‘Prison or exile’: HRW documents human rights violations in Cuba

The government in Cuba “committed systematic human rights violations” in response to massive July 2021 protests against deteriorating economic conditions, NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced in a report released on July 11. 

It was the biggest popular revolt since the 1959 revolution. Per HRW, the government unleashed a brutal crackdown on protesters — including cases of arbitrary detention, abuse-ridden prosecutions, and even torture — in order to deter future demonstrations.

Cuban NGO Cubalex reports that one protester has been killed and more than 1,400 have been arrested by local authorities since July of last year. In most cases, they have been prosecuted for sedition, vandalism, theft, and public disorder. Public officials claim protesters were operatives for foreign powers trying to undermine the rule of the Communist Party.

Credited with steering Cuba into a process of economic opening, President Miguel Díaz-Canel is less liberal when it comes to political freedoms. He denies the existence of political prisoners, saying his administration is merely...