uploaded a video, before being arrested, where it is observed how several men prevent Anamely Ramos from approaching her home and in the end they beat her and drag her brutally down the street. Both have been missing since then, as has Iliana Hernández, who recorded the arrest of the artist with her cell phone, who was forcibly taken from his home.  Reported by Cibercuba and translated by Lighthouse Publisher Press team.
 
 
Acts
of repudiation and arrests mark repressive
 Saturday in Havana
The
focus of the regime was on several members 
of the San Isidro movement, forced
to remain in their homes under 
the mandate of State Security

María Matienzo Puerto
MARIA MATIENZO PUERTODOMINGO, OCTOBER 11, 2020 1:35 PM
CuratorAnamelys Ramos is led by State Security agents (Photo: Screenshot/Facebook)

MIAMI, USA. More than 20 Cuban activists
were arrested on Saturday in Havana during various operations
carried out by political police.
The
focus of the regime was on several of the members of the San Isidro movement, forced to remain in
their homes under the mandate of State Security.
The
police deployment aimed to prevent activists from entering 
the home of Luis
Manuel Otero Alcántara, home of the Museum of Dissent.
Throughout
the day Otero Alcántara, Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz, Anamelys Ramos, 
Tania
Bruguera, Aminta De Cárdenas, Camila Lobón, Claudia Genlui, 
Kirenia Yalit Núñez
Pérez, Michel Matos, Gretel Kairus, Iliana Hernández and 
Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez
were arrested or driven on patrols.
Esteban Rodríguez, Héctor
Luis Valdés Cocho, Alfredo Martínez, Denis Solís and Oscar Casanella were
missing for several hours.
CubaNet
journalist Camila Acosta, who spent nearly two hours being held on a police
patrol, was also arrested in the Vedado neighborhood.
"I
wasn't even allowed to get to the corner. Two officers, a lieutenant 
and a
captain, took my phone. They took me to La Lisa police station, 
they didn't
even get me into the police station. They wouldn't let me out of the patrol
 at
any time. They kept me in detention, very hot," the reporter said shortly
after she was released.
One
of the most harassed by the regime over the last few days 
has been curator
Anamelys Ramos. The young woman, who had already been arrested on Friday, 
was
the victim of an act of repudiation in front of the building 
where she resides.
"The
street is from the Revolution and you can't get out," one of the women who
located the property shouted to keep the artist from leaving her house.
This
Saturday, amid the repressive wave held in Havana, activists, artists and
freelance journalists of the island made public a statement in protest at
police violence against him.
 
 
I own you and it's all you have to do is obey': 
the
interrogation of curator Anamely Ramos

The
activist was arrested twice on Saturday and subjected to police 
and sexist
violence.
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DDC

Havana 12 Oct
 2020 -
15:58 CEST
Art
Curator Anamely Ramos reported on a direct Sunday the violence 
they exerted
against her in the last arrests of the weekend 
state security officers and the
police of the regime.
Ramos,
a member of the San Isidro Movement, reported that on Friday 20
 men from the
political police devoted themselves to suppressing it with 
the newness of state
individuals and institutions, which he described as 
a "sample of the
totalitarianism of the state" and how State Security exercises 
control
over everything.
From Cuba and Chacón Ramos she was
taken to EGREM on Friday, supposedly for "greater comfort" 
and after
violence had been used to get her arrest.
In
the second arrest on Saturday, simply because she wanted 
to leave her home,
Ramos was chased by a patrol with the siren set by streets 
of Centro Habana "as
if she were a criminal".
"The
hard part," he described it, began in the Alamar Police unit,
 where she
was driven after the arrest.
The "logic
of the regime," according to the first of the talks attempted 
by a female
political police officer who presented herself for good, 
is that "rights
are won."
In a
change of strategy, a lieutenant colonel who described her
 as "very
violent, aggressive" subjected her to a second interrogation.
"Criminal
instructor Vladimir came with another officer and
all the instruments to start a legal process supposedly 
for tampering with the
order," she said, something she learned "after much discussion 
with
him."
Already
he wanted to test me for, hair samples, that is, he wanted 
to prosecute me
criminally..., added Ramos, who was denied all the time 
to perform such tests.
"He
insisted a lot that all I had to do was obey, he spoke to me 
in very violent
terms: 'I am your owner and all it is your turn to obey' (...) 
He said he
wasn't interested in the right thing, that he was the authority,
 and that I had
to undergo the tests," he said.
The
lieutenant colonel threatened her with another cause for disobedience: 
"she
told me she was going to go to the Vivac for three days."
"I
tell you all this because they're raising the stop and they're
 trying to
prosecute me for something, because they're head of something.
 It was very rude
all the time, screaming (...) I corrected all the time 
the offenses he used
against me and that of course altered him more, he slapped 
at me at one point,
with total machismo, with total abuse of power," 
his story continued.
"We
own the revolution, we own freedom of opinion (...) 
He repeated to me many
times that he was a cop and was there to suppress people 
like me."
In
the end, State Security determined to release Ramos 
and have a patrol drive her
home.
"Let
him be happy because for this time I had been spared my life, 
so he said (Vladimir). However, since he had to
take revenge, he fined me 2,000 pesos for alleged 
misuse of nasobuco," he
added.

It reports Diario de Cuba and translates Lighthouse Publisher Press team.

 

'Bajanda, perra': Castro's henchmen and mobs against peaceful activists in Cuba

On October 10, several members of civil society were attacked and detained. This is the first part of an account of the events.FacebookTwitterLinkedInWhatsAppLIEN CARRAZANAMadrid 14 Oct 2020 - 14:32 CESTTania Bruguera, Camila Lobón, Aminta de Cárdenas and Kirenia Yalit inside the patrol. October 10, 2020. HAMLET LAVASTIDA / FACEBOOKTwo minors are raped by agents in Havana: "What were they doing alone?" Two young people have been killedby police officers so far this year: "they were thieves", "they must have done something". They arrest peaceful activists who wanted to celebrate the day of national rebellion: "nothing new", "more of the same", "as always". Did Cubans get so used to police violence that they see it as normal? After arbitrary arrests carried out in previous days, this October 10, 2020, a diverse group of activists signed a statement to state that they are not used to police violence, and that they went out into the street because "if they mess with you, they get into With everyone".They were going to the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), where a concert was going to be held to inaugurate the space after a remodeling. But there another kind of "cultural activity" awaited them. 'Let's go to the concert' at 4:20 PM The marriage of actress Iris Ruiz and poet Amaury Pacheco left their home in Alamar without difficulties. There was no police surveillance, as can be seen in the direct that the couple made on Facebook. They took a taxi and at the exit of the tunnel they saw Lieutenant Santos following them on a motorcycle. "Go straight to Cuba and Chacón," the officer shouted at the taxi driver, Iris said. "Hey, and who is that guy?" The driver asked the activist couple. The security agent "looked like a madman, screaming alone on the motorcycle."From the taxi Amaury rebuked Lieutenant Santos and refused to go to the station. Then he asked the driver to stop, but he did not wait for the driver to stop and jumped out of the car. The taxi driver slammed on the brake. Iris also got out. They paid the taxi driver and continued at full speed across the grass that borders the tunnel exit. Iris thought they might have been run over. When they got to the top, already on the street, they tried to make a direct one, but the internet on their cell phone did not work.The specialized police detained them in the vicinity of the Cabaña bar. There was also Officer Santos, who had stopped the taxi driver and was driving him to the Cuba and Chacón stations. Iris and Amaury were taken to the police station, held until 8:00 PM, and then returned to their home. "No one questioned us or told us anything," Iris explained, noting that what Santos did ask her to give him the phone number, claiming that she had recorded it in a previous arrest. After being taken home, Officer Santos gave them back their identity cards and the phone, but he kept watching them all night in a kindergarten near the couple's home.While at the station, Iris and Amaury managed to see scientist Oscar Casanella, who had also been detained. Verbal and physical violence Other activists did manage to reach the MSI headquarters, but they found it closed and there was "a cultural event" on the street. The producer Michel Matos made a direct arriving at the place, accompanied by the activist Kirenia Yalit Nuñez, the producer Aminta de Cárdenas, and the artists Tania Bruguera and Camila Lobón. "A spokesman with a microphone begins to embolden that mass, that paramilitary horde" against us, Michel said. A mob, made up mostly of elderly ladies, rushed at them. "They weren't people from the neighborhood," said artist Camila Lobón, 25, the youngest of the detainees.

https://diariodecuba.com

 
 
Tania Bruguera, with headache and ears from a sound similar to that of a cricket, but 'electronic'The sound 'is cricket-like, but electronic, and very loud. It cannot be natural. It is activated every minute or so ', denounces the Cuban artist.

Cuban artist Tania Bruguera. TANIA BRUGUERA / FACEBOOKDDCLa Habana 18 Oct 2020 - 14:01 CEST
The Cuban artist Tania Bruguera denounced through her social networks the appearance of a strange noise inside her house, similar to that of a cricket, which has caused her a great headache and ears, which several people have associated with the so-called "acoustic attacks" previously reported by US diplomats. "Does anyone know this noise? It's cricket-like, but electronic and very loud. It can't be natural, it goes off every minute or so and lasts for a minute, minute, and sixteen seconds, minute, and twenty-one seconds and I have a head and ears that cannot be held. The actual volume is not recorded in the recording, it is actually a very high and penetrating volume, "Bruguera wrote on her social networks.She then posted a recording of the sound, and asked if anyone could identify it. Minutes later Deborah Bruguera, the artist's sister, affirmed that they confronted the sound heard by Tania Bruguera "and it is identical to that heard by the workers of the American Embassy in Havana and that according to investigations they designated as a sonic weapon", although she clarified that "Tania's sound may feel a little higher-pitched because it was recorded in a precarious way." Deborah Bruguera wrote an extensive post where she listed several strategies used by Cuban State Security to affect Tania Bruguera, among which she mentioned what happened on October 10, whenshe suffered an act of repudiation and subsequent arrest."The only way to get it out of the way is either with a very rare car accident, like the one I suffered on March 1 and in which my mother died and we could all have lost our lives, or in a more silent way," Deborah wrote Bruguera. "I wake up with this post from my sister and the sound recorded by chat, does it worry me? Yes, could it be a sonic attack? Who knows, is it a strategy for her to just leave Cuba? Probably, ¿ It is very strange that sound born suddenly and now insistent? Definitely, do you always backfire with it? Without a doubt, "she added."Turn off your gadgets because you are not alone in hell! And if you want to hurt her you will be simply creating a hero when she is simply in the front row with everyone else and arm in arm with the others. They can go very wrong, she is just one more, she is all the others, all the others are her, so turn that off or as always the shot may come back on you ", concluded her sister. In September 2017, the United States Government decided to withdraw all non-essential personnel and their families from its Embassy in Cuba due to the fact that a score of diplomats experienced symptoms such as dizziness, vertigo, mental confusion, partial deafness and basic vocabulary gaps. supposedly caused by exposure to persistent sounds of unknown origin in their homes or hotel rooms.The hypothesis of the attack gained strength after the broadcast of an audio recording, made by US diplomatic personnel in Havana and published by the Associated Press (AP), in which an annoying high-pitched buzzing similar to that of a cricket was heard. The Cuban authorities, who carried out their own investigation, assured in 2017 that the investigations showed "the lack of evidence indicating the occurrence of the alleged acoustic attacks."The New York Times analyzed the incident and noted that some of the affected people had their lives changed and in some cases ended their careers. "A few minutes of a high-pitched noise, usually accompanied by a sensation of high pressure, described as a 'force field', was felt in their homes and hotel rooms in Cuba for several months at the end of 2016," the US media explained. . At the end of 2018 an article published by the prestigious American magazine The New Yorker linked Alejandro Castro Espín, son of Raúl Castro and until then head of the Defense and National Security Commission, who advised his father, with the alleged acoustic attacks that they affected two dozen US and Canadian diplomats in Havana.The report, titled "The Mystery of the Havana Syndrome," indicates that the Cuban Interior Ministry department headed by Castro Espín would have been dismantled around March, just when she was not included among the nominees to replace his father at the helm. the Cuban government raised speculation. According to The New Yorker, several US officials who used to maintain contact with him during the period of normalization of diplomatic relations between the governments of Cuba and the US said that "she is not responding to your messages." The episode, which has not yet been clarified, ended up being one of the major triggers for the freezing of relations between the US and Cuba.

 

Cuban activist Keilylli de La Mora tries to commit suicide again in prison The opponent was admitted to a psychiatric ward of the Cienfuegos provincial hospital, but later returned to the Sabanas prison.DDC 
Cienfuegos 03 Nov
2020 - 12:48 CET 

Keilylli de la Mora Valle. K. DE LA MORA/FACEBOOK
The activist Keilylli from La Mora Valle was admitted for the second time in a psychiatric ward after she attempted on her life in prison, reported Raúl González González, leader of Consenso Ciudadano, belonging to the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU). "A source very close to her that I cannot reveal because I do not have her authorization assured me that Keily again wanted to hang herself with a sheet in her cell because she can no longer bear so much abuse," González told CubaNet.According to the opponent, for this reason the prison authorities referred her to a psychiatric ward at the Gustavo Aldereguía Lima Provincial Hospital in Cienfuegos. There, she was first medicated and later admitted to the medical post of the Mixed Center for Women in Sabanas, where she is currently serving her 18-month prison sentence. "They denied her the phone for two months and then they allowed her to do so, but within the prison management and in the presence of the director. The abuses against her have not stopped, on the contrary, they have been increasing. She asked through the person who serves as a bridge, all our solidarity and support, "added González. De La Mora Valle, also a promoter of Cuba Decide, was sentenced on May 7 to deprivation of liberty for the alleged crimes of "propagation of epidemics", "contempt", "attack" and "disobedience", in a summary trial that It was carried out behind closed doors and without the right to a lawyer.On June 4, the day he entered jail, he began the first of several hunger strikes that he has sustained in almost five months of incarceration. Through the few telephone calls that have been allowed, the activist has denounced the verbal and physical violence against her, as well as the refusal of the authorities to provide her with adequate medical care. In less than two months, the opponent has tried to commit suicide at least three times. During her admissions, the prison authorities have kept her handcuffed to the bed and undergoing treatment that included injections unknown to the inmate, in order to keep her sedated. In addition, De La Mora has denounced that she was beaten to prevent her from protesting.One of his strikes lasting more than two weeks caused his hemoglobin to drop to 4.2. In that condition, she was sent to prison without treatment for her recovery. His imprisonment has generated the concern of international organizations such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and officials of the United States Government such as Michael G. Kozak, US Under Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, and Mara Tekach, former Chargé d'Affaires of USA in Cuba.Reported Diario de Cuba-https://diariodecuba.com/
 
 Regime bans journalist Miriam Celaya from leaving CubaCelaya was notified of the ban this Friday, when she went to extend her passport at the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Foreign Affairs (DIIE) of the municipality of Centro Habana, where she resides
 CUBANET
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 5:04 P.M.
 
