1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
U.S. Department of State, February 25, 2000
CUBA
Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel Castro, who is Chief of State, Head of Government, First Secretary
of the Communist Party, and commander in chief of the armed forces. President Castro exercises control over all aspects of
Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy, and the state
security apparatus. The Communist Party is the only legal political entity, and President Castro personally chooses the
membership of the Politburo, the select group that heads the party. There are no contested elections for the 601-member
National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), which meets twice a year for a few days to rubber stamp decisions and
policies already decided by the Government. The Party controls all government positions, including judicial offices. The
judiciary is completely subordinate to the Government and to the Communist Party.
The Ministry of Interior is the principal organ of state security and totalitarian control. Officers of the Revolutionary Armed
Forces (FAR), which are led by President Castro's brother Raul, have been assigned to the majority of key positions in the
Ministry of Interior in recent years. In addition to the routine law enforcement functions of regulating migration and
controlling the Border Guard and the regular police forces, the Interior Ministry's Department of State Security investigates
and actively suppresses opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of vigilance through undercover agents,
informers, the rapid response brigades, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR's). While the
Government traditionally used the CDR's to mobilize citizens against dissenters, impose ideological conformity, and root
out "counterrevolutionary" behavior, economic problems have reduced the Government's ability to reward participation in
the CDR's and hence the willingness of citizens to participate in them, thereby lessening the CDR's effectiveness. Other
mass organizations also inject government and Communist Party control into citizens' daily activities at home, work, and
school. Members of the security forces committed serious human rights abuses.
The Government continued to control all significant means of production and remained the predominant employer, despite
permitting some carefully controlled foreign investment in joint ventures with the Government. In most cases, foreign
employers are allowed to contract workers only through state agencies, which receive hard currency payments for the
workers' labor but in turn pay the workers a small fraction of this, usually 5 percent, in local currency. In May 1998, the
Government retracted some of the changes that had led to the rise of legal nongovernmental business activity when it further
tightened restrictions on the self-employed sector by reducing the number of categories allowed and by exacting relatively
high taxes on self-employed persons. In August the Government's official press reported that the number of self-employed
persons was 166,000, an increase from the fewer than 150,000 reported in 1998, when the number of self-employed
persons was estimated to have dropped by one-fourth from 1997. According to official figures published in December, the
economy grew 6.2 percent during the year. Despite this growth, overall economic output remains below the levels prior to
the drop of at least 35 percent in gross domestic product that occurred in the early 1990's due to the inefficiencies of the
centrally controlled economic system; the loss of billions of dollars of annual Soviet bloc trade and Soviet subsidies; the
ongoing deterioration of plants, equipment, and the transportation system; and the continued poor performance of the
important sugar sector. The 1998-99 sugar harvest was marginally better than the 1997-98 harvest, considered to have been
the worst in more than 50 years. For the ninth straight year, the Government continued its austerity measures known as the
"special period in peacetime." Agricultural markets, legalized in 1994, provide consumers wider access to meat and produce,
although at prices beyond the reach of most citizens living on peso-only incomes or pensions. Given these conditions, the
flow of hundreds of millions of dollars in remittances from the exile community significantly helps those who receive
dollars to survive. Tourism remained a key source of revenue for the Government. The system of "tourist apartheid"
continued, with foreign visitors who pay in hard currency receiving preference over citizens for food, consumer products,
and medical services. Citizens remain barred from tourist hotels, beaches, and resorts.
The Government's human rights record remained poor. It continued systematically to violate fundamental civil and political
rights of its citizens. Citizens do not have the right to change their government peacefully. Unlike in 1998, there were no
credible reports of death due to excessive use of force by the police. However, members of the security forces and prison
officials continued to beat and otherwise abuse detainees and prisoners. The Government failed to prosecute or sanction
adequately members of the security forces and prison guards who committed abuses. Prison conditions remained harsh.
The authorities routinely continued to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights
advocates and members of independent professional associations, including journalists, economists, doctors, and lawyers,
often with the goal of coercing them into leaving the country. The Government used internal and external exile against such
persons, and it offered political prisoners the choice of exile or continued imprisonment. The Government denied political
dissidents and human rights advocates due process and subjected them to unfair trials. The Government infringed on
citizens' privacy rights. The Government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. It limited
the distribution of foreign publications and news to selected party faithful and maintained strict censorship of news and
information to the public. The Government restricts some religious activities but permits others. Before and after the
January 1998 visit of Pope John Paul II, the Government permitted some public processions on feast days, and reinstated
Christmas as an official holiday, but it has not responded to the papal appeal that the Church be allowed to play a greater
role in Cuban society. During the year, the Government allowed about 15 new priests to enter the country; however, the
applications of many priests and religious workers remained pending, and some visas were issued for periods of only 3 to 6
months. The Government kept tight restrictions on freedom of movement, including foreign travel. The Government was
sharply and publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its human rights practices and sought to discourage and thwart foreign
contacts with human rights activists. The Government publicly stated before the Ibero-American Summit in November that
visiting delegations were free to meet with any person in the country, and about 20 dissidents met with 9 different
delegations, including 3 heads of state. However, prior to the summit, the Government temporarily detained a number of
human rights activists to prevent them from preparing for meetings with the visiting leaders and also detained independent
journalists to prevent them from covering the event. Violence against women is a problem, as is child prostitution. Racial
discrimination often occurs. The Government severely restricted worker rights, including the right to form independent
unions. The Government employs forced labor, including that by children.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
There were no reports of politically motivated killings. Unlike in 1998, during the year there were no credible reports of
deaths due to the excessive use of force by the national police. Government sanctions against perpetrators were light or
nonexistent in the cases of deaths due to excessive use of force during 1998. There were no reports of proper investigations
into the 1998 deaths of Wilfredo Martinez Perez, Yuset Ochoterena and Reinery Marrera Toldedo.
In October 1996, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued its final report on the Government's
July 13, 1994 sinking of the "13th of March" tugboat, which killed 41 persons, including women and children. The IACHR
concluded that the Government violated the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man and found the
Government legally obligated to indemnify the survivors and the relatives of the victims for the damages caused. At year's
end, the Government still had not done so. The Government detained a number of human rights activists to prevent them
from participating in a Mass in memory of the victims on the anniversary of the deaths (see Sections 1.d. and 2.c.).
In March the Government announced that a Havana court sentenced Salvadoran citizen Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon to death for
terrorism. The authorities arrested Cruz Leon in September 1997 and charged him with being the "material author" of the
killing of an Italian tourist that month with a bomb, one of a series of explosions in Havana. In April the court sentenced a
second Salvadoran citizen, Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena, to death in the same case. Neither man was executed by year's
end. The authorities also held two Guatemalan citizens in custody in the case; they awaited trial at year's end.
b. Disappearance
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The Constitution prohibits abusive treatment of detainees and prisoners; however, there were instances in which members of
the security forces beat and otherwise abused human rights advocates, detainees, and prisoners. There have been numerous
reports of disproportionate police harassment of black youths (see Section 5).
On January 26, police approached 16-year-old Yusel Vidal Mejias and his friends, who were hanging on to a gasoline truck
while riding their bicycles at about 11:00 p.m. The youths dispersed upon seeing the police, but police apprehended Vidal
and severely beat him. Since Vidal had no identity documents, the police took him to the local police station, where the
police told the registration official that he was a "ninja" (a popular expression referring to thieves who use acrobatic
maneuvers to mount a moving truck and then proceed to throw bags of rice or beans onto another moving vehicle). Vidal's
father, Jose Vidal Crossa, told of his son's arrest by friends and neighbors, reached the police station after midnight, and
after nearly an hour's wait, secured his son's release. The father took the boy to the nearest hospital, where a doctor
diagnosed him as having suffered "severe contusions of the right elbow, of the right knee, and multiple hematomas of the
back." On January 27, the father met with the chief of police, who admitted that the police officer used excessive force and
said that the officer would no longer have any duties related to street patrols. Citing a radio statement by the Director of
Prisons of the Ministry of Interior (MININT) in 1996 that no prisoner in Cuba is mistreated, the father officially requested
that the military prosecutor investigate the case and prosecute the police officer. There was no response from the
Government as of year's end.
On August 14, police detained Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez, president of the Lawton Human Rights Foundation
(FLDH), and other activists as they were going to a public park to demonstrate (see Section 2.b.). At the police station, a
policeman punched Biscet in the face while another crushed his burning cigarette on Biscet's elbow when Biscet said, "God
loves you." It was not known whether the Government ever sanctioned the two policemen responsible for the cigarette burn
and for striking Dr. Biscet in the face.
