To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
False Normality in Cuba. Proposed Penal Code Further Subverts Cubans’ Rights. Labor unions serve regime not workers. Religious Repression: A Case Study
Cuban independent journalist Irina Echarry writes about the Castro regime wanting to project the idea of normality in her article "False Normality in Cuba" published in the HAVANA TIMES, "to sell us the image that life in Cuba is all proceeding calmly. Everything circulating on social media that they didn’t pen, or that doesn’t please them, is a lie."
The Cuban dictatorship is incredibly effective in two areas: its secret police, and its propaganda apparatus. The propaganda apparatus floods social media with regime talking points, and falsehoods.
Meanwhile, if one wants to know what is happening in Cuba, one must show great discernment, and read the independent media. Trials continue on the island, but so are acts of rebelliousness. During the political show trial of thirty three 11J protesters on February 4, 2022 in the 10 de Octubre Municipal Court, one of them stood up "in a Havana courtroom and shouted for freedom for all," according to a February 8, 2022 report in 14ymedio and relatives of the defendants began to applaud and were quickly removed, together with the defense attorneys.
These outbursts are unnerving for governing elites.
The dictatorship is seeking to pass a new penal code that will seek to further prevent Cubans being able to express themselves, or criticize the government. "The draft version of the new Cuban Penal Code affirms that the State, the Government and the Communist Party (PCC) stand above the Cuban people. It also protects regime followers who participate in the repression of dissidents and critical citizens, and shields Castroism and its institutions from possible expressions of popular dissatisfaction," reports Lucía Alfonso Mirabal in Diario de Cuba. She examines how 14 of the articles worsen, an already terrible situation in Cuba for human rights. Here is one of them.
Article 23.5 establishes that "a person acts in legitimate self-defense when he prevents or adequately repels a danger or imminent or actual harm to the peace, or to the property or social interests of the State." These people are exempted from criminal liability, which eliminates any future possibility of prosecuting those who harm Cubans protesting against the regime, as occurred on July 11, when "revolutionaries," in response to Miguel Díaz-Canel's call, assaulted demonstrators.
Cuban journalist Roberto Álvarez Quiñones has written an article in Diario de Cuba of Cuba's labor unions titled "The CTC is a repressive instrument at the service of Castroism" that exposes the reality that workers in Cuba do not have a right to collective bargaining, but only to obey edicts of the dictatorship.
"An encyclopedia defines a union as 'an association composed of workers to defend and promote their labor interests vis-a-vis their employers.' In other words, the official Cuban unions, especially in the state sector, are the very antithesis of what a union is. They are no such thing. In Cuba unions have two clear missions: firstly, to fulfill the Leninist dogma that unions are mechanisms by which to impart to workers the orders of the dictatorial elite, the bosses; and, secondly, to organize brigades of henchmen in them, the latter a contribution of the Castro brothers to totalitarianism, whether communist, fascist or theocratic."
Not only are labor rights non-existent in Cuba, but religious freedoms are also curtailed. Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) 's blog Freedom of Religion or Belief in full on February 7, 2022 examined the case of Pastor Alain Toledano Valiente and the fact that in 2022 the Office of Religious Affairs (ORA), part of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (CCP), continues to regulate religious affairs and routinely commits violations of the internationally recognized right to freedom of religion or belief in Cuba. Pastor Alain Toledano Valiente in a September 2020 interview with CSW described how he was left homeless by the Castro regime.
‘We were evicted for the first time in 2007. The government came into our house [and] threw us out into the street – they took everything from us and threw it into the street. We were left homeless. At the same time, the government demolished our place of worship, Emanuel Church. They destroyed the floor and took it away. They left everything in ruins. They confiscated our land. This was the first violation of that scale. They demolished everything and took everything from us, our family possessions, music and audio equipment. Everything the church had was seized, all our technology was taken away. The church was left without land, its property and possessions, without a place to worship and we were left homeless in the street.’
Pastor Alain Toledano Valiente
This is not normal. This is a totalitarian dictatorship that has terrorized Cubans for 63 years, and seeks to perpetuate itself in power. Time for the international community to side with Cubans, not their oppressors.
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