Miriam Celaya (Photo: Facebook/Miriam Celaya)MIAMI, USA. – Cuban freelance journalist Miriam Celaya, a collaborator of 14ymedio and CubaNet,was regulated by the authorities of the island and will not be able to travel abroad in the coming months.
Celaya was notified of the ban this Friday, when she went to extend her passport at the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Foreign Affairs (DIIE) of the municipality of Centro Habana, where she resides.
"I went to make the extension of my passport early, to the office of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Foreign Affairs (DIIE) of Centro Habana and there I was told that it was regulated, so I could not complete the procedure," the journalist told 14ymedio.
As he recounts, on-duty officials did not offer him explanations of the country's exit ban, a move that also weighs on hundreds of activists, opponents and members of independent civil society.
"I have been regulated for writing, for my work as a journalist and for what I share on social media," added the journalist, who has challenged State Security on several occasions for refusing to answer questions in interrogations to which he has been quoted.
Celaya, who also holds Spanish nationality, explained to 14ymedio that he intended to spend the end of the year with his relatives in the United States.
According to figures from the Patmos Institute,an organization coordinated by Cuban Pastor Mario Félix Lleonart, in 2019 at least 223 Cuban citizens were unable to leave the island for political reasons.
The list was headed by human rights activists, artists, journalists, religious leaders and other independent civil society actors in Cuba.
Although there are no records of the official number of regulated so far this year, the figure would have fallen ostensibly due to the closure of borders caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The bans on departure from the country are an essential part of the coercive policies implemented by the Island regime against opponents and dissidents.
Decree-Law 302 in force in the Cuban Constitution includes in article 25 the prohibition of departure "for reasons of public interest or national security", a clear violation of article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which specifies that "everyone has the right to move freely" and "to leave any country, including his own, and to return".
 
https://www.cubanet.org/  
 
 
'They violate my privacy all the time,' Cuban activists report victims of the cyberbullying of political policeDIARIO DE CUBA talks to Claudia Genlui, Iliana Hernández and Omara Ruiz Urquiola about the lack of privacy on the island
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Madrid 13 Nov 2020 - 18:04 CET

Claudia Genlui, Iliana Hernández and Omara Ruiz Urquiola. CLAUDIA GENLUI AND OMARA RUIZ
Claudia Genlui, Iliana Hernández and Omara Ruiz Urquiola share a common cause for Cuba's freedom and respect for human rights on the island. Also, the political police's contempt for the intimacy of each of them and still continue to raise their voices for many other women and men who suffer persecution or cyberbullying.
"I feel like they violate my intimacy all the time, even when they filter a Facebook Messenger conversation, which I hardly use for all the paranoia that what I write there everyone sees it, everyone reads it, everyone can use it and above all misrepresent," confesses art curator and activist Claudia Genlui to CUBA DAILY.
"They are like an abusive husband, but in great proportions. In my case, because of my status as a woman and for having practiced the profession of dancer in my youth, they invent that I am a prostitute. Apparently, for them being an independent woman is synonymous with prostitute," says Hernandez, a journalist in the independent cybercuba environment.
"It was disturbing to see how freely this Government can assault a human being's personal space. Not that I didn't know, but I felt protected by my discreet way of living. They (the stalkers), you know that, they would have to elucubrate and invent to try to harm me and that was difficult, however, they did," recalls teacher and activist Omara Ruiz Urquiola about the first episode in which he was the victim of a campaign against him.
Ruiz was surprised, restless and discouraged to see her name involved in a foreign sentimental story in April 2019 and disqualified towards her person. "It was strange, I admit it shocked me, it was like they were talking about someone else, but I was read my name," he says.
She recounts that she read that film on her way to her old job at the University, from where she was fired a few months later for her activism. "Since that first event in April 2019, we have been systematically veded by my brother and me."
Scientist and activist Ariel Ruiz Urquiola was mentioned even on state television and the Granma newspaper, when he tried this year to denounce at the United Nations the harassment of the Government of Cuba to him, his sister and his family. However, despite the discredit campaign, Omara says she received a lot of support from her surroundings.
"Only the neighbor of the fund withdrew my deal. Solidarity has been overwhelming in our case," he says. In those days, she says, she received messages of support from a high school teacher, displays of affection in the queues and even words of admiration over the phone and SMS, even though her line is involved by State Security.
Harassment that also affects the family
Hernandez also remembers the first time she was wanted to be attacked with photos of him posted on a blog. "Photos that were stolen from my computer on January 8, 2020, when I was searched (housing). It gave me laughter because they thought it was a scoop, they didn't know that I had some of those photos posted on my social networks," he said.
The government came to point her out as a lesbian, something that demonstrates the marked homophobia of the political police. She claims she doesn't have a boyfriend because she's "very exquisite" and doesn't want to be "made a yogurt". "Look what happened to Ruhama Fernandez, they got in until they had the groom break up with her, that's how this abusive regime is," he said.
Although Hernandez doesn't care so much about the government's misrepresentations, his mother did mind when he read obscene comments about his daughter. "I would immediately take her to the Twitter of (Miguel) Diaz-Canel and the other executioners in this country and see that I had more acceptance than them and already carries it better," he said.
Claudia Genlui, for her part, recently experienced a direct threat under the door of her home in Havana. Political police sent him intimate photos, which in his case add to the leak of images of his partner, the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
"It was a huge impact because those photos came from a private chat that we had maintained when Luis had been traveling in Argentina," Whatsapp tells DDC via Whatsapp.
She says that since approaching Otero Alcántara she began to feel vigilated and, once declared an independent activist, lost any right to privacy. "When we become a little more visible as human rights activists in Cuba, we assume that we lose the intimacy and possibility of having some secrecy."
Genlui's paranoia increased even in calls to his family. Sometimes he has come to hear "weird voices" behind the conversation and they cut off his call. On social media they even got words of his words out of context with Otero Alcántara. The activist refers to the Cuban state as "that great eye that sees everything and from which you cannot defend yourself".
Confirmation that he has not a shred of intimacy in Cuba comes in subpoenas and interrogations. "You realize she's been taken from your privacy (...) Almost all the dissidents around me have been victims of this harassment: Tania Brugeras, Anamely Ramos, Maykel Osorbo, Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz," genlui says.
Protection in Cuba?
Laws in Cuba do not regulate harassment, nor is there a data protection law in telephony and internet services offered by the state communications monopoly, ETECSA, explain lawyers consulted by DDC. The Police and State Security may use "section 234 of the Criminal Procedure Act on the assumption that those affected "are under investigation", to obtain the information they wish," they add.
"Arbitrary arrests, harassment and persecution with impunity to the dissenting person are not legally justified, but they are based on the belief, held by several Cubans, that the State/Government/Party is within their rights," attorney Eloy Viera wrote on Facebook on Thursday.
Viera argues that the Government of Cuba sees everything on the island as a thing of its property and feels the owner of the people.
In this regard, activist Genlui states that cyberbullying "is a maneuver that they (the authorities) constantly use and that is that they feel owners of you and everything that belongs to you, even your body, your way of thinking, your communication with the beings you want."
Hernandez considers that "it is part of the strategy of discrediting this sexist regime (...) One of the foundations of this dictatorship is always to discredit the opponent because they dare not compete on an equal footing."
Ruiz says that "the creepiest thing" was learning about people from theFirst Superior Design,who spoke against her when she was fired.
"That requires a lot of boldness, it's dangerous, I think they could get to physical crime. This country has been imprisoned in pseudoideological fanaticism for six decades, and has generated a permanent state of collective hysteria that he does until he ignores evidence of legal value. Here euphoria weighs witch hunts, anyone can be the object of delirium," he concluded.

Wave of arrests in Havana against activists of the San Isidro MovementThe list of detainees includes Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo Pérez, Anamelis Ramos, Iliana Hernández, Oscar Casanella, Omara Ruiz Urquiola, Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, among others...
 CUBANET
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 8:19 P.M.
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One of the posters of the San Isidro Movement (Photo taken from CUBA DNA)MIAMI, USA. Several Cuban activists were arrested this Friday in Havana by agents of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), according to several reports appearing on social networks.
Camila Acosta, a journalist from CubaNet,reported that among the detainees were several members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) and people close to them, who, at different times, showed up at the unit of Cuba and Chacón, in the municipality of Old Havana, to demand answers about activists who have been "kidnapped" throughout the week.
The arrested list includes the artivist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, rapper Maykel Castillo Pérez, curator Anamelis Ramos, journalist Iliana Hernández, scientist Oscar Casanella, Omara Ruiz Urquiola, Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, Adrián Rubio Santos, Jovián Díaz and at least two other MSI activists.
According to Acosta, none responded to the phone calls made and, for the time being, they are all in an unknown whereabouts.
"If you don't let them go, we'll be the detainees tomorrow. We're still relieved. They are not alone," the young woman warned on her Facebook profile.
Journalist and writer María Matienzo adds that they were also in front of the police station Jorge Luis Estién Bryan and Eliecer Carrión Moreaux.
The San Isidro Movement posted on its Facebook account that the arrests continue the successive violations perpetrated by the political police.
"The State Security Department violates the constitutional right of manifestation. This is how they claim to violate human rights from their seat on the United Nations DD.HH. Council. Cuban citizens trying to enforce the Constitution and the government prevents it from cracking down," the dissident group warned.
Independent producer Michel Matos also echoed the arrests.
U.S. State Department condemns arbitrary arrests.
The American chancellery soon reacted to the fact.
"Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is again unjustly arrested. The Cuban regime systematically uses arbitrary arrests to intimidate Cubans who bravely speak out against abuses. This year alone, hundreds have been arrested and questioned for exercising their right to freedom of expression," Michael G. Kozak, Acting Undersecretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, wrote on Twitter.
 

 
OCDH condemns arrest of anti-racism activist Juan Antonio MadrazoPolice also entrusted the activist with personal and work means, including computers, a camera, a projector, a recorder, a projector screen, books and documentation
 AGENCIES
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2020 2:17 P.M.
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Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna (Photo: 14yMedio)MADRID, Spain. – The Cuban Observatory on Human Rights (OCDH) on Friday condemned the arrest in Cuba of anti-racism leader Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna,who, according to the organization, is in an unknown whereabouts.
The OCC reports in a statement that Madrazo Luna was the victim of a record in his home during which police took numerous personal and work media, including computers, a camera, a projector, a recorder, a projector screen, books and working documentation, according to independent local media.
Afterwards, the activist, who serves as national coordinator of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR), was arrested and is still in an unknown whereabouts.
The organization also captures the reaction of CIR activist Marthadela Tamayo, who also denounces the arrest of other colleagues such as Esber Rafael and Braulio Hastié, who had a camera confiscated.
Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and freelance journalist Iliana Hernández were also arbitrarily detained and released later, the OCC notes.
In the statement, the organization condemns the "systematic repression" of Miguel Díaz-Canel's regime against anti-racism activists on the island.
"It is intolerable that a newly elected government member of the UN Human Rights Council always takes advantage of moments of international uncertainty to advance positions in its ongoing confrontation with dissident voices and civil society," says the OCHR.
Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna had recently criticized racial discrimination in the Cuban labour market and the lack of government action in the face of this problem.
In addition, in conjunction with the OCHR, it had sent a proposal to the National Assembly of People's Power for the law on the repeal of mandates to include the right of citizens to promote and participate in the revocation of national deputies, which is impossible, according to the new rule drawn up and approved by the Communist Party-dominated Parliament.
On 5 October, the organization called for strong action from the European Union by increasing repression in Cuba against opponents, civil society activists, journalists and the general population.
(EFE)


 
San Isidro movement summons poetic whisper for the release of Denis Solís
The peaceful demonstration was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. in the municipality of Old Havana
 CUBANET
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2020 12:00 P.M.
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Denis Solís González (Photo: Facebook/Denis Solís González)MIAMI, USA. – The San Isidro Movement convened on Tuesday a "poetic whisper" for the release of the artist Denis Solís, sentenced to eight months in prison for the alleged crime of contempt.
The peaceful demonstration was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, in the municipality of Habana Vieja.
The call takes place amid a strong police deployment in the area to prevent activists from concentrating on some point.
Denis Solís, a rapper member of the dissident group, was arbitrarily detained on 9 November and tried in summary trial on the 11th, according to a court order delivered by the authorities in response to Habeas Corpus filed by activists.
The eight-month prison sentence was rejected by members of the movement, who claim to remain on the streets until the young man is released.
(Illustration: Camila Lobón)Next, we reproduce in full the call of the San Isidro Movement for this afternoon's poetic whisper.
The San Isidro Movement convenes this November 17 at 4:30 PM a poetic whisper in Old Havana to demand the immediate release of Denis Solís González, imprisoned unfairly for expressing his political ideas. It is a gesture that arose in front of the police station of Cuba and Chacón and that we want to keep as poetic breath while Denis is imprisoned.
We will read texts by authors such as Federico García Lorca, Nicanor Parra, Francisco de Quevedo, Dylan Thomas or Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz; and Cuban authors such as Rafael Alcides, Virgilio Piñera, Lezama Lima, Dulce María Loynaz, Grupo Diaspora(s), Omar Pérez, and many others.
Denis Solís is serving an eight-month sentence of deprivation of liberty at valle Grande's depot. The Habaneros are invited to join us at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, located at Damas 955 between San Isidro and Avenida del Puerto. Here we will be for several days a group of artists and friends sharing our favorite works, singing, performing and imagining a fuller Cuba for all. We want all who understand that by demanding Denis' release, we are also demanding our own deliverance to the poetic whisper.
We also ask Cubans and Cubans, wherever they are, to add to the reading. Send us your videos, hang them on your social networks, here or there, from Brussels or from Palma Soriano, because Cuba is in us, and it's a "curve of sigh and mud".
 