The Government continued to subject those who disagreed with it to "acts of repudiation." At government instigation,
members of state-controlled mass organizations, fellow workers, or neighbors of intended victims are obliged to stage
public protests against those who dissent with the Government's policies, shouting obscenities and often causing damage to
the homes and property of those targeted; physical attacks on the victims sometimes occur. Police and state security agents
are often present but take no action to prevent or end the attacks. Those who refuse to participate in these actions face
disciplinary action, including loss of employment. During the year, there were no massive acts of repudiation directed
against the homes of particular human rights activists; however, there were smaller-scale acts of repudiation, known as
"reuniones relampagos," or "lightning fast meetings."
On October 28, in a press conference at his residence, Dr. Biscet announced plans for a protest march. Participants in the
press conference were subjected to verbal abuse from a crowd in which observers noted the presence of security police in
civilian clothes (see Section 2.b.). On November 10, this publicly announced nonviolent protest march from Dolores Park
to Butari Park in the Lawton section of Havana was repressed when a crowd booed, chased, and struck three protesters. On
November 12, Moises Rodriguez Quesada allowed his house to be used for a meeting of nongovernmental organizations
(NGO's) (see Section 2.b.). On November 22, a small crowd threw stones for about 30 minutes at a metal door on the side
of Rodriguez's house. Independent journalists also were subjected to acts of repudiation (see Section 2.a.).
Prison conditions continued to be harsh, and conditions in detention facilities also are harsh. The Government claims that
prisoners have rights, such as family visitation, adequate nutrition, pay for work, the right to request parole, and the right to
petition the prison director. However, police and prison officials often denied these rights and used beatings, neglect,
isolation, and denial of medical attention against detainees and prisoners, including those convicted of political crimes or
those who persisted in expressing their views. Human Rights Watch reported that in February the Government revised the
Penal Code to provide that prisoners "cannot be subjected to corporal punishment, nor is it permitted to employ any means
against them to humiliate them or to lessen their dignity;" however, the revised code failed to establish penalties for
committing such acts. There are separate prison facilities for women and for minors.
Prison officials regularly denied prisoners other rights, such as the right to correspondence, and continued to confiscate
medications and food brought by family members for political prisoners. State security officials in Havana's Villa Marista
prison took medications brought by family members for inmates and then refused to give the detainees the medicine,
despite repeated assurances that they would. Prison authorities also routinely denied religious workers access to detainees
and prisoners.
The rights to adequate nutrition and medical attention while in prison also were violated regularly. In 1997 the IACHR
described the nutritional and hygienic situation in the prisons, together with the deficiencies in medical care, as "alarming."
Both the IACHR and the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Cuba, as well as other human rights monitoring organizations,
reported the widespread incidence in prisons of tuberculosis, scabies, hepatitis, parasitic infections, and malnutrition.
Prison guards and state security officials also subjected human rights and prodemocracy activists to threats of physical
violence; to systematic psychological intimidation; and to detention or imprisonment in cells with common and violent
criminals, sexually aggressive inmates, or state security agents posing as prisoners. In May in the Guamajal prison in Villa
Clara, a common prisoner named Soria physically attacked political prisoner Cecilio Monteagudo Sanchez, at the instigation
of prison authorities. According to witnesses, prison official Jose Luis Collado was responsible for this attack.
Political prisoners are required to comply with the rules for common criminals and often are punished severely if they
refuse. Detainees and prisoners often are subjected to repeated, vigorous interrogations designed to coerce them into
signing incriminating statements, to force collaboration with authorities, or to intimidate victims.
Despite international appeals for their release, after 17 months of detention without charges, the four leaders of the dissident
working group--economists Vladimiro Roca Antunez and Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, engineer Felix Antonio Bonne
Carcasses, and lawyer Rene Gomez Manzano--were accused of sedition in November 1998 and convicted in March 1999
after a 1-day, closed trial. On July 16, one of the four, Marta Beatriz Roque, began to refuse all solid food and threatened to
begin a complete hunger strike on September 2 if the Government did not answer the appeal she filed after the trial (see
Section 1.e.). However, after promising her a quick response, the Government instead transferred Roque to a
government-owned safehouse where she was kept in isolation for several months.
In June in the provincial prison of Guantanamo, prison authorities placed Alexander Taureaux Balvier in solitary
confinement after he complained about the prison authorities' arbitrary decision to reduce family visits, including those by
his mother, to 5 minutes. On June 29, common prisoners demonstrated against the mistreatment of Taureaux, and in
response, the prison authorities called in the special brigade riot police for help. The demonstration did not become violent,
and no one was injured in the incident.
On July 5, in a note smuggled out of the Combinado del Este prison in Havana, political prisoner Francisco Chaviano
Gonzalez described the mistreatment that he said prison officials directed at him. According to Chaviano, prison authorities
confined him to his cell without allowing him to mix with other prisoners or to exercise in the open court with other
prisoners. He added that this was the third time during the last 3 months that he was isolated in his cell. Chaviano
speculated that this treatment was in retaliation for a letter he wrote to Fidel Castro criticizing the arbitrariness of his
detention and trial. In September Chaviano reportedly again was placed in isolation after a heated conversation with a prison
official.
On August 15, prison authorities in Canaleta, Ciego de Avila province, placed Luis Campo Corrales (who was sentenced to
25 years' imprisonment for piracy of a boat and another year for "disrespect") in isolation (known as a "punishment cell")
for reportedly complaining about prison conditions. Witnesses reported that the cell in which he was placed previously was
occupied by a prisoner infected with the HIV virus. According to these witnesses, prison authorities stripped Campo of all
his clothes before confining him in the cell.
In September prison authorities in Ciego de Avila forced the parents of imprisoned journalist Joel Diaz Hernandez to
submit to a strip search following a visit to their son (see Section 2.a.).
The Government does not permit independent monitoring of prison conditions by international or national human rights
monitoring groups. The Government has refused prison visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
since 1989 and continued to refuse requests to renew such visits. Nonetheless, human rights activists continued to seek
information on conditions inside jails despite the risks to themselves and to their prison sources.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
Arbitrary arrest and detention continued to be problems, and they remained the Government's most effective weapons to
harass opponents. The Law of Penal Procedures requires police to file formal charges and either release a detainee or bring
the case before a prosecutor within 96 hours of arrest. It also requires the authorities to provide suspects with access to a
lawyer within 7 days of arrest. However, the Constitution states that all legally recognized civil liberties can be denied to
anyone who actively opposes the "decision of the Cuban people to build socialism." The authorities invoke this sweeping
authority to deny due process to those detained on purported state security grounds.
The authorities routinely engage in arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates, subjecting them to
interrogations, threats, and degrading treatment and conditions for hours or days at a time.
In January security agents temporarily detained independent journalist Omar Rodriguez Saludes and Jose Orlando
Gonzalez Bridon, president of an independent labor organization, after they had lunch with a group of visiting foreign
former legislators. On January 14, police temporarily detained about a dozen prodemocracy activists in Havana to prevent
them from holding a public event in honor of Martin Luther King (see Section 2.b.). According to Human Rights Watch, in
late January, police detained several members of the FLDH, including Dr. Biscet, the group's leader, for 4 to 6 days. The
detentions prevented the FLDH members from participating in a January 25 celebration of the first anniversary of the
Pope's 1998 visit to the country (see Section 2.c.).
In February state security officials detained a number of prodemocracy activists in various parts of the country to prevent
them from commemorating the anniversary of the shootdown of two civilian airplanes over international airspace by the air
force in 1996 (see Section 2.b.). In late February and early March, the Government temporarily detained nearly 100
prodemocracy activists and placed others under house arrest to keep them from expressing support for the four members of
the Internal Dissident Working Group during their trial in March on charges of sedition (see Sections 1.e. and 2.b.).
On July 13, the police arrested Marcel Valenzuela Salt, a member of the Organization of Fraternal Brothers for Dignity, and
5 other persons while the 6 were en route to a church in Guanabacoa to attend a Mass in honor of the 41 persons who
drowned when the Border Guard sank the tugboat "13th of March" (see Section 1.a.). Police officers detained all six
persons and confiscated the truck driven by Valenzuela, even though the truck's papers clearly indicated that Valenzuela's
father was the owner. Despite various attempts to have the truck returned to its rightful owner, police refused to do so. The
truck finally was returned to its rightful owner in November. On August 15, police prevented human rights activists,
including lawyer Leonel Morejon Almagro, leader of the environmental group Naturpaz and founder of Concilio Cubano,
from meeting in Lenin Park, and confiscated Morejon's car (see Section 2.b.).