 
 A dozen activists gathered at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement declare themselves on hunger strike
Siege of the group scales: Cuban police intercept the neighbor who supplies them with food.
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Havana 18 Nov 2020 - 21:40 CET
Activists on hunger strike. SAN ISIDRO MOVEMENTA dozen members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) and members of independent civil society under siege from the Cuban regime's repressive forces at the group's headquarters in Old Havana decided to go on hunger strike and thirst after they were almost completely isolated on Wednesday when police officers intercepted the person providing them with food.
"Right now they just intercepted our neighbor Daily, who brought us food and money supplies. They withdrew everything he was about to bring us," the besieged activists denounced through their Facebook wall.
For this reason, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez, Maykel Castillo and Humberto Mena began a hunger and thirst strike.
Iliana Hernández, Yasser Castellanos, Adrián Rubio, Oscar Casanella and Osmani Pardo were declared on hunger strikes.
The strikers held the Cuban State accountable for the physical integrity of all people under siege since Monday, who met at MSI headquarters to peacefully demand the release of activist and collective member Denis Solís.
Curator and Professor Anamely Ramos noted that the decision to remain on hunger strike will remain "until Denis is released. In fact, food is no longer going to come in here, even if they leave us."
According to CUBA DAILY some of the activists, the food supplies they have are very small. Strikers have only had breakfast this Wednesday, hours before they began their protest action.
From the project's headquarters, Anamely Ramos, the poet Katherine Bisquet, the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, the rapper Maykel Castillo 'Osorbo', journalist Iliana Hernández, scientist Oscar Casanella, Professor Omara Ruiz Urquiola, artist Yasser Castellanos, musician Humberto Mena 'Joker', activists Adrián Rubio, Jorge Luis Capote, Niovel Abu Alexander Tamayo, Osmani Pardo, and reporter Esteban Rodríguez called a poetry reading on Tuesday,to which other solidarity voices were added inside and outside Cuba.
"We decided to break this cycle of constant arrests by staying here to generate more creative, more long-term, more community actions. Since we managed to get here more than ten people and we are willing to stay here, then we decided to turn the dynamic around and stand up" to protest the release of Denis Solís, Anamely Ramos said to CUBA DAILY.
MSI headquarters has been under police surveillance since Monday. Many of the entrenched activists have also had access to the internet removed.
"They have come to close not only this block, but also the next one," said Ramos, who commented that the street came to be closed with yellow tape on Wednesday morning, but was then removed when activists started taking pictures.
Ramos emphasized that with this collective action they are putting the body in a different way, having to learn to live together so many different people. "Until now we had always put the body in place for arrests," recalled Ramos, who has been arrested for three consecutive days with other activists in front of Cuba and Chacón station.
"We don't know how long we're going to be here, but we're going to be here for a while. And the idea is to have every day cultural proposals to continue demanding for Denis, but from art, but also to project us in front of the neighborhood, who have been very connected with us and supporting us a lot," he said.
"This is a private home, so we're not doing anything illegal, what they're doing something illegal is them [State Security], who keep neighbors from coming to help us and prevented the one who sells bread from coming in," Ramos said.
"We need Denis released, that's totally legitimate because what they've done with him is an injustice," he concluded.

 
Opponent Jacqueline Heredia is charged with alleged crime of "threat"In 2016, Heredia Morales was imprisoned for her peaceful protests against human rights violations and for the freedom of political prisoners.
 KATHERINE MOJENA HERNANDEZ
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020 12:29 P.M.
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Jacqueline Heredia with her children (Photo: Taken from Facebook)MIAMI, USA. – White Lady Jacqueline Heredia Morales reported being the victim of violence by a neighbor, a state security collaborator, this November 16th.
Around 10:00 p.m. on Monday, a man named Lázaro Silva accompanied by his wife Jossie Coto Menéndez, beat Heredia and her 12-year-old daughter. According to the also activist of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and promoter of Cuba Decide, they received blows to the face, head and other parts of the body.
After the incident, the opponent, accompanied by her husband and children, went to zanja police station in Havana to file a complaint against the assailants.
"After so many hours in the unit, they took me and my little girl to the hospital and certified that we were beaten, but when I returned to the Police Unit I was fined 30 pesos," Heredia told CubaNet.
According to the former political imprisoner, so far the authorities have not taken action against the victims. However, this Wednesday Heredia must report to the same police unit for an accusation against him of "threat."
"Now she's going from accuser to defendant, while Lazarus Silva is in her very country house," she questioned, alluding to the man who attacked her.
Fine imposed on Jacqueline Heredia (Photo: courtesy of the author)Jacqueline Heredia's children, 9 and 12, have directly suffered the consequences of the repressive policy that the Ministry of the Interior has systematically maintained against her parents. In addition to physical violence, they suffer psychological trauma due to the continuing occasions that have witnessed violent arrests against their parents. They have even been taken out of their schools to be taken to the dungeons with their mother.
In 2016, Heredia Morales was imprisoned for her peaceful protests against human rights violations and for the freedom of political prisoners. He reported at the time that State Security built him two judicial farcees that ended in a seven-year joint penalty of deprivation of liberty, for alleged offences of "contempt" and "damages."
Due to cruel and inhumane treatment, poor medical care and poor conditions at the HIV prison in San Jose, their health deteriorated severely. Because of this situation, she was released a year and four months.
On October 5, 2019, he became a member of the list of Cubans regulated by the island's regime on political grounds. He was at José Martí International Airport in Havana when authorities prevented him from taking a plane to Washington.
In recent months, threats of imprisonment have intensified. As secured by State Security Department officials, she and her husband have an open process for alleged "attack" and "contempt" crimes.
 
 
Senator Marco Rubio denounces arbitrary detention of Denis Solís in CubaDenis Solís was arrested on November 9 in Havana and is currently in Valle Grande prison, having been tried in a summary trial and sentenced to eight months in prison
 CUBANET
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2020 3:15 P.M.
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CubaNet photo collageMIAMI, USA.- Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio denounced on Wednesday the arbitrary detention in Cuba of rapper and opponent Denis Solís, and demanded freedom of expression on the island, where the regime considers it a crime to be advocating for a free Cuba.
"Rapper Denis Solís González, a member of the @Mov_sanisidro still arbitrarily detained #Cuba for "contempt." Advocating for a Cuba Libre is considered a CRIMEN. #PuebloDeCubaDecideTuFuturo #LibertadDeExpresión," the Republican lawmaker wrote for Florida on his Twitter social media account.
Solís was arrested on November 9 in Havana and is currently in Valle Grande prison, after being tried in a summary trial on November 11 and sentenced to eight months in prison for the crime of "contempt", a criminal figure commonly used by the regime to prosecute journalists, activists and opponents.
The sentence was explained by the authorities in a court order collected by members of the San Isidro Movement on Monday, November 16.
However, the document recounting how the events occurred, responding to Habeas Corpus's request by friends of the rapper, presented some irregularities, reported lawyer Laritza Diversent, director of the Cubalex legal advisory center.
The activist's arrest came days after the activist had an argument with a police officer who entered his home without his consent. In the altercation, which was broadcast live on Facebook, Denis Solís told the agent, "you're a penco wrapped in uniform," and demanded that you leave your home.
Since the rapper's imprisonment, members of the San Isidro Movement have mobilized in the Cuban capital to demand their release from the regime, to which the government's repressive forces have responded with a wave of arrests, beatings, harassment and acts of repudiation.
In the last week, artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, freelance journalist Ileana Hernández, rapper Maykel Castillo, known as Maykel Osorbo, among other activists peacefully calling for the release of Denis Solís, have been arrested.
In this regard, and in the midst of a strong police deployment in the area,this Tuesday the San Isidro Movement summoned a"poetic whisper"for the release of the artist. The peaceful demonstration was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. at the movement's headquarters in the municipality of Habana Vieja.
So far several international organizations have ruled on the case of Denis Solís, such as Freedom House; Pedro Vaca, special rapporteur for freedom of expression of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR); and Article 19 of Mexico.

 
 
Activists strike in San Isidro, despite threats against relatives"Everyone here is called murderers. that's what they told my mom... that we're not doing a hunger strike, that it's all a paripé..." said CubaNet Adrián Rubio, one of the planted
 CAMILA ACOSTA
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 3:42 P.M.
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(Photo: Facebook/Anamely Ramos)HAVANA, Cuba. – "Everyone here is called murderers (...) that's what they told my mom, that I was among murderers, that we're not going on a hunger strike, that everything is a paripé (show) and that we're demanding the release of a person convicted of attempted murder," Adrián Rubio, one of the activists planted since tuesday at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), told CubaNet Adrián Rubio, one of the activists planted since tuesday at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI).
Rubio's mother, Isbel Sánchez González, was threatened by three Cuban State Security (SE) officers this Friday morning. One of them identified himself as Ernesto. Rubio explains, her mother cared for them from the window, did not open the door for fear of reprisals, and because she was alone with her sister, just 10 years old.
"Even my little sister was nervous ₋afirma Rubio₋, I call them every day in the morning and it was she who answered me, told me that there were three men of security there; I tried to calm her down, then my mom explained everything to me."
Since November 16, around a fortnight of activists have been stationed at MSI headquarters in Old Havana. The SE has implemented surveillance and fence 24 hours a day.
The activists intended to go to the police station of Cuba and Chacón to continue demanding the freedom of Denis Solís, a member of the MSI detained since the 9th of the same month and punished, in a very high trial, eight months into deprivation of liberty for an alleged crime of "contempt".
On Wednesday 18th they intercepted a neighbor who brought them food and toilet. Since then, they have prevented people from accessing the neighborhood as well as the entry of such supplies. In protest, on the same 18th, at 3 p.m., several of those present went on hunger strike.
Of the fourteen activists currently armed at the headquarters of the Dissent Museum, seven remain on hunger strikes; they are: Oscar Casanella, Iliana Hernández, Osmani Pardo Guerra, Adrián Rubio and, in the case of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez and Maykel Castillo (Osorbo), also carry out a thirst strike.
Adrián Rubio, just 18 years old, is the youngest in the group. His mother was also warned that if he did not take his son out of the strike, the next occasion would be quoted for the police station.
"They also told him that when I left here, they would apply the pre-delicitive social hazard law to me or send me to Pinar del Río to pass the Military Service," Rubio said.
The young man has refused to pass the Military Service, mandatory for men in Cuba from the age of 18. Last September he sent a letter to the Directorate of the Military Committee of the municipality of Cotorro where he declared that he was not willing to wield arms to defend a dictatorship and that Cuba needed food, not weapons.
This week, while at MSI, his mother received two subpoenas from the Military Committee, which demanded Rubio's presentation.
"They (the SE officers) are trying to get me out of here, but we won't until they release Denis Solís," Rubio said. He also called on all young people to refuse to pass military service because "the regime does not deserve us to defend its riches; they are dictators," he said.
Similarly, Rubio recounts that during his arrest last week, after several of them showed up in Cuba and Chacón, SE Officer Mario warned him that when he was arrested again, he was going to be given "the treatment of terrorist mercenaries: beatings and arrests for more than 24 hours." So the young man assumes that this is one of the common causes that are trying to mount him to send him to prison and, in this way, to take him away from human rights activism.
In addition to Denis Solís' freedom, MSI activists demand the closure of stores in dollars and the cessation of excessive fines on the Cuban people.
On Thursday, the mother of Iliana Hernández, a journalist from CiberCuba on hunger strike, was also threatened. Maricelis Cardosa Elijah was arrested by the SE a few yards from where her daughter and the rest of the MSI activists are located. The 68-year-old girl was detained for about six hours, first at Cuba and Chacón station and then at Cojímar station. They requisitioned all his belongings and even prevented him from taking a medicine necessary for his health conditions.
On Thursday they also arrested Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho on his way to MSI. The freelance journalist was released about 24 hours later. Also, the day before, activist Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia was violently arrested.
"We have not committed any illegality," Anamely Ramos González wrote on his Facebook account.
"They (the SE), however, have limited our right to mobility, chemically attacked us by poisoning the water of the cistern with acid, threatened the neighbors, restricted access to the block, stopped family and friends who came to see us (...) We want to emphasize that they have thrown us on hunger strike. This decision was also a survival measure for Omara Ruiz Urquiola, because when we counted the food that was left, we realized that it was not enough for everyone."
In agreement, the art curator and former professor of the University of the Arts, holds "the Cuban State responsible for what may happen with the seven people who continue the strike and who already, as of today, begin to weaken. I also ask the European Union to take an interest and a stand on the profound injustice that has been committed against Denis Solís and about the humanitarian crisis we are experiencing in San Isidro at the moment."
At the close of this information, he became aware of the arrest of activist Jovian Díaz, on the way out of his home. The MSI is located several blocks around, where several patrols and other police cars are visible. Dozens of civilian-clad individuals have also been identified to monitor and prevent access to the site.
It is also known that several independent journalists, activists and relatives of the protesters remain vigilan to their homes.
 