On September 8, security police told a number of human rights activists not to attend the annual procession in honor of the
Virgin of Charity (see Section 2.c.). On the same day, police prevented some activists from meeting to discuss the
formation of a forum on civil society. On October 19, security police prevented members of various organizations from
organizing the Third Millennium Forum. These organizations intended to present a unified position on various domestic
issues to delegations attending the Ninth Ibero-American Summit in Havana on November 15 and 16.
On October 21, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation issued a press release alerting the
international community to the growing number of human rights activists being detained for short periods. The
Commission noted that at least 40 people were detained for brief periods during the previous 2 weeks. On November 10,
police arrested leaders of a farmers' organization that was preparing a conference for small farmers and agricultural
operatives on November 12 in Matanzas (see Section 2.b.). These arrests were carried out to prevent human rights activists
from preparing themselves for meetings that they hoped to have with government leaders attending the Ibero-American
Summit. Also on November 10, police told a number of activists not to leave their homes in order to prevent them from
participating in a planned protest in a public park in the Lawton section of Havana. On November 3, a week before the
event, the authorities detained Dr. Biscet, who had announced the planned protest march in an October 28 press conference
(see Section 2.b.). At year's end, Biscet remained in jail and was under investigation for "promoting public disorder." In the
days prior to a planned meeting of NGO's on November 12, authorities detained temporarily or placed under house arrest
approximately 150 prodemocracy activists (see Section 2.b.). On November 17, the authorities temporarily detained Biscet's
wife, Elsa Morejon. On December 9, numerous persons were detained or told not to leave their homes on December 10,
when human rights activists planned to commemorate the 51st anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(see Section 2.b.). The same thing happened on December 16, the day before the popular pilgrimage to the church of St.
Lazarus in the town of El Rincon outside Havana (see Section 2.c.).
The Government also arbitrarily arrested and detained independent journalists (see Section 2.a.). Independent journalists
were told not to cover certain meetings and were prevented physically from attending the small farmers' conference in
Matanzas (see Section 2.a.).
The Penal Code includes the concept of "dangerousness," defined as the "special proclivity of a person to commit crimes,
demonstrated by his conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist norms." If the police decide that a person exhibits signs
of dangerousness, they may bring the offender before a court or subject him to "therapy" or "political reeducation."
Government authorities regularly threaten prosecution under this article. Both the U.N. Commission on Human Rights
(UNCHR) and the IACHR have criticized this concept for its subjectivity, the summary nature of the judicial proceedings
employed, the lack of legal safeguards, and the political considerations behind its application. According to the IACHR, the
"special inclination to commit crimes" referred to in the Criminal Code amounts to "a subjective criterion" used by the
Government to justify violations of the rights to individual freedom and due process of persons whose sole crime has been
an inclination to hold a view different from the official view. On January 8, a Havana court reaffirmed the 4-year prison
term for dangerousness imposed in 1998 on Lazaro Constantin Duran, leader of the Friends Club of an independent
teachers' organization. On January 18, independent journalist Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez was sentenced to 4 years'
imprisonment for dangerousness (see Sections 1.e. and 2.a.). On July 17, a police officer threatened to arrest Merino
Cabrera, a member of the Human Rights Workers' Party, for dangerousness and warned him against continuing his
activities. A few days later, on July 27, Cabrera found a cardboard coffin on his front door with the words: "Rest in Peace."
The Government also used exile as a tool for controlling and eliminating the internal opposition. Amnesty International has
noted that the Government had changed its tactics in dealing with human rights advocates, and that rather than arresting
them and bringing them to trial, the "tendency" was to detain them repeatedly for short periods and threaten them with
imprisonment unless they gave up their activities or left the country. The Government used these incremental aggressive
tactics to compel Leonel Morejon Almagro to leave the country on October 19.
The Government also has pressured imprisoned human rights activists and political prisoners to apply for emigration and
regularly conditioned their release on acceptance of exile. Human Rights Watch observed that the Government "routinely
invokes forced exile as a condition for prisoner releases and also pressures activists to leave the country to escape future
prosecution." In April the Government released independent journalist Reinaldo Alfaro Garcia, who had served 21 months
of a 3-year prison sentence imposed in 1998 for "disseminating false news," on the condition that he leave the country.
Amnesty International has expressed "particular concern" about the Government's practice of threatening to charge, try, and
imprison human rights advocates and independent journalists prior to arrest or sentencing if they did not leave the country.
According to Amnesty International, this practice "effectively prevents those concerned from being able to act in public life
in their own country."
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for independent courts; however, it explicitly subordinates them to the National Assembly of the
People's Power and the Council of State, which is headed by Fidel Castro. The ANPP and its lower level counterparts
choose all judges. The subordination of the courts to the Communist Party, which the Constitution designates as "the
superior directive force of the society and the State," further compromises the judiciary's independence.
Civil courts exist at municipal, provincial, and supreme court levels. Panels composed of a mix of professionally certified
and lay judges preside over them. Military tribunals assume jurisdiction for certain counterrevolutionary cases.
The law and trial practices do not meet international standards for fair public trials. Almost all cases are tried in less than a
day; there are no jury trials. While most trials are public, trials are closed when state security allegedly is involved.
Prosecutors may introduce testimony from a CDR member as to the revolutionary background of a defendant, which may
contribute to either a longer or a shorter sentence. The law recognizes the right of appeal in municipal courts but limits it in
provincial courts to cases such as those involving maximum prison terms or the death penalty. Appeals in death penalty
cases are automatic. The death penalty ultimately must be affirmed by the Council of State.
Criteria for presenting evidence, especially in cases of human rights advocates, are arbitrary and discriminatory. Often the
sole evidence provided, particularly in political cases, is the defendant's confession, usually obtained under duress and
without the legal advice or knowledge of a defense lawyer. The authorities regularly deny defendants access to their lawyers
until the day of the trial. Several dissidents who have served prison terms reported that they were tried and sentenced
without counsel and were not allowed to speak on their own behalf. Amnesty International has concluded that "trials in all
cases fall far short of international standards for a fair trial."
The law provides the accused with the right to an attorney, but the control that the Government exerts over the livelihood of
members of the state-controlled lawyers' collectives--especially when they defend persons accused of state security
crimes--compromises their ability to represent clients. Attorneys have reported reluctance to defend those charged in
political cases due to fear of jeopardizing their own careers.
Human rights monitoring groups inside the country estimate the number of political prisoners at between 350 and 400
persons. The authorities have imprisoned such persons on charges such as disseminating enemy propaganda, illicit
association, contempt for the authorities (usually for criticizing Fidel Castro), clandestine printing, or the broad charge of
rebellion, often brought against advocates of peaceful democratic change.
On March 1, in a 1-day trial, a court in Havana convicted the four members of the Internal Dissident Working
Group--Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses, and Rene Gomez
Manzano--of "acts against the security of the State in relation to the crime of sedition." The four had been detained since
July 1997, when they were arrested for expressing peacefully their disagreement with the Government. In 1997 the group
had sought support from the international community for its concept of peaceful dissent from the Government's policies
and publicly distributed a paper, "The Homeland Belongs to All," which presented a moderate response to the platform
released by the Communist Party for its Fifth Party Congress. The Working Group also made a public appeal to citizens to
abstain from participating in national elections (voting is not mandatory). On March 15, the government television station
announced the following prison sentences for the four: 5 years for Vladimiro Roca, 4 years for Felix Bonne and Rene
Gomez, and 31/2 years for Marta Beatriz Roque. All four appealed their convictions. On July 16, Roque began to refuse all
solid food and later threatened to begin a full-scale hunger strike, to protest the Government's lack of response to her
appeal. In September she ended the hunger strike after the Government promised to respond; however, the Government did
not respond to the appeals of any of the four by year's end.
Others convicted on political charges during the year included independent journalists Manuel Antonio Gonzalez
Castellanos, who was sentenced on May 6 to 2 years and 7 months' imprisonment for "contempt for authority" (see section
2.a.). On January 19, a court sentenced journalist Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez to 4 years' imprisonment for "dangerousness"
(see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.).
According to human rights monitoring groups inside the country, the number of political prisoners increased slightly
during the year, in contrast to 1998 when the number of political prisoners fell after the release of 99 prisoners in response
to an appeal by Pope John Paul II for clemency.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
Although the Constitution provides for the inviolability of a citizen's home and correspondence, official surveillance of
private and family affairs by government-controlled mass organizations, such as the CDR's, remains one of the most
pervasive and repressive features of Cuban life. The State has assumed the right to interfere in the lives of citizens, even
those who do not actively oppose the Government and its practices. The mass organizations' ostensible purpose is to
"improve the citizenry," but in fact their goal is to discover and discourage nonconformity. Citizen participation in these
mass organizations has declined; the economic crisis both has reduced the Government's ability to provide material
incentives for their participation and has forced many persons to engage in black market activities, which the mass
organizations are supposed to report to the authorities.
The authorities utilize a wide range of social controls. The Interior Ministry employs an intricate system of informants and
block committees (the CDR's) to monitor and control public opinion. While less capable than in the past, CDR's continue
to report on suspicious activity, including conspicuous consumption; unauthorized meetings, including those with
foreigners; and defiant attitudes toward the Government and the revolution.
The Department of State Security often reads international correspondence and monitors overseas telephone calls and
conversations with foreigners. The Government controls all access to the Internet, and all electronic mail messages are
subject to censorship. Citizens do not have the right to receive publications from abroad, although newsstands in
foreigners-only hotels and outside certain hard currency stores sell foreign newspapers and magazines. The Government
continued to jam the U.S.-operated Radio Marti and Television Marti. Radio Marti broadcasts generally overcame the
jamming attempts on shortwave bands, but its medium wave transmissions are blocked completely in Havana. The
Government generally succeeded in jamming Television Marti transmissions. Security agents subjected dissidents, foreign
diplomats, and journalists to harassment and surveillance, including electronic surveillance.
Human Rights Watch reported that in January authorities in Santiago notified Margarita Sara Yero of the Independent
Press Agency of Cuba that she would be evicted from her home, where she had lived for 35 years (see Section 2.a.). On
March 4, Mercedes Moreno, director of the New Press Agency, criticized the security forces for their intimidating tactics
against her and her husband, a former political prisoner, that included the illegal entry of her home (see Section 2.a.). On
June 18, a local security officer in Santiago de Cuba sent a threatening message, through a nonpolitical family member, to
Rafael Oliva Reyes, who offered his house for purposes of conducting a solidarity fast with the fasters of Tamarindo 34 in
Havana (see Sections 2.b. and 4). On June 24, a security agent told Alexis Rodriguez Fernandez, the national coordinator of
the Cuban Youth Movement for Democracy, that the authorities were fully aware of his activities in Havana, such as visiting
embassies and participating in the Tamarindo 34 fast, and that they were preparing a judicial case of dangerousness against
him.
On August 23, security agents forcibly evicted Ramon Humberto Colas Castillo, his wife Berta Mexidor Vasquez, their two
children, and his mother from their house in Las Tunas. The couple had established an independent library in their house
and worked as independent journalists for the Libertad press agency (see Section 2.a.). In November authorities evicted
independent journalist Nestor Baguer from his home (see Section 2.a.).
The authorities regularly search persons and their homes, without probable cause, to intimidate and harass them. State
security agents searched the homes of hundreds of human rights advocates and independent journalists, seizing typewriters,
small cassette equipment, personal and organizational documents, books, and foreign newspapers. The authorities harass
and target acts of repudiation at both dissidents and their family members. At times those taking part in such acts of
repudiation invade and damage homes, as well as physically attack occupants (see Section 1.c.). Friends and relatives of
independent journalists also are subjected to harassment (see Section 2.a.).
The authorities regularly detained human rights advocates after they visited foreign diplomatic missions, confiscated their
written reports of human rights abuses, and seized copies of foreign newspapers and other informational material, including
copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). On November 5, security police detained Jose Aquilar
Hernandez of the 13th of July movement and independent journalist Clara Morales Martinez in Havana. They were taken to
a police station where they were interrogated about a planned November 10 march in the Lawton area of Havana. Security
officers also confiscated copies of the UDHR that they had in their possession. They both were released the next morning.
In August the president of an independent teachers' group said that his son lost his job because of state security
interference. He claimed that security officials infiltrated an agent among his friends; when police found some drugs in the
friends' possession, they then tried to implicate his son. Based on this, his son, who was the only member of the family
working, lost his restaurant job. On June 28, Avila Eloina Heredia Cervantes of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights in
Ciego de Avila lost her job at the cafeteria of the central train station in Moron. In 1997 she had lost her job in another
restaurant.
There were numerous credible reports of forced evictions of squatters and residents who lacked official permission to
reside in Havana (see Section 5).
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Government does not allow criticism of the revolution or its leaders. Laws against antigovernment propaganda, graffiti,
and disrespect of officials carry penalties of from 3 months to 1 year in prison. If President Castro or members of the
National Assembly or Council of State are the objects of criticism, the sentence can be extended to 3 years. Charges of
disseminating enemy propaganda (which includes merely expressing opinions at odds with those of the Government) can
bring sentences of up to 14 years. In the Government's view, such materials as the UDHR, international reports of human
rights violations, and mainstream foreign newspapers and magazines constitute enemy propaganda. Local CDR's inhibit
freedom of speech by monitoring and reporting dissent or criticism. Police and state security officials regularly harassed,
threatened, and otherwise abused human rights advocates in public and private as a means of intimidation and control.
In January a court in Moron, Ciego de Avila province, sentenced Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez, director of the Cooperative of
Independent Journalists of Ciego de Avila, to 4 years' imprisonment for dangerousness. Human Rights Watch reported that
Diaz was accused of having met with delinquents and having disturbed the public order. He was tried the day after his
arrest, making it impossible for him to prepare an adequate defense. In May a court in Holguin sentenced independent
journalist Mario Gonzalez Castellanos, Cubapress correspondent in Holguin, to 21/2 years in the Holguin prison known as
Cuba Si, for showing disrespect to Fidel Castro.
The Constitution states that print and electronic media are state property and cannot become in any case private property.
The Communist Party controls all media--except a few small church-run publications--as a means of indoctrinating the
public. Even the church-run publications are watched closely, denied access to mass printing equipment, and subject to
governmental pressure. On November 1, in a televised speech, President Castro expressed his displeasure with an article in
the Pinar-based Catholic Church magazine Vitral, mentioning the editor by name.
All media must operate under party guidelines and reflect government views. The Government attempts to shape media
coverage to such a degree that it not only continued to exert pressure on domestic journalists, but also sought to increase its
pressure on groups normally outside the official realm of control, such as visiting international correspondents. Resident
foreign correspondents reported an increase in governmental pressure, including official and informal complaints about
articles, threatening phone calls, and lack of access to officials.
In February the National Assembly passed the Law to Protect National Independence and the Economy. This law outlaws a
broad range of activities as undermining state security, and toughens penalties for criminal activity. Under the law, anyone
caught possessing or disseminating literature deemed subversive, or supplying information that could be used by U.S.
authorities in the application of U.S. legislation, is subject to fines and to prison terms of 7 to 20 years. While many
activities between Cuban nationals and foreigners possibly could fall within the purview of this new law, it appears to be
aimed primarily at independent journalists.
The new law increases the penalties and broadens the definitions of activities covered by the 1996 Cuban Dignity and
Sovereignty Act, which already proscribes citizens from providing information to any representatives of the U.S.
Government, or seeking any information from them, that might be used directly or indirectly in the application of U.S.
legislation. This includes accepting or distributing any publications, documents or other material from any origin, which the
authorities might interpret as facilitating implementation of such legislation.
No one was charged yet with violating the new law by year's end, but all but a handful of independent journalists admitted
that its very existence had some effect on their activities and their reporting, with some calling its passage the most effective
form of harassment of the press during the year. Many independent journalists were threatened either anonymously or
openly with arrest and conviction based on the new law, some repeatedly over the months since the law took effect. The
Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) reported that, following the release in January of independent journalist Lorenzo
Paez Nunez after he completed serving an 18-month prison sentence for "disseminating false news," authorities repeatedly
harassed him and threatened him with application of the new law. Cubapress director Raul Rivero reported that the
authorities picked him up outside the Havana Libre Hotel and told him that he and Christian Liberation Movement founder
Oswaldo Paya Sardinas would be the first to feel the full consequences of the law.
In February National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told foreign correspondents that under the new law, even
reporters working for accredited foreign media could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if the information they
publish is deemed to serve U.S. interests. Several times during the year, the domestic press, and even President Castro in
televised speeches, specifically mentioned correspondents from international news services and publications as being
particularly unresponsive to the Government's positions, and possibly serving U.S. interests.