 
 
With the increase in repression, support for activists planted at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement growsSeveral activists from different parts of the country encounter police surveillance outside their homes.
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Havana 20 Nov 2020 - 16:36 CET
Activists at MSI headquarters. YASSER CASTELLANOS/FACEBOOKAs support for activists planted at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movementgrows, State Security keeps the police fence around the home and arrests people trying to reach the site.
Since Monday, 14 activists entrenched themselves at MSI headquarters to call for the release of Denis Solís González, sentenced to eight months in prison for an alleged "contempt" crime. Nine of these activists decided to go on hunger strike and thirst after they were almost completely isolated on Wednesday when police officers intercepted the person who supplies them with food.
Journalist Norges Rodríguez shared on his Twitter account a video showing officers dressed as civilians preventing a young woman on bicycles from driving down Damas Street.
Amnesty International's Americas Director Erika Guevara warned activists at MSI headquarters on police harassment on Thursday. He also reported the arrest of journalist Iliana Hernández's mother, who was under arrest for several hours after attempting to see her daughter, who is on hunger strike. "We demand their release and respect for the human rights of those who exercise their right to protest," Guevara said.
Este jueves uno de los huelguistas, el músico Humberto Mena "Joker", abandonó la sede del MSI debido a razones familiares y fue detenido, denunció la curadora Anamely Ramos. Fue liberado después de unas horas, según el propio activista expresó en su perfil de Facebook.
También fue denunciada la detención del periodista independiente Héctor Luis Valdés Cocho este jueves, cuando intentaba llegar a la sede del MSI, según comentó su madre en Facebook. "Estoy libre luego de más de 24 horas detenido. No hay texto ni artículo para describir tanta impunidad e injusticia", escribió en Facebook este viernes al ser liberado.
La Seguridad del Estado mantiene vigilancia también frente a las casas de otros activistas, como es el caso de Michel Matos, miembro del MSI, quien lleva cercado tres días. "No me permiten salir de mi propia casa bajo pena de pasar arresto en una de las tantas mazmorras malolientes de La Habana... me han limitado el internet, no puedo navegar ni comunicarme", escribió en Facebook.
Este viernes tres agentes de la Seguridad del Estado visitaron la casa del huelguista Adrián Rubio para presionar a su madre, informaron los activistas desde la sede del MSI. Rubio, de 18 años, abandonó el servicio militar, algo que también utilizó la policía política para intimidar a su mamá con que podrían aplicarle la "peligrosidad predelictiva".
Inside MSI headquarters, artist Yasser Castellanos deposed the hunger strike after 30 hours of fasting and worsening his health. "Fatigues, vomiting, relief, fatigue, vomiting, relief began... The third time the discomfort came faster, I felt that it was beginning to become the only option on that path. I finally decided to start eating food, recovering and contributing to a healthier body, something my colleagues are going to need more and more as the hours go by," the activist said on his Facebook account and appreciated the concern about his health.
"He fought in solitude and peace with his discomfort, listening to his own body. When he felt he had to decide he did and generously and patiently set out to find a new role among us," Anamelys Ramos said.
Meanwhile, a new person joined the planters. "After the sadness and helplessness of Iliana Hernández's mother's arrest (...) we had an unexpected joy: this brave woman, with her three children, came to join us. To the neighbors who are always ready to help us, Anyell Valdés Cruz, he said: I am one of them, even if they do not know me and I need to get there. And so he did. Her children left with Grandma, but she stayed and we were excited," Ramos said on her Facebook profile.
"The Cuban people are a worthy people, we have a huge history of anonymous heroics. As if we haven't endured these sixty-one years, without killing joy?" said the curator.
Solidarity continues to grow
"Guns against poetry and literature. That's the new escalation of barbarism. The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FDHC) supports the courageous members of the San Isidro Movement, Cuban political-cultural avant-garde," said Juan Antonio Blanco,executive director of the FDHC.
The FDHC also awarded the "General Calixto García Al Valor" medal to Professor Omara Ruiz Urquiola, one of the activists inside MSI headquarters, "for her extraordinary personal self-denial in this scenario".
"The FDHC's tribute to Omara Ruiz Urquiola, an extraordinary woman who today sits alongside more than a dozen MSI activists, under the harassment of the Cuban regime, said on Twitter Zúñiga-Brown,in charge of the US Embassy in Cuba.
The Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), led by artist Tania Bruguera, expressed solidarity and support for activists. "There is no justification for the illegality, arbitrariness and inhumanity of these repressive strategies by the State to co-order freedom of expression," the institute said on its Facebook page. "We hold the Cuban State accountable for the physical and psychological integrity of these citizens and colleagues."
For its part, the Martiana Current denounced the crackdown on planted activists, and expressed its support and solidarity. While José Daniel Ferrer, leader of UNPACU, announced that other activists in Las Tunas joined the fast initiated by him and his family.
Meanwhile Clarín,the most circulating newspaper in Argentina, published a text on the protest by Cuban violinist Luis Alberto Mariño Fernández in Buenos Aires,where he plays his instrument every afternoon in front of the Cuban Embassy while asking for the freedom of Denis Solís.
Activists Jose Luis Acosta, Ediyersi Santana and Marisol Peña Cobas began a fast in Camaguey and alerted on Facebook the detention of Adrián Queseda, who was preparing to join them.
American journalist Michael Deibert joined the demands for solidarity. "The free world is watching this fight," he said in a shared video on Twitter.
The Cuban artist Douglas Argoelles symified with the activists,called for the release of Denis Solís and wrote an extensive reflection on Facebook where he notes that "the San Isidro Movement (...) it has become a real headache for the cowardly tyranny of the Castros," which is why the regime "has snatched hostility to peaceful actions" from the MSI.
The Libertad Cuba Lab collective organized an online poetry reading in support of planted activists, with voices from Cubans inside and outside the island.
Artist Erik Ravelo also condemned the crackdown on the MSI and entrenched activists, highlighting that they are not alone.
"In Cuba, today, something important, historical is happening," opined Cuban historian Oscar Grandio Moraguez, for whom "entrenched activists faithfully represent today's Cuban society."
"The courage, fortitude, and psychological strength of these contemptd Cubans is touching, and shows us that there is hope for a future Cuba without dictatorship. They are the future, but today they are the present. A present where fear ceased to be a constant, and where migration ceased to be a solution," he said on his Facebook account.
For them, unlike many of us who leave the island, the future is only in their country. A future they don't conceive of without democracy. They are the germ, still incipient, but powerful, of a massive movement, which peacefully, as they do, will bring down the dictatorship," he said.
In a statement on Thursday, activists emphasized that "The hunger and thirst strike by Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Maykel Castillo and Esteban Rodríguez, and the hunger strike of Iliana Hernández, Osmani Pardo, Oscar Casanella and Adrian Rubio will end when they release Denis Solís, when they return the supplies and money they stole from our neighbor Daylys Bandera and when the Cuban state closes the stores in MLC."
"We want to emphasize that they have thrown us into hunger strike. That decision was also a measure of survival for Omara Ruiz Urquiola, because when we counted the food that was left, we realized that it was not enough for everyone," Anamely Ramos said on Facebook.
"I also ask the European Union to take an interest in and rule on the profound injustice that has been committed against Denis Solís and about the humanitarian crisis we are experiencing in San Isidro right now," she said.

 
Sexual assault against Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia reflects 'the moral decline of the system'Cuban activists recall that the 'government's indolence to such actions makes it complicit'.
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Madrid 21 Nov 2020 - 23:36 CET
Dasniurka Salcedo Verdecia, on the right, with people with those with who cooperate in his project. D. S. VERDECIA/FACEBOOKThree groups of Cuban activists issued a joint statement condemning Cuban police forces after activist Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia reported that she was sexually abused this week during an arrest by two State Security officers.
The Cuban Alliance for Inclusion and the Christian Women of Cuba noted in their statement that what happened with Salcedo Verdecia highlights the moral degradation of the Cuban police apparatus, which is just "a reflection of the moral decline of the system".
According to the note, the aggression suffered by the activist from Alquízar, Artemis province, "finds the lack of a code of ethics of the Cuban Police, which should be based on a series of ethical principles, guiding police conduct, highlighting the importance of citizen safety, which should not only be conceived as a constitutionally protected good, but is , at the same time, an essential individual right whose recognition starts from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, when it comes to the life and freedom of each person. This moral degradation reflects the moral decline of the system."
The collectives, who also launched the #TodasSomosDiasniurka label, stressed that the cuban government's usual indolence "in the face of such actions makes it complicit in them".
For this reason, they demanded that the Cuban regime "the immediate drafting of an Integral Law on Gender Violence that criminalization and to contemplate as aggravating it the actions carried out by the bodies and forces of state security as guarantors of citizen security".
They also demanded "the drafting of a Police Competition Act that exceeds the 2019 Police Regulations, which is misqualified as constitutional, being simply a repressive regulation, and that necessarily includes an ethical code of conduct, based on universal documents that have served as a guide for the settlement of professional police values, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and the 1966 International Covenants which, in turn, guided the development in 1979 of the Code of Conduct for Officials Responsible for Enforcing United Nations Law."
Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia reported Friday afternoon that two political police officers sexually abused her during an arrest on Wednesday this week.
"I was mistreated in the worst way that a human being can be mistreated. When I say mistreated, I say it in old words. (...) All women know what I mean that I was mistreated by two men: sexually and in the most brutal way. I'm denouncing it," he denounced in a harsh direct through his Facebook wall.
At the end of September, police hit, undressed and seized the money, medicine and phone number of Salcedo Verdecia, who was on their way to deliver aid to people in need in Alquízar.
With a red, swollen face, Salcedo Verdecia recounted in another transmission climbed to her social network wall the hard experience she would have experienced after a woman in a police uniform and two civilian officers arrested her and pushed her on a patrol car.
Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia is a promoter of the  Casa community project, which distributes donations to people in need of her territory. To do this, the activist also created the Facebook group "Las Marianas Cubanas".

Mara Tekach: "The repression taking place in Cuba is horrific and alarming"Tekach further reported that more than 15,000 Cuban families still expect thousands of pounds of humanitarian aid raised in Miami, and held by the government in Mariel
 CUBANET
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2020 3:36 P.M.
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Mara Tekach. AP photoMIAMI, USA.- The coordinator of the U.S. Department of State's Office of Cuban Affairs, Mara Tekach, called on the Havana regime to abandon the obstruction of humanitarian aid sent from Miami to the island and held back to this day by the dictatorship, and was dismayed by the repression that is taking place in the country these days.
In an exclusive interview with CubaNet, Tekach reported that more than 15,000 Cuban families have been waiting since August 11 for thousands of pounds of humanitarian aid raised in Miami last May, "critically necessary supplies," he said.
Five containers are still held in the port of Mariel by the castrist government, which has refused to hand them over to the recipients,despite countless complaints from inside and outside Cuba.
Contrary to what the island's dictatorship has claimed for decades, the U.S. official emphasized that her government "regularly authorizes the export of massive volumes of agricultural products, medicines, medical equipment, and humanitarian goods, which have been arriving in Cuba since 1992 with the aim of helping the Cuban people."
"The United States has authorized the export of trillions of dollars in goods and goods to the island. In 2019 alone, $3.7 million in medicines and medical supplies were exported to Cuba to support the people."
Tekack, who last August completed two years of work at the head of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba, where she served as Business Manager, the highest position at the diplomatic headquarters, said the United States does all this "to counter the failure of a regime incapable of feeding its own people. They lack productive, effective agriculture, and do not have a distribution system that works to deliver food to the people."
That is why, he noted, the retention of humanitarian aid in Mariel is just one more example, particularly pernicious, that "the regime is really willing to allow Cubans to suffer."
Tekach also referred to the official statement that the Fincimex financial corporation issued last Friday about the closure, next Monday, November 23, of the 407 branches that the US company Western Union has in Cuba. In the document, Havana attributed to the U.S. Government the "sole and exclusive responsibility" for the interruption of remittance service.
"The regime knows exactly what to do, and it knows that there are channels for remittances that are not through the Armed Forces, which uses these resources to oppress the people, and to oppress peoples on other lands as well," he said.
"We all know that remittances have flowed to Cuba through many channels for years and decades, it is not for me to endorse any particular method, but we can emphasize that we are seeing a multiplication of methods for sending remittances, and the options continue to grow in variety," Tekach explained.
Finally, the civil service wanted to place particular emphasis on increasing repression on the island over the past few weeks, "What is happening in Cuba regarding oppression remains on horrific levels and is alarming, we are seeing human rights tragedies on video, online, on the faces of victims, on their scars, and in the tears of their loved ones; and we're seeing it every day."
In this regard, he claimed that the world cannot look away, and called on the international press not to silence what is going on. "The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently denounced the reality of Cubans living every day, and that the regime systematically applies arbitrary detention as a tool to suppress the people; it's something he's done for decades. Let's wait and see the media echoing this situation."

 
  
Michael Kozak denounces Denis Solís incarceration in CubaDenis Solís was tried and convicted in a summary trial on November 11, just two days after his arrest, for "contempt"
 CUBANET
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2020 5:07 P.M.
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Michael Kozak. AP photo
MIAMI, USA. - Michael Kozak, the acting undersecretary of the U.S. Department of State's Office of Western Hemisphere Affairs, denounced the continued violation of human rights in Cuba and symhoved with Cuban answering rapper Denis Solís, imprisoned for the alleged contempt crime.
"Denis Solis raped for a free Cuba and Castro's regime sentenced him to 8 months in prison," the official wrote on his Twitter account, adding, "right now, the police are harassing, including the use of a chemical agent, those peacefully gathered for #FreeDenis. The regime must put an end to this absolute contempt for human rights."
The case of Denis Solís, and the activists besieged at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, in Old Havana, gathered and on hunger strike some for the release of the musician, has been denounced from within the island and by several politicians and international organizations defending human rights.
On Thursday, Amnesty International'sAmericas Director Erika Guevara-Rosas reported the situation in Cuban protesters who have been demanding the release of rapper and activist arbitrarily detained on 9 November on 9 November.
"In Cuba, 15 HRD defenders are in protest, including hunger strike, at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement to demand the government of @DiazCanelB the liberation of #DenisSolís. Meanwhile state security agents continue harassment," he wrote on Twitter.
International organizations such as Human Rights Watch and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have also spoken out on the wave of repression that has been going on on the island for just over two weeks.
Also on Wednesday, Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio denounced the arbitrary detention of Solís by the Castrist regime. "Rapper Denis Solís González, a member of the @Mov_sanisidro still arbitrarily detained #Cuba for "contempt." Advocating for a Cuba Libre is considered a CRIMEN. #PuebloDeCubaDecideTuFuturo #LibertadDeExpresión," the Republican lawmaker wrote for Florida on his Twitter social media account.
Denis Solís, 31, was tried and convicted by the Municipal Court of Old Havana in a summary trial on November 11, just two days after his arrest. He is currently in Valle Grande prison, serving an eight-month prison sentence for the alleged "contempt" crime.


 
 
San Isidro Movement, after 72 hours of strike, calls for international demonstration"We are ready to give our lives for Cuba and believe that life means something to Cuba"
 CAMILA ACOSTA
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2020 2:58 P.M.
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(Photo: Facebook/San Isidro Movement)HAVANA, Cuba. – 72 hours after the hunger and thirst strike initiated by several activists of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), the organization convenes a national and international demonstration. The appointment is to attend all the central parks of each province or country at 3 pm this Sunday, November 22.
"It is not saving us but saving the nation. I think it's a good time to raise the consciences of all Cubans. We are ready to give our lives for Cuba and believe that life means something to Cuba. Each of us is a leader, an ente of change (...) Our lives are up to you," said Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara via a direct on Facebook.
The call is announced by MSI leader shortly after the daughter of freelance journalist Esteban Rodríguez, one of three who strikes in hunger and thirst, was violently intervened by State Security (SE) officials when she tried to bring water to San Isidro activists.
"That's for them to see how the regime works, and against an underage girl, just thirteen years old," Rodriguez said. In the struggle, the officers also hurt rapper Maikel Castillo's daughter, who was just 5 years old, also on hunger and thirst strike.
The strike was initiated by activists on November 18 last when the SE besieged MSI headquarters and prevented people and supplies from entering. His fundamental demand is the freedom of Denis Solís, arrested and tried, between 9 and 11 November last, in summary trial for an alleged crime of contempt.
So far, they find themselves on hunger strike: Oscar Casanella, Iliana Hernández and Osmani Pardo Guerra; on hunger and thirst strike: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez and Maykel Castillo (Osorbo). Adrián Rubio was forced to leave the strike today due to health conditions such as asthma and high blood pressure.
"Cubans need to know that these people are going to die fighting an injustice," MSI writer and member Katherine Bisquet Rodriguez published, adding, "If a significant number of righteous Cubans have not reacted and do not take to the streets to protest this double injustice, I will also go on hunger strike."
In recent days several activists and relatives of the besieged in San Isidro have been arrested or prevented from leaving their homes by SE officials.
This Saturday, as reported by the freelance journalist Iliana Hernández, they were arrested in Camaguey, Lipsy Peña Cobas and Osvaldo Martínez Cardoso when they left the house of Marisol Peña Cobas, where three people are on hunger strike, started in solidarity with the MSI.
MSI member Claudia Genlui Hidalgo also reported the disappearance of Enix Berrio Sarda, Otero Alcántara's uncle and MSI advisor: "He has been missing since 8 a.m. today. He was making necessary efforts to foster support for Luis and everyone in San Isidro."
On Friday, November 20, Anamely Ramos González also alerted the disappearance of a young man who had visited them, "excited by what has happened so far here, for him it meant a ray of hope. On the way out he was arrested and we don't know where he is, his phone turned off."
Others, such as a local neighbor sensitized to activists, managed to get through the police fence this Saturday and send them some food.
Several civil society organizations have also symified with the MSI. Last Wednesday, around twenty activists from the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) began a 72-hour hunger strike, including the organization's leader, José Daniel Ferrer García.
Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White, wrote in her Facebook account: "We are in solidarity with the fighting brothers who are in the house of San Isidro Street, we know of all that this communist dictatorship is capable of, since we have felt it in our own face, we have to raise our voices for all those who are currently suffering harassment and torture within the house by communist minions. We on the streets are their voices, legs and ears."
La Mesa de Unidad de Acción Democrática expresó en un comunicado su apoyo a los huelguistas. “San Isidro protesta y se sacrifica por todos y todas” se lee en la publicación realizada por su coordinador Manuel Cuesta Morúa.
Asimismo, jóvenes de la Universidad Iberoamericana, en México, en donde se hallan varios cubanos, manifestaron su respaldo. Uno de ellos, el periodista e investigador cubano José Raúl Gallego, alegó: “Gente, esto es grave. Hay personas que van a morir. No es momento para poner NADA, pero NADA, por delante de eso. No quedemos con ese cargo en nuestras conciencias. Hagamos lo que esté a nuestro alcance, no es mucho lo que se pide. (…) ¿Tienes miedo? Es lógico, estamos ante un gobierno represivo, que sigue teniendo poder sobre nosotros aun cuando estemos lejos. Todos tenemos miedo, pero hay muchas cosas que se pueden hacer sin que te supongan el más mínimo riesgo, sin que nadie se entere.  Por ellos, por nosotros, por Cuba, es momento de hacer algo”.
Según informó la revista Árbol Invertido, este viernes 20 de noviembre se hizo efectiva la entrega de un reclamo urgente de auxilio al gobierno de España, a raíz de la detención de Denis Solis y el asedio que padece los activistas del MSI que exigen su liberación.
The statement was signed by the organizations: Actions for Democracy, Somos+, Helvetica Brotherhood and Canadian Cubans by a Democratic Cuba. It called "at your request to route your system of respect for human rights in urgent action with the government of Cuba".
Similarly, they underline the urgency of the intercession petition: "We don't have much time to act to mitigate what could turn into mass suicide because of a Cuban's respect for human rights. We rely on the committedness of its cabinet to the 'promotion and protection of the human rights of all, through cooperation' with governments in fulfilling their human rights obligations to their citizens."
As hundreds of people around the world mobilize to attract the attention of media and governments, San Isidro activists remain planted and, every hour that passes, are further weakened.
"No one here wants to die," Katherine Bisquet Rodriguez wrote in a chronicle published this Saturday by El Estornudo. "But no one here wants to come back either: no one wants to give in, no one wants to fear, no one wants to lose. Fear is of no use to us, to the same extent that pain is of no use to us."


 
They storm the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement and assault Luis Manuel Otero"That's mandated by State Security," Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara said, showing the wounds on his face
 CAMILA ACOSTA
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2020 10:03 AM
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Luis Manuel Otero is injured, the aggressor threw bottles inside the headquarters of the movement (collage/Cubanet)HAVANA, Cuba. – This Saturday, November 21, at about 11 p.m., an individual attacked the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Old Havana. The assailant wounded Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the organization, and broke the door of the house with a hammer.
"Minutes ago we were the victims of a new attack, evidently orchestrated by State Security. A neighbor of the neighborhood, he came to talk to Luis Manuel and because he felt better, he agreed to do it at the door. Minutes later the man swooped over Luis Manuel and wanted to drag him out in shock and started throwing bottles at us all. Luckily, Louis threw himself back and quickly Yasser (Castellanos) and Abu (Duyanah) pulled him in. The assailant started breaking the door with an iron and smashed it," Anamely Ramos González wrote on his Facebook profile.
Part of the attack could be broadcast on Facebook by journalist Iliana Hernández. The video shows Abu Duyanah and Esteban Rodriguez trying to close the door in the face of the aggressions of a man throwing glass bottles inside the home.
"Where are the police now?" shouted the assaulted activists. Police patrols and state security officers were a short walk away.
"Listen carefully: we are talking about ten minutes of attack and State Security, which has been kept all these days in the corners preventing people from passing by and watching us, did not intervene while all this happened, confirming that they were the ones who fixed everything. They're criminals and these are the actions they're comfortable with!" said Ramos González.
"That's commanded by State Security," Otero Alcántara said, showing the wounds on his face. "If they don't let anyone in here to bring us food, how a guy with a bucket of bottles is going to come in," adding, "I'm going to keep standing up, on my hunger and thirst strike, I'm going to keep going until they let Denis go."
Shortly before, several of those present cut off mobile data services. He was only able to connect to the internet and live stream the Iliana Hernández event, via another telephone line.
Six of the fourteen activists planted at MSI headquarters will be serving 96 hours of hunger strike on Sunday. In the case of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Esteban Rodríguez and Maykel Castillo (Osorbo), it is also a thirst strike. The main requirement is the freedom of the artist Denis Solís.
On Saturday they convened a national and international demonstration. The appointment is to attend all the central parks of each province or country at 3 pm this Sunday, November 22.


 
San Isidro: the hours of an undeserved sacrificeThe young people of San Isidro are politically and civically alone on the public back, at the mercy of a dictatorship that wants them dead
 ANA LEÓN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2020 8:33 A.M.
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Fourteen people stay in san Isidro (Photo: Anamely Ramos / Facebook)HAVANA, Cuba. Five days on hunger and thirst strike have elapsed for a group of young activists entrenched in a dwelling in the San Isidro neighborhood of Old Havana. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Iliana Hernández, Maikel Castillo, Esteban Rodríguez, Oscar Casanella, Osmani Pardo and Katherine Bisquet have decided to risk their lives to draw attention to the permanent siege in which Cuban civil society lives, whose most recent victim is rapper Denis Solís, sentenced in summary trial to eight months in prison.
The San Isidro Movement has sought the release of the answering musician through peaceful and legal mechanisms; but in the face of the dictatorship's unwillingness to dialogue, he has decided to defend his protest with all he possesses: body and life.
The deprivations begin to wreak havoc and the same cry that last March was raised by the liberation of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, travels again social networks appealing to compassion, solidarity, common sense. The minions, far from seeking a path for the council, have closed the street and forbidden the passage to friends, neighbors and family. They have marked a crescendo of intimidating actions, from throwing acid under the door and trying to contaminate the water from the cistern, to the violent incident that took place at midnight on the 22nd, when a guy hammered the door of the house where the strikers remain and threw glass bottles inside.
Luis Manuel was wounded in the face. Several patrols passed at full speed on the block at the time of the assault, but the attacker continued in the middle of the street, unharmed and defiant, protected by the same impunity that has been underway since 1959 and has armed beatings and arbitrary arrests of citizens who peacefully demonstrate against the castrista regime.
Official silence and smear campaigns have not worked. You know what's going on in San Isidro. The news runs word of mouth, in a whisper. The boys are planted, the political police harass them. They have summoned a sit-in in the main parks of each province, every day at 3:00 p.m., for five days.
His faith in the Cuban people is absolutely poignant and romantic. They are encouraged by the illusion of an idealized Cuba, the one that gravitates in the longing of islanders who do not yet resign themselves, the one we desire for a future that tends to drift away, as if mocking our naivety. But the call of San Isidro falls into the inert void of real Cuba, which prefers to look the other way, forgotten of itself, which remains motionless witnessing acts of repudiation against peaceful people.
That dying and distressed Cuba is the fertiliser that fuels the dismantling of State Security. Any aggression against strikers pursues, more than anything, the goal of discouraging those who begin to feel identified with their rebellion. Let them know that there is no truce, that in addition to hunger and thirst there will be blows, vexes, smear campaigns and intimidation against loved ones.
Real Cuba emphasizes that strikers are criminals to impose a fictitious moral distance, and to neglect conflict. That they are marginal, that you look at them, that now anyone is an artist. Those who limit themselves to such opinions stoke divisionist stereotypes that are summarized in the same condemnation mantra: "within the institution everything, against the institution, no right".
They don't know it's about talent, it's about justice. They forget that rap is free, and that the Cuban Rap Agency has been nothing more than the bureaucratic entity responsible for cornering and emptying it of meaning. They are unaware that among the martyred in San Isidro there are also stomped scientific degrees and brilliant professional careers squeaked by a cruel and exclusionary system. They refuse to admit that in a country outlawed from democracy for six decades it is very difficult to bring wide-ranging civic action.
In today's Cuba, San Isidro is the only voice that drains from the gag. It's not a perfect platform, but you don't see anyone else trying to match or raise the bar either. Almost all the support that has so far made any difference comes from outside. Within the Antillana caldera artists and intellectuals have not spoken out. The people of pedigree and privileges crowd the offices of the airlines to flee as soon as possible from this misery, and in passing delinquete from any civic commitment.
Those who can put sea in the way shut up, despise and judge without even daring to bring their skin closer to the pyre. It is easier to convince yourself that the tyrant is irreducible, that the only smart thing is to get to safety and let the rest burn. That Cuba, which is many, does not deserve the sacrifice of the seven strikers who make a living at the home located at Damas No. 955. That Cuba is willing to let them die without mediation, without solidarity, without a tear.
The young people of San Isidro are politically and civically alone on the public back, at the mercy of a dictatorship that wants them dead, that is for sure. If anyone dies, or survives with aftermath that prevents him from continuing his activism, he will be one less against a regime that has lost war in the virtual field, but remains master of the agora and that is where the destiny of nations is directed.
There has to be another way to demand the release of Denis Solís. Cuba, which resists and nests in a discreet number of honest citizens, needs San Isidro alive. That's what I'd tell you if I could. But I do not arrogo such a right because nothing defines us as much as our decisions, and everyone must have the freedom to choose the stone where it is to be immolated.