Credible reports indicated that, after several sharp attacks in the local press, including accusations of distortion,
sensationalism, calumny, and manipulation, the Government persuaded a major international news agency to replace its
bureau chief in Havana by promising increased access to government officials if it did so. Two other longtime resident
foreign correspondents also left under difficult circumstances.
In January state security officials ordered visiting Radio Netherlands correspondent Edwin Koopman to leave the country
for activities inconsistent with his journalism visa. Apparently, activities that Koopman was conducting for Pax
Christi-Netherlands came to the Government's attention, and were given as the reason for his expulsion.
In November security agents and government supporters seriously damaged a Cable News Network camera during an
attack on dissidents in Dolores Park in the Lawton section of Havana. Taped coverage of the incident appeared to indicate
that the cameraman was in fact the target. The cameraman was among the foreign news crews that arrived to cover a march
announced to call attention to human rights problems before the Ibero-American Summit later that month. The few activists
who managed to get to the park were set upon by members of mass organizations holding a progovernment picnic and rally
in the same place (see Section 2.b.). International coverage of the attack led to a 6-hour speech by Fidel Castro in which he
described the dissidents as criminals and their antagonists as devoted patriots.
The Government continued to jam the U.S.-operated Radio Marti and Television Marti (see Section 1.f.).
The Government continues to subject independent journalists to internal travel bans, arbitrary and periodic detentions
(overnight or longer), small acts of repudiation (see Section 1.c.), harassment of family and friends, seizures of computers,
office and photographic equipment, and repeated threats of prolonged imprisonment. Independent journalists in Havana
reported a general decrease in harassment, but there continued to be reports of constant threatening phone calls and
harassment of family members in the weeks leading up to the Ibero-American Summit in November. Outside the capital,
journalists reported an increase in detentions, threats, and harassment during the same period.
In Santiago de Cuba, independent journalist Santiago Santana was detained three different times; on one occasion in
September, security officials seized his camera and two tape recorders. Human Rights Watch reported that in January
authorities in Santiago notified Margarita Sara Yero of the Independent Press Agency of Cuba that she would be evicted
from her home, where she had lived for 35 years. The authorities claimed that she had abandoned the house, although
neighbors confirmed that she resided there. On February 1, officials held a public meeting in which they criticized Yero for
not voting for Communist candidates and for not participating in the local CDR; according to press reports, she received an
eviction notice the following day. On March 4, Mercedes Moreno, director of the New Press Agency, criticized the security
forces for their intimidating tactics against her and her husband, a former political prisoner, which included illegal entry into
her home, and citing her and her husband to appear at different police stations in Havana. She also accused security agents
of forcing traffic police regularly to issue traffic violations to her and her husband, with exorbitant fines.
In August in Ciego de Avila, neighbors rousted Jorge Enrique Rives, of the Patria Agency, and his family, including elderly
relatives, from their beds and seriously assaulted them, while shouting revolutionary slogans. Also in August, independent
journalists and private library owners Ramon Colas and Berta Maxidor, their young children (ages 9 and 13), and Colas's
73-year-old mother were evicted from their house in Las Tunas without warning, and all of their belongings were taken to a
shelter many miles out of town. Security officials told Colas and Maxidor that they were occupying the house, which they
had lived in for 13 years, illegally. The authorities temporarily detained Colas at that time for arguing with them.
In September the parents of imprisoned independent journalist Jesus Joel Diaz Hernandez were harassed and forced to
submit to a strip search at the end of a strictly regulated visit to their son. In October unknown assailants damaged the
house of Cubapress correspondent Jesus Labrador Arias in Guantanamo province by throwing stones at it in the middle of
the night. On October 15, an immigration officer requested the return of the passport of Magaly de Armas, the wife of
imprisoned Internal Dissident Working Group member Vladimiro Roca Antunez, shortly before she was scheduled to
travel abroad to accept an award on behalf of her husband and the other three imprisoned Working Group members for a
publication by the group that defended freedom of the press (see Section 2.d.).
In November the authorities detained independent journalist and activist for the blind Juan Carlos Rodriguez for 3 days,
ostensibly to prevent him from covering activities related to the Ibero-American Summit. Rodriguez's wife also was called in
repeatedly to her neighborhood police station and threatened. Also in November, the Government prevented independent
journalists from covering a conference of small farmers in Matanzas.
In November the landlord of octogenarian Nestor Baguer, dean of the independent journalists and founder of the original
Independent Press Agency of Cuba, asked Baguer to vacate his apartment after he was mentioned, along with several dozen
other opposition members and foreign diplomats, by Fidel Castro in a 6-hour speech. Reportedly his landlord evicted him
under pressure from members of the local CDR, who objected to living so close to a named criminal.
Many of the detentions, house arrests, and threats that occurred during the year were in conjunction with major events on
the dissidents' and the Government's calendars. The authorities ordered dozens of independent journalists to remain in their
homes on February 24, the anniversary of the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft over international air space by the air
force. The Government also detained or threatened many journalists before and during the March 1 trial of the four
members of the Internal Dissident Working Group, and on March 15, the day of their sentencing (see Section 1.e.). Many
of the dissidents detained and threatened prior to the Ibero-American Summit were journalists (see Sections 1.d. and 2.b.).
The Government ordered several of them to return to their home provinces, including Edel Garcia to Caibarien, or ordered
them not to travel to Havana at that time. The authorities detained journalists along with other dissidents during protests
organized by the environmental organization Naturpaz on August 15 and September 20 (see Section 2.b.).
In Havana the authorities repeatedly detained Oswaldo de Cespedes of the Cooperative of Independent Journalists and
threatened to reopen charges against him that date back to 1996. The authorities picked up Jesus Zuniga, also of the
Cooperative of Independent Journalists, on his way to visit a foreign diplomatic mission, detained him for several hours, and
interrogated him frequently about alleged connections with foreign radical groups.
In August officials denied permission to Raul Rivero, poet, journalist, and director of Cubapress, to travel abroad to receive
a journalism prize. According to newspaper reports, when asked about keeping Rivero from traveling, Fidel Castro replied
that Rivero would never leave the country. The authorities detained independent journalist Angel Pablo Polanco three times
in connection with his activities with various dissident groups, and confined him to a military hospital, ostensibly for
treatment of glaucoma. He subsequently was released.
During the year, the authorities retracted their previously granted permission for Mario Viera, founder of Cuba Voz, to
depart the country as a refugee. In 1998 Viera's trial on charges of defaming a government official was postponed when
prodemocracy activists began demonstrating outside the courthouse, but the charges against him were not dismissed.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the IAPA, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect
Journalists repeatedly called international attention to the Government's continued practice of detaining independent
journalists and others simply for exercising their right to free speech.
Distribution of information continues to be controlled tightly. Access to computers is limited, e-mail is restricted tightly (see
Section 1.f.), and access to the Internet virtually is prohibited, except to certain government offices, selected institutes, and
foreigners. The Ministry of Interior controls Internet access.
The Government prohibits all diplomatic missions in Havana from printing or distributing publications, particularly
newspapers and newspaper clippings, unless those publications deal exclusively with conditions in a mission's home
country and it receives prior Government approval. Many missions do not accept the validity of this requirement, but the
Government's threats to expel embassy officers who provide published materials to Cubans have had a chilling effect on
many missions.
The Government circumscribes artistic, literary, and academic freedoms and is reemphasizing the importance of reinforcing
revolutionary ideology and discipline over any freedom of expression. The educational system teaches that the State's
interests have precedence over all other commitments. Academics and other government officials are prohibited from
meeting with some diplomats without prior approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Education
requires teachers to evaluate students' and their parents' ideological character, and note it in records that students carry
throughout their schooling. These reports directly affect the students' educational and career prospects. As a matter of
policy, the Government demands that teaching materials for courses such as mathematics or literature have an ideological
content. Government efforts to undermine dissidents include denying them advanced education and professional
opportunities. Fidel Castro has stated publicly that the universities are available only for those who share his revolutionary
beliefs.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Although the Constitution grants limited rights of assembly and association, these rights are subject to the requirement that
they may not be "exercised against the existence and objectives of the Socialist State." The law punishes any unauthorized
assembly of more than three persons, including those for private religious services in a private home, by up to 3 months in
prison and a fine. The authorities selectively enforce this prohibition and often use it as a legal pretext to harass and
imprison human rights advocates.
The Government selectively continued to authorize the Catholic Church to hold outdoor processions at specific locations on
important feast days during the year. It permitted a procession in connection with Masses in celebration of the feast day on
September 8 of Our Lady of Charity in Havana for the second time in more than 3 decades. The Government also
authorized other denominations to hold a few public events. In May and June, it allowed the main Protestant churches to
hold a large-scale evangelical celebration across the island (see Section 2.c.). However, the Government also continued
routinely and arbitrarily to deny requests for other processions and events.
The authorities have never approved a public meeting by a human rights group. On January 14, police and state security
officers briefly detained about a dozen Havana dissidents to prevent them from holding a public event in commemoration of
Martin Luther King at Butari Park in the Lawton section of Havana. Among the activists reportedly detained and
subsequently released were Maria de los Angeles Gonzalez, Ernesto Colas, Alberto Martinez, Pablo Nelson, Juana
Gonzalez, Miriam Garcia, Miriam Cantillo, Ofelia Nardo, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, and Rolando Munoz Yyobre. State
security members also prevented activists Nancy Sotolongo and Ana Maria Agramonte from leaving their homes to attend
the planned event.
Beginning on February 22, state security officers detained prodemocracy activists in different parts of the country to
prevent them from staging activities commemorating the February 24, 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft over
international airspace by the air force. Security agents also warned many more activists against any public demonstrations
on February 24, and warned independent journalists not to cover incidents on February 24. On February 22, police detained
Dr. Biscet and Munoz Yyobre at Biscet's home after he tried to stage a demonstration outside the hospital where he
formerly worked. Female workers from the hospital physically assaulted Biscet, allegedly on the orders of the hospital's
administrator. On February 23, the authorities detained prodemocracy activists Manuel Preval, Guillermo Diaz, Yvette
Rodriguez and Ciro Roman in Santiago de Cuba; they detained three additional activists, including independent journalist
Jesus Labrador Arias, in Manzanillo. On February 24, security officers detained Marcos Lazaro Torres Leon, Lazaro
Naranjo, Carlos Alberto Dominguez, Victor Alfredo Gomez, Alejandro Garcia, and Ismael Torres in Havana. There were
also reports that some 10 to 12 activists may have been detained in Pinar del Rio province west of Havana. Four of the
activists in Havana shaved their heads in a protest covered by British Broadcasting Corporation television.
In order to prevent dissidents from expressing support for the four members of the Internal Dissident Working Group
during their trial in March (see Section 1.e.), officials detained nearly a hundred prodemocracy activists. Among those
detained were Oswaldo Paya Sardinas of the Christian Liberation Movement, Jesus Yanez Pelletier and his wife Marieta
Menendez, Odilia Collazo of the Cuba Pro-Human Rights Party, Illeana Sommeillan of the Support Network Group of the
Four, Leonel Morejon Almagro of Naturpaz and founder of Concilio Cubano, and a number of independent journalists. All
of those detained were released within a few days after the trial.
In June and July, a number of activists from different organizations carried out a 40-day liquid fast at Tamarindo 34 in
Havana and at other locations, to protest the Government's violations of human rights and to call for an amnesty for political
prisoners (see Section 4). The organizer of the event, Dr. Biscet, and his colleagues then attempted to organize a civic forum
made up of five organizations involved in the fast. However, the Government temporarily detained Biscet and his supporters
whenever they planned any action toward this end, including visits to other houses where sympathy fasts took place. The
Government closed a school they established on the use of nonviolence in civic actions, and on August 14 authorities
detained Biscet as he was going to Butari Park to demonstrate. A policeman hit him in the face after Biscet told him that
"God loves you," while another policeman crushed a burning cigarette on his elbow (see Section 1.c.).
On August 15, police arrested Leonel Morejon Almagro, the leader of the environmental group Naturpaz, as he was leaving
his house to attend a peaceful public protest planned weeks in advance that was to be conducted under a mahogany tree that
was planted in Lenin Park in 1986 at the founding of the organization. The intent was to protest the Government's lack of
interest in addressing environmental degradation, and in particular to focus the public's attention on the imminent
construction of a new airport near Cayo Coco, which Naturpaz asserted would damage irreversibly the nearby keys. Police
also arrested five other persons, including a 78-year-old woman. All were released later that day. However, police
impounded Morejon's car and did not return it. Meanwhile, at Lenin Park, security forces intercepted every person that tried
to go to the mahogany tree, checked their documents carefully, and then drove them to a location far away from the park and
their homes. Naturpaz later estimated that the police intercepted over 100 persons in this manner.
On October 28, Dr. Biscet announced in a press conference that on November 10, the FLDH and other organizations
planned to lead a nonviolent protest march from Dolores Park to Butari Park in the Lawton area of Havana to protest the
holding of the Ninth Ibero-American Summit in Havana. During the press conference, the Cuban flag was displayed upside
down, as an indication of opposition to the Government. On November 3, police detained Biscet and told him that he would
be prosecuted for his disrespect toward the national flag; he was still in jail and his case was still under investigation at
year's end (see Section 1.d.). On November 9, police detained three of his colleagues--Jose Aguilar Hernandez, Alejandro
Chang Cantillo, and Marcel Valenzuela Salt. On November 10, at the planned protest site, Dolores Park, the international
press witnessed several hundred members of the Communist youth organizations, including school children, having a noisy
progovernment party and rally. Three dissidents tried to stage a protest but were booed, chased by the crowd, and struck
several times. Security agents then took away dissidents Reynaldo Gomez Gonzalez, Juan Carlos Padura Padilla, and Pedro
Castro Ponce de Leon. In a press conference later the same day, Fidel Castro implied that the clash was a spontaneous
reaction by ordinary citizens to political acts that they found distasteful. Castro brought to his press conference 14 persons
who were at the park and who claimed that they were provoked while enjoying a party.
On November 12, fewer than 20 individuals of the more than 90 expected to attend arrived at the house of Moises
Rodriguez Quesada near Havana airport for a 1-day meeting of domestic NGO's. Although bad weather was a factor in the
low turnout, the detention and house arrest of about 150 persons, including the organizers of the meeting, starting days
before the event, especially of those coming from other provinces, prevented the attendance of many. However, international
press coverage of the event provided the dissidents that attended a rare opportunity to brief the journalists.
On November 10, security police also attempted to prevent a meeting of the National Alliance of Independent Small
Farmers, which the organizers had planned to hold in Matanzas, by arresting the organizers--Antonio Alonso Perez, Tomas
Fernandez Tiher, and Felix Navarro. The group nonetheless managed to hold the meeting in the house of an independent
journalist in Las Tunas, albeit with a much reduced number of participants.
On December 4, the Government allowed human rights activists to march silently, after attending a Mass, from the Church
of Saint Barbara to the Church of Saint Edward, a distance of about six blocks, in the municipality of Parraga in Havana.
Because of the presence of members of a rapid response brigade, police provided security to allow the march.
Representatives of the international press were present and interviewed a number of the marchers. This was the first protest
march ever allowed by the Government, probably because of the presence of the international press and the Government's
apparent desire to avoid an incident such as the one at Dolores Park on November 10.
On December 9, numerous human rights supporters were detained or told not leave their homes in order to prevent them
from publicly commemorating the 51st anniversary on December 10 of the UDHR.
The Government generally denies citizens freedom of association. The Penal Code specifically outlaws "illegal or
unrecognized groups." The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Interior Ministry, decides whether to give
organizations legal recognition. The authorities have never approved the existence of a human rights group.
Along with recognized churches, the Roman Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas, Masons, small human rights
groups, and a number of nascent fraternal or professional organizations are the only associations outside the control or
influence of the State, the Communist Party, and their mass organizations. With the exception of the Masons, who have
been established in the country for more than a century, the authorities continue to ignore these groups' applications for
legal recognition, thereby subjecting members to potential charges of illegal association. All other legally recognized
"nongovernmental" groups are at least nominally affiliated with, or controlled by, the Government.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess and practice any religious belief, within the framework of
respect for the law; however, in law and in practice, the Government places restrictions on freedom of religion.
In recent years, the Government has eased the harsher aspects of its repression of religious freedom. In 1991 it allowed
religious adherents to join the Communist Party. In 1992 it amended the Constitution to prohibit religious discrimination
and removed references to "scientific materialism," i.e., atheism, as the basis for the Cuban State. Nevertheless, the State
prohibits members of the armed forces from allowing anyone in their household to observe religious practices, except
elderly relatives if their religious beliefs do not influence other family members and are not "damaging to the revolution."
The Government requires churches and other religious groups to register with the provincial registry of associations to
obtain official recognition. In practice, the Government refuses to register new denominations. The Government prohibits,
with occasional exceptions, the construction of new churches, forcing many growing congregations to violate the law and
meet in private homes. Government harassment of private houses of worship continued, with evangelical denominations
reporting evictions from houses used for these purposes.