 
The San Isidro Movement calls for red cross intervention: 'It's a call and cry for help'Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo are on the verge of a multiorgan failure because they have not eaten food or water for days.
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Havana 23 Nov 2020 - 18:00 CET
Hug between Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo, before the strike. MAYKEL CASTLE FACEBOOKThe San Isidro Movement on Monday called for the intervention of the International Red Cross or other international organizations because of the critical situation of strikers in Havana.
Activist Michel Matos reported that artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and rapper Maykel Castillo,known as Maykel Osorbo, are on the verge of a multiorgan failure because they have not eaten food or water for days.
The other four people on hunger strike, including freelance journalist Iliana Hernández, activist Oscar Casanella,Esteban Rodriguez and Osmani Pardo Guerra, are in better condition.
The assessment of the health status of the activists was done by Casanella's mother, who is a doctor and traveled directly from the United States. On the night of this Sunday he made a preliminary assessment because he does not have the necessary resources.
"The doctor determined that they are in a degree of hydration and starvation that can cause their organs to collapse. We're in a complicated situation. It's the only part we've been able to get. We call on the International Red Cross because they need medical supplies, the presence of neutral doctors, because there are fears that they will use fake doctors to end the protest," Matos said.
Faced with this situation, members of the San Isidro Movement advanced a campaign to attract the attention of the International Red Cross and any other agency that can help end the critical situation of activists. They did not advance other actions to avoid any sabotage.
The San Isidro Movement appreciated the support received by the neighbors of that Habanero neighborhood, despite pressure from the police. Political police maintain extreme vigilance over activists gathered in nearby blocks.
Matos insisted that they are willing to engage in dialogue with the Cuban government, at least with a mediator, to avoid misfortune. Her main request remains the immediate release of Denis Solís and activists on hunger strike said they would leave her if Solís gets out of jail.
The spokesmen of this movement also appreciated the support received and condemned the violence exercised this Sunday in Havana against "the brave" who tried to demonstrate peacefully.
The Movement rejected the manipulation of Denis Solís' words made by the state press and other information attempting to delegitimate protesters in San Isidro. "It's a lousy montage, they're trying to present it as a marginal (...) The video is a political positioning to destabilize international movements," Matos said.
The activist recalled that a group of protesters are eating and not everyone is on hunger strike. "State Security intervenes and is an unstable situation," he said of the arrival of food. They also suffer from the cutting of services such as internet and communications.
"There is the conviction of the strikers to let go, to let their lives go, it is a call and cry for help. We apply for competition from international bodies (...) We don't want anyone to die, but (Otero Alcántara) has a very high level of consciousness. He is an immensely courageous person and his conscience dictates that this is the way because there is no alternative," he reiterated.
 
 
 More than 230 artists and intellectuals from Cuba and the world are calling on the regime to release musician Denis Solís
They stand in solidarity with the San Isidro Movement and advocate for the authorities to listen to the demands of its planted and besathed members.
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Havana 24 Nov 2020 - 08:33 CET
Image that accompanies the letter in solidarity with the San Isidro Movement. G.DOMENECH/FACEBOOKMore than 230 artists, intellectuals and academics from Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil and the USA have signed an open letter in solidarity with members of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) and other activists who since November 18 began a hunger and thirst strike in Havana to call for the release of musician Denis Solís.
The misiva, signed by Armando Chaguaceda, Rafael Rojas, Coco Fusco, Carlos Lechuga, Carlos Quintela, Yimit Ramírez, Tania Bruguera, among other names, condemns that the young answering person has been sentenced to eight months in prison without legal charges in a summary trial for the crime of "contempt" to the authorities.
"The San Isidro Movement,created by a group of artists, including Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, has been focused on reading poetry, performance, interventions in the public space and working with the community. Its headquarters are located in the residence of Luis Manuel, located in San Isidro, a mostly black and impoverished neighborhood of Old Havana", remember.
"However, their members have been continually persecuted and imprisoned, national and international mobility has been restricted, and causes have been made around non-existent crimes," they lament.
The text recounts what has happened to the MSI since Solís' arbitrary detention on November 9.
"In the face of these events, nine of its members decided to go on hunger strike and hunger strike and thirst for two reasons: first, because it was the way to sustain peaceful protest within the headquarters of the movement, secondly because in this way some of them, like Omara Ruiz Urquiola, who is sick of cancer, could continue to feed on the few provisions they had," they explain.
They report that on November 19 "acid was thrown into the water source of the movement's headquarters."
"On the same day, the strikers decided to add to their request for freedom for Denis Solís, the closure of new stores opened by the Government during the Pandemic in which it is only possible to pay in dollars, currency that does not circulate in the country," adds the letter.
"On 21 November, in the face of the impossibility of dialogue with the authorities, Luis Manuel Otero, after three days of hunger and thirst strike, called for a peaceful demonstration in the central parks of each province. As a result, that same day at night they were attacked at MSI headquarters by a guy who assaulted Otero Alcántara and then threw glass bottles into the compound endangering their lives," he says.
"On 22 November, 16 people who attempted to make a public presence in the squares were arrested. So far they are on hunger strike: Luis Manuel Otero (artist and activist), Maykel Castillo (musician and activist), Esteban Rodríguez (reporter), Osmani Pardo Guerra (activist), Oscar Casanella (biochemist), Iliana Hernández (journalist) and Katherine Bisquet (poet). The first two, also on a thirsty strike," he says.
The signatories of the letter of support emphasize that "all actions taken by MSI members, and those who support them, have been completely peaceful."
"They claim the freedom of Denis Solís and this implies the possibility of expressing themselves without fear of being besaged,imprisoned and incommunicado," they point out.
"Given the magnitude and severity of these events, we express our solidarity with the MSI and ask the Cuban Government to release musician Denis Solís and thus agree to establish a peaceful dialogue with MSI and listen to his demands. Let's not let these people die. Our call is to defend life above all things and to respect the right to free expression, appealing to values of solidarity and humanity," they conclude.
 
Political police close to activists in Camaguey for their support of MSIActivist Marisol Peña Cobas called on all human rights organizations "to look at what's happening in Camaguey."
 CAMILA ACOSTA
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2020 8:42 A.M.
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CAMAGUEY, Cuba. – "We are being brutally repressed, we are not allowed to go out looking for food and it is all for the support of the San Isidro Movement. Everyone who tries to get to my house is brutally beaten, they're leading us on a hunger strike because we can't go out and buy food," said Marisol Peña Cobas, a member of the Cuban Libertarian Party José Martí, in Camaguey.
Peña Cobas, together with Ediyersi Santana Jobo and José Luis Acosta Cortellan, both of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), have been besieged by State Security (SE) for more than five days, in Camaguey.
Between 19 and 22 November, the three remained on hunger strike in solidarity with the San Isidro Movement (MSI). Since then, they have been under surveillance and everyone who has tried to reach the site has been arrested and even beaten by political police, José Luis Acosta Cortellan told CubaNet.
So far, some of those arrested have been: Adrián Quesada Flores, Lesyanis Heredia Salazar, Enrique Bartolomé Cambra and Alexis Sabatella Duarte. To the latter, the SE "caused a beating and dragged it down the street; must be all peeled," explained Acosta Cortellan.
"We don't have food because they have us in jail inside my house, we're running out of everything," Peña Cobas wrote on his Facebook profile on Monday. Similarly, activists reported that they have been cut off by the water supply on several occasions.
On the last Saturday, they were also arrested, when they left the house of Peña Cobas, Osvaldo Martínez Cardoso and Lipsy Peña Cobas, daughter of Marisol. Soon after, his mother communicated on Facebook:
"My daughter just informed me that she has been released but that she asks me not to call her because she was threatened I don't know what and they forbade her to talk to me, they have stolen a daughter from me, who are the destroyers of the Cuban family? These dictators who with threats take away what you love most, minions, now with me is for pleasure now if you have to die, you should not have come so low, death to the dictatorship and all of you waged minions, your time is coming."
Peña Cobas also asked all human rights organizations for help: "look at what is happening in Camaguey, which is not only in Havana being besailed."
Since Wednesday, November 18, several MSI activists in Havana have been declared on hunger strike – and some also thirsty – because the SE had besieged them and prevented access to both basic supplies and their family and friends. Days earlier, through poetry readings outside cuba and Chacón police station, they had been demanding the freedom of rapper Denis Solís. This member of the organization was sentenced to eight months of deprivation of liberty for an alleged contempt offence.
According to Anamely Ramos González,the current hunger strike has been provoked by the SE: "They (the SE), however, have limited our right to mobility, have chemically attacked us poisoning the water of the cistern with acid, threatened the neighbors, restricted access to the block, stopped family and friends who came to see us (...). We want to emphasize that they have thrown us on hunger strike. This decision was also a survival measure for Omara Ruiz Urquiola, because when we counted the food that was left, we realized that it was not enough for everyone."
In addition to the Camagueyan activists, around twenty UNPACU members developed a 72-hour hunger strike in support of MSI, including the organization's leader, José Daniel Ferrer Castillo.
To date, the MSI headquarters is on hunger strike: Oscar Casanella, Iliana Hernández, Esteban Rodríguez (five days) and Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez (48 hours). On hunger and thirst strike: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo (five days).
 

 
Maria Elvira Salazar reports continued harassment of the San Isidro Movement
Salazar spoke out about the outrages of Havana's dictatorship against activists on his Twitter social media account
 CUBANET
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2020 11:34 A.M.
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Collage CubaNetMIAMI, USA.- Cuban-American journalist and recently elected representative of the United States Congress María Elvira Salazar denounced the Cuban regime for its continued attack on activists of the San Isidro Movement, on strike since last week.
Salazar spoke out about the outrages of Havana's dictatorship on his Twitter social media account, where he also demanded the release of answering rapper Denis Solís, convicted by a court of the dictatorship of eight months in prison.
"The Castro regime continues to attack peaceful activists in Cuba. These activists are being harassed, beaten and imprisoned simply for expressing a difference of opinion. This is socialism. This is tyranny," he wrote.
Shortly the day after he added: "My total and absolute solidarity with the brave fighters of the San Isidro Movement in Cuba. We will continue to demand that Denis Solís be released, arrested simply for writing songs A Great Injustice and Violation of Human Rights!"
Salazar, who has already started his work as a representative in Congress, said on the 6th, after winning Florida's 27th district for the Republican Party in the November 3 general election, assured that he would be the voice of the Cuban people in the United States Congress and a "soldier" in the fight against the dictatorships of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
"It is that all peoples want the same thing. That of Cuban exceptionality, which is that the Cuban people want to live under the Castrist regime, that's all a lie, we're in the 21st century, everyone wants the same thing, live in peace, prosper, eat three times a day, raise their children, have abundance, find happiness in the best way they can. It's enough oppression for all these peoples, no more, and someone has to say this far and if I can be a soldier of that army, here I am," the Republican then told Radio Television Martí.
At the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement in Old Havana, a group of Cubans have been in an act of protest, including the hunger strike, since November 18. Since then the house, where members of the Cuban Movement and civil society are located, is besieged by agents of State Security.
The strikers demand the release of the answering rapper and activist Denis Solís, arrested and convicted by the island regime, in a summary trial, eight months in prison for the alleged crime of "contempt".

Who are the strikers of San Isidro?The house, where members of the San Isidro Movement and Cuban civil society are located, is besieged by state security agents
 CUBANET
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2020 10:37 A.M.
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CubaNet photo collageMIAMI, USA.- Since November 18 at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement in Old Havana, a group of Cubans have been in an act of protest, including the hunger strike, for the release of answering rapper and activist Denis Solís, arrested and convicted by the regime, in a summary trial, eight months in prison for the alleged crime of "contempt".
The house, where 14 people are located, some members of the Movement, others of Cuban civil society, is besieged by State Security agents from the first day of protests.
The place is not allowed to pass any activist, friend or relative of the strikers, they have cut off their food supply, tried to scare them off trying to introduce a chemical agent under the door, and this weekend an individual smashed the door of the property with a hammer and threw glass bottles inside. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was wounded in the altercation.
But who are the strikers of San Isidro really, in Ladies 955? Project Inventory summarized all those who are currently on hunger and thirst strike, or those who watch over them, help and support them from within one of the possibly most guarded homes in Cuba today.
Interactive content by Flourish
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, 32, founder and leader of the San Isidro Movement, is on hunger and thirst strike, as is Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo, rapper and 37-year-old civil and cultural rights defender.
In hunger and thirst strike are Esteban Rodríguez, collaborator of ADN Cuba; Iliana Hernández, presenter and producer of Lente Cubano; Oscar Casanella, biochemist, DNA collaborator Cuba and Cubalex; Osmani Pardo, activist and self-employed; and Katherine Bisquet, poet and editor.
For her part, in support of the strikers are the art history and professor Anamely Ramos; Omara Ruiz Urquiola, also an art historian and teacher; Abu Duyanah Tamayo, narrator and poet; Jorge Luis Capote Arias, self-employed and activist; and Anyell Valdés Cruz, housewife and activist.
For health reasons Yasser Castellanos, an illustrator painter and rapper, and Adrián Rubio, a human rights activist, abandoned the hunger strike.
 