The Government's main interaction with religious denominations is through the Office of Religious Affairs of the Cuban
Communist Party. The Ministry of Interior engages in active efforts to control and monitor the country's religious
institutions, including surveillance, infiltration, and harassment of religious professionals and laypersons.
In 1998 following Pope John Paul II's January visit, the country's Catholic bishops appealed to the Government to
recognize the Church's role in civil society and the family, as well as in the temporal areas of work, the economy, the arts,
sports, and the scientific and technical worlds. The Government continued to limit the Church's access to the media and
refused to allow the Church to have a legal independent printing capability. It maintained its prohibition against the
establishment of religiously affiliated schools. Nonetheless, in September local government authorities, for the second time
since 1961, allowed the Catholic Church to hold an outdoor procession to mark the feast day of Our Lady of Charity in
Havana. Although visibly present, state security personnel did not harass any participants or observers as happened during
1998. However, prior to the event, security police told a number of human rights activists not to attend the procession. On
December 25, the Government permitted the Catholic Church to hold a Christmas procession in Havana. The Government
also granted a request by church leaders to broadcast on state television the Pope's annual Christmas Day message from the
Vatican. As in 1998, in December the Government also allowed Cardinal Jaime Ortega to give a 10-minute address on the
national classical music station.
In 1998 the Government announced in a Politburo declaration that henceforth citizens would be allowed to celebrate
Christmas as an official holiday. (The holiday had been cancelled, ostensibly to spur the sugar harvest, in 1969, and
restored in 1997 as part of the preparations for the Pope's 1998 visit.) However, despite the Government's decision to allow
citizens to celebrate Christmas as a national holiday, it also maintained a December 1995 decree prohibiting nativity scenes
in public buildings.
The Government allowed about 15 foreign priests to enter the country during the year, but some visas were issued only for
periods of from 3 to 6 months, and applications of many other priests and religious workers remained pending.
The Government continued to enforce a resolution that prevented any Cuban or joint enterprise (except those with specific
authorization) from selling computers, facsimile machines, photocopiers, or other equipment to any church at other than
official--and exorbitant--retail prices.
On January 6, the Government closed the Bible Institute of the United Pentecostal Church of Cuba (Apostolic) and evicted
its occupants. (In 1997 the Government had declared the United Pentecostal Church illegal after it split from the Apostolic
Church of Jesus Christ because it disagreed with the Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ's membership in the Cuban Council
of Churches.) On February 2, the authorities also reportedly closed local church headquarters in Manquitas, Cabaiguan, and
Sancti Spiritus. On October 8, security agents expelled church leader Santos Osmany Dominguez Borjas from Havana to
Holguin. According to a pastor of the church, Lazaro Williams Urbina Dupont, church members decided that all their
pastors must leave the country if they are to survive as a church.
In recent years, the Government has relaxed restrictions on some religious denominations, including Seventh-Day
Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. The Cuban Council of Churches continues to broadcast a monthly 15-minute program
on a national classical music radio station, with the understanding that the program must not include material of a political
character. The head of the Cuban Council of Churches is a member of the government-controlled ANPP. In May and June,
the Government permitted most the country's Protestant churches--both inside and outside the Cuban Council of
Churches--to hold an evangelical celebration. The celebration consisted of some 18 public events across the island, 4 of
which--in Baracoa, Holguin, Camaguey, and Havana, respectively--were televised nationally. The culminating event was a
service in Havana on June 20, which attracted tens of thousands of persons and was attended by President Castro.
State security officials visited some priests and pastors, prior to significant religious events, ostensibly to warn them about
dissidents, in an effort to sow discord and mistrust between the churches and peaceful prodemocracy activists. State
security officers also regularly harassed human rights advocates who sought to attend religious services commemorating
special feast days or before significant national days, including inside churches and during religious ceremonies.
Human Rights Watch reported that in late January, police detained several members of the FLDH, including its leader, Dr.
Biscet, for 4 to 6 days. The detentions prevented Biscet and his colleagues from participating in a January 25 celebration of
the first anniversary of the Pope's 1998 visit. On July 13, the authorities arrested Marcel Valenzuela Salt, a member of the
Organization of Fraternal Brothers for Dignity, and five other persons as the group was en route to a church in Guanabacoa
to attend a Mass in memory of those who died in the 1994 sinking of the tugboat "13th of March" (see Section 1.d.). On
December 17, security police arrested Valenzuela and three other human rights activists--Carlos Oquendo, Jose Aguilar and
Diosdado Gonzalez--who were among a crowd of persons who gathered to participate in a pilgrimage to the Church of
Saint Lazarus in El Rincon. The four were arrested after they took off their shirts to show T-shirts on which were printed
the words, "Release All Political Prisoners." The day before the pilgrimage, security police told some human rights activists
not to attend the event.
d. Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Government kept tight restrictions on freedom of movement. The Government generally has not imposed legal
restrictions on domestic travel, except for persons found to be HIV-positive, whom it initially restricts to sanatoriums for
treatment and therapy before conditionally releasing them into the community. However, in recent years state security
officials have forbidden human rights advocates and independent journalists from traveling outside their home provinces,
and the Government also has sentenced others to internal exile. On October 8, security agents expelled Santos Osmany
Dominguez Borjas, an evangelical church leader, from Havana to Holguin (see Section 2.c.). Just prior to the
Ibero-American Summit, state security agents informed human rights activists in other provinces that they could not travel
to Havana. For example, on November 11, authorities told Oscar Horta Medina of the Avilena Foundation for Human
Rights that he could not leave Ciego de Avila; the Government also prohibited prodemocracy activists Nestor Rodriguez
Lobaina and Santiago Santana from leaving the province of Santiago de Cuba.
In 1997 the Council of Ministers approved Decree 217, aimed at stemming the flow of migration from the provinces to the
capital city. Human rights observers noted that while the decree affected migration countrywide, the decree was targeted at
individuals and families from the poor, predominantly black and mulatto eastern provinces. In March 1998, the government
newspaper Granma reported that Decree 217 had succeeded in reducing the flow of persons to the capital city.
The Government imposed some restrictions on both emigration and temporary foreign travel. In August the Government
denied an exit permit to Osvaldo Alfonso Valdes, president of the Democratic Liberal Party, and to Fernando Sanchez
Lopez, president of the Democratic Solidarity Party, to attend the executive committee meeting of the International Liberal
Party on September 4 in Managua, Nicaragua, despite their payment of $800 in exit fees. No explanation was given for the
denials. In October the Government denied an exit permit to independent journalist Raul Rivero to travel abroad to receive a
journalistic award. On October 15, an immigration officer requested the return of the Cuban passport of Magaly de Armas,
the spouse of Vladimiro Roca Antunez, one of the four imprisoned members of the Internal Dissident Working Group (see
Section 1.e.). De Armas was scheduled to leave the country the same day to attend the IAPA's 55th general assembly to
receive on behalf of the four prisoners an award for "The Country Belongs to All," a publication by the group that defended
freedom of the press (see Section 1.e.).
The Government allows the majority of persons who qualify for immigrant or refugee status in other countries to depart;
however, in certain cases the authorities delay or deny exit permits, usually without explanation. Some denials involve
professionals who have tried to emigrate and whom the Government subsequently banned from working in their
occupational field. The Government refused permission to others because it considers their cases sensitive for political or
state security reasons. In July the Government issued Resolution 54, which provides for the denial of exit permits to
recently graduated professionals, in particular medical professionals, until they have performed 3 to 5 years of service in
their profession. There were reports that the Government also was denying exit permits to trained medical personnel who
already have practiced their profession for more than 5 years, although the published regulations on the subject do not
contain such a provision. The Government also routinely denies exit permits to young men approaching the age of military
service, and until they reach the age of 27, even when it has authorized the rest of the family to leave. However, in most of
those cases approved for migration to the United States under the September 1, 1994, U.S.-Cuban migration agreement, the
applicants eventually receive exemption from obligatory service and are granted exit permits. The Government has a policy
of denying exit permission for several years to relatives of individuals who successfully have migrated illegally (e.g.,
merchant seamen who have jumped ship overseas, and sports figures who have defected while on tour abroad).
Migrants who travel to the United States must pay a total of about $500 per adult and $400 per child, plus airfare. These
government fees for medical exam, passport, and exit visa--which must be paid in dollars--are equivalent to about 5 years of
a professional person's accumulated peso salary and represent a significant hardship, particularly for political refugees who
usually are marginalized and have no income. In 1996 the Government agreed to allow 1,000 needy refugees to leave each
year with reduced exit fees. However, after the first group of 1,000 in 1996, no further refugees have been accorded reduced
fees. At year's end, 315 approved refugees remained in the country because they were unable to pay government exit fees
for themselves and their families.