 

Pompeo urges Cuban regime to cease harassment against MSI membersU.S. official also called for the release of rapper Denis Solís, imprisoned by the government and accused of "contempt"
 CUBANET
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2020 7:53 P.M.
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MIAMI, USA. - Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state, urged the Cuban regime to end harassment against members of the San Isidro Movement who are on strike for the release of counter-defense rapper Denis Solís, and demanded his release.
"We urge the Cuban regime to stop harassing the protesters of the San Isidro Movement and release musician Denis Solís, who was unfairly sentenced to eight months in prison," the U.S. official wrote on his Twitter social media account.
He added: "Freedom of expression is a human right. The United States supports the people of Cuba."
At the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement in Old Havana, besieged since last week by Cuban state security agents, there are currently six people on hunger strikes, two of them also on a thirsty strike.
All, about 15 people, demand the Cuban regime release from Solís, arbitrarily detained on 9 November and sentenced, two days later in a summary trial, to eight months in prison for the alleged crime of "contempt".
The strikers barricaded in Damas 955, San Isidro, have been on strike since November 18 after security agents guarding the property cut off the supply of food that sent them. Activists, artists and intellectuals gathered in San Isidro were involved in a poetic whisper, one of the peaceful actions with which they sought to draw attention to the solís case.
Several demonstrations outside Cuba, in front of the island's diplomatic headquarters in various countries, have taken place in recent days. Human rights defenders and organizations, inside and outside the country, have armed the way with strikers.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International's Director for the Americas, reported last week the continued harassment and intimidation of "members of the San Isidro movement, at the forefront of the challenge of Decree 349, a dystopian law that censors artists," which "shows the continued suppression of human rights in Cuba, including the right to freedom of expression in the country. Authorities can continue to harass, intimidate, detain and criminalize alternative artists and thinkers, but they cannot keep their minds in jail."
Members of the San Isidro Movement who are on hunger strike are Iliana Hernández, Esteban Rodríguez and Katherine Bisquet; Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Osorbo, are on hunger and thirst strike.
This Tuesday an open letter calling on Pope Francis to intercede in the face of the regime's harassment against the members of St. Isidro was delivered to the Vatican.
The signatories of the misiva assure the Holy Father that "every hour that passes marks the countdown to irreversible harm to their bodies, to the Cuban nation. It is symbolic that the Patron Saint of the land workers (San Isidro), to which the piece of land that these Cubans inhabit owes the name, attends the slow and heartbreaking fall in the well of death to which they go. To him and to you, His Holiness, we ask for urgent intervention before God and those who play God in the government of Havana."


 
Cubans to unite in Miami for San Isidro MovementThe meeting will take place on Wednesday, at 4:00 p.m., on the outskirts of the Freedom Tower.
 CUBANET
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2020 11:26 A.M.
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The iconic Freedom Tower in Miami (Photo: Las Americas Daily)MIAMI, USA. – Cubans residing in Miami called for a demonstration on Wednesday in support of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), whose members are besathed in Havana after the start of a hunger strike calling for the release of rapper Denis Solís.
The meeting, convened through social networks, will take place from 4:00 p.m. outside the Freedom Tower, one of the most symbolic sites in the city of Miami.
Marisel Trespalacios, a Cuban immigrant master's degree in Economics and International Relations who has promoted the demonstration in Miami, told CubaNet that this afternoon those present at the Freedom Tower will call for the liberation of Solís and the cessation of harassment against cuban young artists and intellectuals.
"The San Isidro Movement has all my support and solidarity," said the young Cuban-American woman. "They are courageous people (young people, blacks, women, artists, LGBTIQ) who fight for basic rights within a country with a government that does not understand the importance of freedom for the soul and creative mind."
"They are a dynamic group, a living example of civil society, of the same youth that makes up great cities such as New York or London; people eager to have a future, desire to create, grow and express themselves freely with their art and music," he added.
For his part, another of the promoters of the demonstration, the engineer and writer Lemis Tarajano told CubaNet that, although in principle he disagrees with the hunger strikes, "because of the pain and suffering they generate", his support for the struggle for rights in Cuba is "unconditional".
"Beyond the details, such as the political positions of the members of San Isidro, beyond those who help them and who do not, my goal is to defend plurality and freedom of expression," he said.
The demonstration convened in Miami on Wednesday joins similar ones that have taken place in Madrid, Barcelona, New York and Montreal.
On November 22nd, in Miami dozens of exiled Cubans gathered at Versailles restaurant to support the San Isidro Movement (MSI) and demand the release of Solís, sentenced to eight years of deprivation of liberty for the alleged crime of "contempt".


 
 
'This strike is not going to stop because it's done by people who have been pushed to the limit'Writer and journalist Carlos Manuel Alvarez asks Cubans to organize spontaneously to prevent the deaths of activists on hunger strikes.
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Havana 25 Nov 2020 - 18:23 CET
Maykel Castillo, Carlos Manuel Alvarez and Luis Manuel Otero at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement. CARLOS MANUEL ALVAREZ/FACEBOOK.The Cuban writer and journalist Carlos Manuel Alvarez asked Cubans to organize spontaneously and not expect guidelines from activists planted at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) "to stop this derailing train of misfortune," in reference to Denis Solís' imprisonment and the lousy state of health of some strikers.
"There are things that seem too complicated, but they are simple to do, they are things that go through the body, to take a civic attitude, to get to the institution, to go out on the street. Things that transcend the statement of social networks and the signing of the letter of solidarity, but that are not extraordinary beyond fear and initial fear," the writer and journalist said during a social media broadcast. 
Alvarez flew Tuesday from New York to join the activists planted at the headquarters of the San IsidroMovement, from where he urged residents of the island to conduct a poetic vigil around Damas 955.
"From the outside you can't passively wait for lines of opinion inside (...), what you can do outside you have to think about from the outside, the street is yours, the institutions are yours, but you have to move," he said.
To those who wish to stop the strike of Otero Alcántara the writer told them that this will not happen, because although the case of Denis Solís was the trigger, "this is the result of a cumulative process, this strike is not free, it is not a whim, it is not a desire to attract attention, (...) it is the almost inescapable result of years and months of repression, harassment, defamation, imprisonment and harassment."
"This strike is not going to stop because it is carried out by people who have been pushed to the limit, who want to keep them in an extraperimetric area of law and society,"Alvarez explained.
The writer noted that the citizens planted in Ladies 955 do not know who to talk to, because "there is no dialogue with the police, with the political repressions, with the state security agents or with the discourses of del arrival that are made from the propaganda bodies, but someone has to listen to us and know what the demands are, which are very clear."
"The hunger and thirst strike stops when Denis Solís is released (...) it is not a logic of losing or winning, when we released Luis Manuel last March, even if the regime does not believe it, the regime won, because it fulfilled what it is for, that it is a service to people, to citizenship, and this case can be the same, you have to focus it from there," he added.
Alvarez said that Solís' liberation would be a gain for both sides, "but besides, if there was no profit there is an inescapable reason first, it is a matter of humanity (...) in pragmatic terms this regime, with a political and social crisis cannot afford to pay the political cost" that the death of Otero Alcántara and the other strikers can have.
"We need to find a solution as soon as possible, and if there's someone listening from the side there with a minimum of sensitivity that captures this, dialogue and executes what they have to execute," he said.
Carlos Manuel Alvarez said that even if the authorities consider that Solís committed a crime of "contempt" he should be released and subject to fair judicial proceedings, as the proceedings against him were arbitrary.
"The other conditions that are called for such as the closure of stores in Freely Convertible Currency (MLC), which are not a socialist average, but of state capitalism (...) we know they are unrealizable, but on the symbolic plane they have a lot of weight, what more can some people who are on the edge ask for?" he asked.
About Luis Manuel Otero he said that they see "their accelerated deterioration, and you have to read his body as a clock whose last hour is death or an irreversible physical state", which will represent a "moral damage for all of us and a physical damage from which we will not recover as a generation or as Cubans".
"The insistence must be that this is not a suicidal act, but a murderous act, and the State, which has all the resources to open that way of communication, must be held accountable, where the conditions of us, which are not negotiable, go through the release of Denis Solís," the writer and journalist concluded.


 
In support of the strikers of San Isidro, two Cubans snuff in front of the Congress of SpainArt historian Yanelis Núñez and actress Massiel Rubio Hernández express from their bodies their solidarity with the activists under siege in Havana.
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Madrid 25 Nov 2020 - 20:18 CET
Yanelis Núñez and Massiel Rubio in front of the Spanish Parliament.



More than 200 Cuban priests and lay people call on the authorities to avoid 'a fatal outcome in San Isidro'Superior of the Jesuits regrets preventing religious assistance from being brought to activists suffering the effects of a hunger strike in Old Havana.
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Havana 25 Nov 2020 - 10:28 CET
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara during the hunger and thirst strike in San Isidro. KATHERINE BISQUET/FACEBOOKMore than 200 Cuban priests and lay people have on Tuesday signed an open letter calling for a solution to the Government of Cuba and the religious authorities for the hunger strike held by a group of members of the San Isidro Movement and other activists besieged in Old Havana.
"We Christians, in order to be consistent with the demands of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that proclaims the dignity of every human being as an absolute value, and rooted in the deepest feelings of Cubanity, express our desire that the events that take place at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement in Havana do not end in a fatal outcome," they point out.
"Some of us have political positions similar to those of the members of the movement, others disagree in whole or in part with their ideas or with their ways of expressing them; but we are all convinced that harassment, whether coordinated or permitted by law enforcement, is no solution," they argue.
The signatories want "a homeland that can be thought of differently and manifested" and reject "the answers of discredit or ridicule".
"It hurts us that the rallies of repudiation (both live and through social media) seem to increase their presence and intensity, when they should be buried forever in homeland history," they lament.
"We ask our pastors and religious authorities for their help as mediators, as far as possible, and assure them of our support and sustenment in prayer," they add.
Priests, nuns and religious remind the Cuban government of "their duty to represent the people, taking into account the desire of many to peacefully attend and respond to the hunger strike that some activists have been conducting for several days now."
"We pray to the Holy Ghost for you, who have the real power to initiate processes that lead to understanding, that have a moral and governmental duty not to let them die," they propose.
"We assure the members of the San Isidro Movement and those who participate in the strike of our prayer, that God, our merciful Father, may always shine the Truth and Justice, upon you and on Cuba [SIC]," they conclude.
No more flag than compassion for the suffering
On Tuesday, Father David Pantaleón, superior of the Jesuits in Cuba, condemned that authorities in charge of the fence around the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement prevented the entry of a nun who carried only compassion to people who are suffering the effects of starvation.
"A religious sister tried to reach, without advertising and without cameras, to the group of young people of San Isidro who are several days ago locked in their premises. They stay there calling for the release of one of their peers who they consider wrongfully imprisoned and convicted without defense," Pantaleon recalled in a Facebook post.

  
Cuban regime blows evict the San Isidro MovementMembers of the San Isidro Movement had been on hunger strike since November 18 for the release of answering rapper Denis Solís
 CUBANET
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020 10:00 A.M.
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Photo Twitter Maykel González ViveroMIAMI, USA.- Repressive forces of the Cuban government violent this Thursday night the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, in Old Havana, and beat all the protesters, some of them delicate in health for the hunger strike they had been holding since last week.
Hours after the violent event, around midnight, journalist Iliana Hernández confirmed that political police left her at home, and that rapper Maykel Castillo, known as Maykel Osorbo, writer Katherine Bisquet and Omara Ruiz Urquiola, were also released. CubaNet journalist Camila Acosta confirmed that Carlos Manuel Alvarez, editor of El Estornudo magazine, and who had arrived at San Isidro headquarters from abroad this week, has been released.
Niober Alexander (Abu Duyanah), Esteban Rodríguez, Osmani Pardo, Yasser Castellanos, Anyell Valdés Cruz and Adrián Rubio are also released. Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara still knows his whereabouts. Information suggests that Jorge Luis Capote is located at Zanja police station. Anamely Ramos González has been arrested again on Friday morning.
According to Esteban Rodríguez's wife in an audio, activists were beaten to remove them from the site. In a video broadcast live on the social network of ADN Cuba, Yaima Pardo La Red denounced the violent way in which the castrista regime evicted the headquarters, a total violation of all rights. "It's confirmed that they hit all the people, because they were resisting," he said.
 
According to its statements, the regime also blocked the Internet connection so that no one could report and be unprotected, Pardo La Red said.
Freelance journalist Maykel González Vivero confirmed on his Twitter social media account the eviction: "Everything indicates that the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement was evicted by the police. That's what the corner of San Isidro and Damas looks like now, as if there's a street fight or a scandal. I'm there, confirming forced eviction," he wrote.
Everything indicates that the seat of the San Isidro Movement was evicted by the police.
So you can see now the corner of San Isidro and Damas, as if there were a street fight or a scandal
I'm there, confirming the forced eviction.
👇🏻👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/8kTxVVcbiY
— Maykel González Vivero 🎯 (@MGVivero) November 27, 2020
The organization defending freedom of expression and the right to information at the global level, Article 19, denounced the violent detention suffered by members of the San Isidro Movement and called for "to respect the physical and psychological integrity and legal certainty of all detainees and to release them".
🔴 Members of the @Mov_sanisidro violently detained. @PresidenciaCuba blocked access to all social networks on #Cuba.
We call for respecting the physical and psychological integrity and legal certainty of all detainees and freeing them. pic.twitter.com/fNS14UPkBi
— ARTICLE 19 MX-CA (@article19mex) November 27, 2020
They also called on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the United Nations (UN), the European Union, among others,to intercede for the fate of the women and men who were beaten in Havana tonight.
📢 We call the @CIDH @RELE_CIDH @ONU_es and @UEenCuba to intercede immediately.
Cc: @CubaMINREX, @DiazCanelB, @DrRobertoMOjeda, @AsambleaCuba, @BrunoRguezP, @CIDH, @UNHumanRights, @mbachelet.
— ARTICLE 19 MX-CA (@article19mex) November 27, 2020
In a video shared on Cuba Primero's Facebook social network, a tumult is seen outside the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement that observes when the strikers are taken, and they are heard saying that policemen dressed as doctors broke into the house and beat everyone there.
"The regime has just told us with complete clarity that they are afraid and weak. They fear the people, so they have removed social networks in several provinces, before entering and beating up women and men in San Isidro," says the text that accompanies the images.
"The regime is weak and that's when they make misguided decisions like this. I alert and call on Cuban civil society and the officers and soldiers of the Armed Forces. The next thing will be to manipulate national public opinion in a forceful and radical way to achieve a devastating effect against peaceful internal opposition in Cuba. Let's not allow elements within state security to attack civilians to cause this effect," the publication notes.
Members of the San Isidro Movement had been on hunger strike since 18 November for the release of answering rapper Denis Solís, arbitrarily detained on 9 November and tried on the 11th, in a summary trial, eight months in prison for the alleged crime of "contempt".
Of the 14 people planted at the headquarters of the Movement,besieged from day one by State Security agents, six were on hunger strike, one of them, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, on hunger and thirst strike, the others were rapper Maykel Osorbo, Esteban Rodríguez, journalist Ileana Hernández, writer Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, who had joined the hunger strike four days ago, and curator Anamelys Ramos,who started the strike on Wednesday.
The strikers barricaded in Damas 955, San Isidro, go on strike after security agents guarding the property cut off the supply of food that sent them. The activists, artists and intellectuals gathered were involved in a poetic whisper, one of the peaceful actions with which they sought to draw attention to the solís case.


 

 'A battalion came in... gorilones disguised as doctors': the emergence of the Cuban regime at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement
Most of the activists detained in Havana have been released, as reported by themselves and nearby sources.
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Havana 27 Nov 2020 - 09:45 CET
Patrol stationed on the ground floor of Anamely Ramos' home. ANAMELY RAMOS/FACEBOOKMost of the activists arrested Thursday night at the San Isidro Movement (MSI) headquarters have been released, according to reports from independent journalists and other sources close to the group.
Journalist Maikel González Vivero confirmed that hours after the operation with which the regime stormed the San Isidro headquarters in Havana, where several artists and activists were on hunger strike, police continued to patrol the neighborhood.
After being released, art curator Anamely Ramos said she had a patrol on the ground floor of her home and state security surveillance. So he showed it in a direct on Facebook this morning.
Activists close to MSI said Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, coordinator of the movement, was also released. The only one who would still be in detention is Jorge Luis Capote Arias. According to journalist María Matienzo, she would be in Zanja's unit.
In addition to Ramos, Omara Ruiz Urquiola, Katherine Bisquet, Esteban Rodríguez, Yasser Castellanos, Maykel Castillo, Iliana Hernández, Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Niober Alexander "Abu" and Osmani Pardo were released.
On Thursday night, repressive forces of the regime raided MSI headquarters, where more than a dozen activists had been planted for more than a week, some on hunger strikes. The operative got away with stopping the whole group.
From around the san Isidro headquarters, González Vivero assured that a neighbour witness to the events confirmed to him what had happened. Also that the authorities mounted an "act of repudiation" before the house as a preamble for repressive forces to break the door and remove people.
Omara Ruiz Urquiola stated to DIARIO DE CUBA that they "pushed the boys" when they were put in the vehicle to move them, but "this time they took care of the violence".
"We weren't hit, " he added.
In a direct, Yasser Castellanos explained that the authorities broke into the house on Damas Street with "a kick" at the door.
"A battalion of so-called doctors, people with physical preparation came in. were gorilons disguised as doctors," he added.
"They were very tense, 80 times tighter than us, more concerned," Castellanos said. He agreed that they were driven without violence. "None of us were beaten. They drove us carefully. They were very nervous," he reiterated.
The nine men who were at the San Isidro headquarters were mounted in a cage carriage in which they remained on the outskirts of Cuba and Chacón station for more than three hours.
Castellanos fue conducido en una patrulla a su casa. Una vez allí le entregaron su teléfono celular "prácticamente reseteado de fábrica", al igual que le ocurrió a Anamely Ramos.
On Thursday, officialism justified the assault on hunger strikers with epidemiological reasons and accused Carlos Manuel Alvarez of "violation of health protocol for international travelers".
During the events, the Facebook, Instagram and YouTube service crashed throughout Cuba. Those are the channels that activists report on.


 

'The repression machinery in Cuba remains in force,' international agencies say in the face of the arrest of the San Isidro MovementHuman Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations call on the Government to respect activists.
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Havana 27 Nov 2020 - 14:45 CET
 
Neighbors of the neighborhood of San Isidro, after arrest. JOSÉ RAÚL GALLEGO / FACEBOOKThe arbitrary detention of 14 Cubans at the headquarters of the San IsidroMovement in Havana was reported on social media by international organizations that called on the Government of Cuba to respect human rights. The activists were released about two hours after the incident.
"The Cuban regime arrested peaceful protesters of the San Isidro Movement,who were conducting a hunger strike. It is clear that the regime's repression has no limits. Three of them are still in custody. His whereabouts are unknown. We demand his immediate release," José Miguel Vivanco, director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote on Twitter. 
Vivanco added that "the machinery of repression and censorship established by Fidel and Raúl Castro in Cuba remains completely in force".
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Director for the Americas at Amnesty International, made "an urgent call to the Embassies in Cuba and the governments of the region and Europe to intercede for the life and integrity of the activists of the San Isidro Movement, who have been arbitrarily and violently detained by security agents of Miguel Díaz-Canel".
Political police on Thursday evicted Cubans protesting peacefully in Havana for the freedom of rapper Denis Solís. The Government justified the action for an alleged violation of the health protocols established by Covid-19 and accused journalist Carlos Manuel Alvarez of the crime of "spread of epidemic".
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands expressed concern about the human rights situation in Cuba and requested the Cuban authorities to respect the Universal Declaration of HRDs, freedom of expression and end arbitrary arrests and detentions, reported Bahia Tahzib-Lie, DDHH ambassador of that European country.
The Chancellor of the Czech Republic, Tomá-Petsí-ek,said he is "deeply concerned about the recent wave of repressions against the San Isidro Movement in Cuba. I urge the Cuban authorities to fully respect the human rights of all their citizens."
Pedro Vaca,special rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) received with indignation the testimonies of the detention in Havana. "I fear for the life and integrity of the members of the San Isidro Movement. My angry rejection of the continued outrage at civil liberties in Cuba," he said.
Vaca noted that "the blockade is added to social networks (Facebook and Instagram) in Cuba".
The IACHR's Special Rapporteurship on Freedom of Expression called on the Cuban Government to "report on the current condition and health status of detainees in view of the public knowledge, and especially of the authorities, who were on hunger strikes". The agency of the Organization of American States (OAS) expressed its concern.
The British organization Article 19 requested to "respect the physical and psychological integrity and legal certainty of all detainees and release them".
The communications directorate of the Universidad Iberoamericana,Mexico, also applied for respect from its student Anamely Ramos and all the activists.
The Government of Cuba freed peaceful protesters from the San Isidro Movement about two hours after the detention disguised as a health protocol and with an act of repudiation included.
The Cuban Prisoners Defenders organization rated this Thursday's events in Havana as a "crude circus of covert fascism: 30 agents break into the San Isidro Movement dressed in costumes they threw after entering, cutting communications, arresting, beatings, many to their homes without medical protocol, and (Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara keep him) stopped from home athome to avoid coming home."


 
Luis Manuel Otero admitted to Manuel Fajardo Hospital, continues on hunger strike"We've been told that Luis Manuel is already at a family member's house, but we know that's not true because he refuses to go anywhere other than his house."
 MARIA MATIENZO PORT
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2020 10:48 P.M.
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Anamelys Ramos and Luis Manuel Otero. Collage CubaNetMIAMI, USA.- The independent artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, is admitted to the Comandante Manuel Fajardo Hospital in Havana, as his uncle, Enix Berrio, informed La Hora de Cuba.
Luis Manuel Otero's entry "happened forcefully sometime today, after spending several hours on a police patrol that tried to leave him at his uncle's house, but then continued to move him as a detainee," the Facebook post says. "Without any police charges against him, Otero told his uncle, in the short one-minute call that he was allowed, that he is weak and needs all the media to disclose his situation."
If he were to go on strike as he said, the activist would be on his ninth day of hunger strike, the same situation as Maykel Castillo, released around midnight on Thursday. The house of Otero Alcántara is maintained with surveillance and prohibition of access even for its resident.
In recent hours, it has been known that curator Anamely Ramos González is located, after almost 24 hours in which the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement was raided,in the home of Omara Ruiz Urquiola.
At first Ramos was taken to his home as was the event with almost all the other activists who were at headquarters. Some sources assured that the artist was driven along with other strikers to the station of Cuba and Chacón, but then did not run the same luck because his home, Damas 955, had been looted and remained closed even for his own owner.
At about 4:45 a.m. Ramos González was arrested again at his doorstep. "I'm told that Luis still doesn't want to go anywhere other than his own house," she said in a direct, when the news had already spread that they kept the artist on a patrol with the aim of leaving him at friends' or family's house, adding, "I want to insist on the horrible things that have happened tonight. They came in disguised as doctors and forsate us from the house (...) I don't know where Luis is, so we're going," and she took to the street where the police were waiting for her, after listing countless reasons that made her not give up on her efforts.
The information that has been given during this Friday has been very varied. Michel Matos, since the protest in front of the Ministry of Culture in which more than 150 people have gathered, told CubaNet that they have been lied to. "We have been told that Luis Manuel is already at the home of relatives, but we know that is not true because he refuses to go anywhere other than his home", which is also the seat of the San Isidro Movement and the Museum of Dissent.
Concern for Otero Alcántara's life is a fact after five days of hunger and thirst strike. Ramos González is also a striker, albeit hungry and has been relatively short for a while. But the uncertainty of their whereabouts has led to Amnesty International declaring them prisoners of conscience.

 



 
The echo of St. Isidro, or the zero day of FreedomIt will depend on the will and capacity of Cubans to maintain momentum, and extend it to other civic spaces. The regime will try not to give in, press and disarm; but it has gained political maturity enough for this wave of citizen renewal to continue adding affinities
 ANA LEÓN
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2020 10:34 A.M.
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Artists gathered in front of MINCULT this Friday, November 27th. Twitter photoLA HABANA, Cuba.- On the edge of 9:30 p.m., after almost ten hours of waiting, a group of 32 people elected representing the large group of artists and intellectuals who from yesterday morning remained on the outskirts of the Ministry of Culture demanding an office with its owner Alpidio Alonso Grau, was able to access the institution to meet with Deputy Minister Fernando Rojas. Before crossing the gate, and having banned them from carrying their mobile phones, they shared a series of demands with all the attendees.
The requirements included the right to freedom of expression and creation; the right to dissent and independent positioning; cessation of harassment, defamation and political persecution against any citizen who disagrees with state policies; review of the case of Denis Solís, and the right of Luis Manuel Otero to return to his home, where he is prohibited from entering.
The citizen rally in front of MINCULT occurred in response to the events that took place on the night of November 26 at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), when repressive forces raided the house and violently took the fourteen people who remained there from the 18th, some on hunger and thirst strike, in protest at the arbitrary imprisonment of rapper Denis Solís following a summary trial for contempt's alleged crime.
The brutality of the action, and the cowardice with which it took place—at night, having cut off access to social media and taking advantage of Thanksgiving's celebration in the United States—showed that the regime never intended to negotiate. The smear campaign against the sleepers in Ladies 955, launched from the state media, endorsed that against any opponent the position of castrism remains to deny, despise, morally murder and suppress until only silence remains.
What happened in San Isidro was the drop that filled the glass. Those who yesterday stood before the Ministry of Culture did so because of the impostergable need to put an end to the unconstitutionality that prevails in Cuba, the discretionary application of the law that turns the right into a crime and gives the green light to police abuse. Freedom of expression, creation and association; the right to dissent and solidarity cannot be useful material for the discourses with which the regime washes its face before international bodies, while condemning its own people to civic death and reacting with disproportionate violence against those who do not resign themselves to living in this way.
Respected cultural personalities such as Fernando Pérez, and artists such as Leoni Torres and Jorge Perugorría showed their support, while the peaceful plaintiffs awaited the outcome after a day without eating or drinking. To prevent more supporters from joining, the minions deployed a fence around the area, just as they did two years ago, when performer Tania Bruguera and artists from the San Isidro Movement tried to stand on the outskirts of the institution to protest Against Decree 349.
Despite the strong mobilization of police, state security officers and repudiation troops, the number of attendees was increasing and by the early morning it exceeded three hundred people, with extensive coverage by the independent and foreign press. A group of young men who had separated from the rally to get supplies had a confrontation with the police as they tried to return. They sprayed pepper spray on their faces and had to run so they wouldn't be arrested.
After several hours of negotiation, the 32 representatives finally made public the agreements reached: to open a channel of dialogue between institutions and artists; urgently interested in the situation of Denis Solís and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara; develop a multi-work agenda with all artists; review the AHS statement; respect the independent meeting spaces of artists; meeting with the minister of culture next week; and assurances that rally-goers could return home freely, without retaliation from repressive forces.
The month of November closes with the accelerated pulse, a symptom of a turbulent Cuba, besieged by poverty, oprobrium and the obcecation of its leaders. The people who came together in front of MINCULT embody the "enough already" that millions have shouted, some in full voice, others in a murmur, many more with thought; but all from the same pain and exhaustedness.
Although it may seem small, much has been achieved given that last night's counterpart was the same as last March said it wanted "a Cuba without Alcantara." That post-sicario, unworthy of public officials in a country that presents itself as a model of humanism and justice, will never be forgotten.
It will depend on the will and capacity of Cubans to maintain momentum, and extend it to other civic spaces. The regime will try not to give in, press and disarm; but it has gained political maturity enough for this wave of citizen renewal to continue adding affinities.
It's a fact that dictatorships don't dialogue. They don't know how to do it and they won't learn; But it doesn't matter anymore. Castrism is out of time. This remnant of autocracy is only kept standing thanks to the systematic application of terror and repression as state policies. He has run out of arguments, the public has lost his respect, his own press puts him back on the back and even his historical pimps prefer to tread carefully. Another Cuba dawns, breaking the mold that kept it small and frowned on. Resistance in San Isidro has marked the zero day of Freedom.

 
 
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