The Penal Code provides for imprisonment from 1 to 3 years or a fine of $15 to $50 dollars (300 to 1,000 pesos) for
unauthorized departures by boat or raft. The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has stated that
it regards any sentence for simple illegal exit of over 1 year as harsh and excessive. Under the terms of the May 2, 1995
U.S.-Cuba migration accord, the Government agreed not to prosecute or retaliate against migrants returned from
international or U.S. waters, or from the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo, as a consequence of their attempt to emigrate
illegally.
In 1994 the Government eased restrictions on visits by, and repatriation of, Cuban emigrants. Citizens who establish
residency abroad and who are in possession of government-issued "permits to reside abroad" may travel to Cuba without
visas. The Government reduced the age of persons eligible to travel abroad from 20 to 18 years and extended the period for
a temporary stay abroad from 6 to 11 months. In November 1995, the Government announced that emigrants who are
considered not to have engaged in "hostile actions" against the Government and who are not subject to criminal proceedings
in their country of residence may apply at Cuban consulates for renewable, 2-year multiple-entry travel authorizations.
However, during the year, the Government announced that it would deny entry permits for emigrants who had left the
country illegally after September 1994. At year's end, it was not clear if the Government actually was implementing such a
policy. The Constitution provides for the granting of asylum to individuals persecuted "for their ideals or struggles for
democratic rights against imperialism, fascism, colonialism, and neocolonialism; against discrimination and racism; for
national liberation; for the rights of workers, peasants, and students; for their progressive political, scientific, artistic, and
literary activities; for socialism and peace." However, the Government has no formal mechanism to offer asylum to foreign
nationals. Nonetheless, the Government honors the principle of first asylum and has provided it to a small number of
persons. There was no information available on its use during the year. According to the UNHCR, there are about 43
foreign nationals living in the country and seeking asylum elsewhere. There were no reports of the forced return of persons
to countries where they feared persecution.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change their Government
Citizens do not have the legal right to change their Government or to advocate change, and the Government has retaliated
systematically against those who sought peaceful political change. The Constitution proscribes any political organization
other than the Communist Party. While the Constitution provides for direct election of provincial, municipal, and National
Assembly members, the candidates must be approved in advance by mass organizations controlled by the Government. In
practice, a small group of leaders, under the direction of President Castro, selects the members of the highest policy-making
bodies of the Communist Party--the Politburo and the Central Committee.
The authorities tightly control the selection of candidates and all elections for government and party positions. The
candidacy committees are composed of members of government-controlled mass organizations such as the Confederation
of Cuban Workers (CTC) and the CDR's and are responsible for selecting candidates, whose names are then sent to
municipal assemblies that select a single candidate for each regional seat in the ANPP. An opposition or independent
candidate has never been allowed to run for national office.
On January 11, 1998, the Government held national elections in which 601 candidates were approved to compete for the
601 seats in the National Assembly. The Government claimed that they were voted in by over 93 percent of the electorate,
according to the official media. No candidates with views independent from or in opposition to the Government were
allowed to run, and no views contrary to the Government or the Communist Party were expressed in the
government-controlled national media. The Government saturated the media and used government ministries, Communist
Party organs, and mass organizations to urge voters to cast a "unified vote" where marking one box automatically selected
all candidates on the ballot form. In practice, the Communist Party approved candidates for all offices. A small minority of
candidates did not belong formally to the Communist Party. The Communist Party was the only political party allowed to
participate in the elections.
Although not a formal requirement, Communist Party membership is in fact a prerequisite for high-level official positions
and professional advancement.
The Government rejects any change judged incompatible with the revolution and ignored calls for democratic reform.
Although President Castro signed the Declaration of Vina del Mar at the Sixth Ibero-American Summit in 1996, in which
government leaders reaffirmed their commitment to democracy and political pluralism, the Government continued to oppose
independent political activity on the ground that the Cuban system provides a "perfected" form of democracy and that
pluralism exists within the one-party structure.
An unprecedented number of foreign leaders held meetings with Cuban dissidents on the margins of the November
Ibero-American Summit in Havana. Uruguayan President Julio Sanguinetti became the first Latin American head of state to
meet with a dissident on Cuban soil. Other heads of state or ministers who met with dissidents were: Spanish Prime
Minister Jose Aznar; Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio; Panamanian President Mireya Moscoso; Mexican Foreign
Minister Rosario Green; and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Eduardo Montealegre.
The Declaration of Havana issued at the conclusion of the Summit emphasized democracy, pluralism, and human rights. In
closing remarks, several heads of state reiterated the need for greater openness in Cuba.
Government leadership positions continue to be dominated by men, and women remain underrepresented. There are very
few women or minorities in policymaking positions in the Government or the Party. There are 2 women in the 24-member
Politburo, 18 in the 150-member Central Committee, and 166 in the 601-seat ANPP. Although blacks and mulattos make
up over half the population, they hold only six seats in the Politburo.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of
Human Rights
The Government does not recognize any domestic human rights groups, or permit them to function legally. The
Government subjects domestic human rights advocates to intense intimidation, harassment, and repression. In violation of
its own statutes, the Government refuses to consider applications for legal recognition submitted by human rights
monitoring groups.
On June 7, members of several human rights organizations began a 40-day fast at Tamarindo 34 in Havana in support of
respect for human rights and the release of political prisoners. The fast reportedly subsequently expanded to other locations
in the country.
In its 1997 report, the IACHR examined measures taken by the Government and found that they did not "comprise the
bedrock of a substantive reform in the present political system that would permit the ideological and partisan pluralism
implicit in the wellspring from which a democratic system of government develops." The IACHR recommended that the
Government provide reasonable safeguards to prevent violations of human rights, unconditionally release political prisoners
and those jailed for trying to leave the country, abolish the concept of dangerousness in the Penal Code, eliminate other
legal restriction on basic freedoms, cease harassing human rights groups, and establish a separation of powers so that the
judiciary would no longer be "subordinate to political power."
The Government steadfastly has rejected international human rights monitoring. In 1992 Cuba's U.N. representative stated
that Cuba would not recognize the mandate of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) on Cuba and would not
cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on Cuba, despite being a UNCHR member. This policy remained unchanged and the
Government refused even to acknowledge requests by the Special Rapporteur to visit Cuba. In April 1998, the UNCHR did
not renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, following as yet unfulfilled assertions by the Government that it would
improve human rights practices if it was not under formal sanction from the UNCHR. On April 23, the UNCHR passed a
resolution, introduced by the Czech Republic and Poland, expressing concern about the human rights situation in Cuba.
In September the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Violence Against Women and on Mercenaries visited the island, but issued
no reports by year's end.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language, or Social Status
Cuba is a multiracial society with a black and mixed-race majority. The Constitution forbids discrimination based on race,
sex, or national origin, although evidence suggests that racial discrimination occurs often.
Women
Violent crime rarely is reported in the press, and there are no publicly available data regarding the incidence of domestic
violence and rape; however, human rights advocates report that violence against women is a problem. The law establishes
strict penalties for rape, and the Government appears to enforce the rape law; however, according to human rights advocates,
the police do not act on cases of domestic violence. In October 1998, a female religious worker was abused sexually and
murdered. The Government quickly ordered an investigation and arrested one suspect. Prostitution is legal (except for
prostitution by children under 17 years of age); however, pimping or otherwise benefiting from prostitution is a felony.
Prostitution has increased greatly in the last few years; press reports indicate that tourists from various countries visit
specifically to patronize inexpensive prostitutes. A government crackdown on prostitution beginning in late 1998 and
continuing in 1999 appeared to have some effect, and fewer prostitutes (known as "jineteras") were visible in Havana and
other major cities. This success was obtained through placing police on nearly every major street corner where tourists are
present. Most observers believe that the Government clamped down on prostitution to combat the perception that the island
promotes sex tourism.
The Family Code states that women and men have equal rights and responsibilities regarding marriage, divorce, raising
children, maintaining the home, and pursuing a career. Women are subject to the same restrictions on property ownership
as men. The maternity law provides 18 weeks of maternity leave and grants working women preferential access to goods
and services. About 40 percent of all women work, and they are well represented in the professions.
Children
The Constitution provides that the Government protect "family, maternity, and matrimony." It also states that children,
legitimate or not, have the same rights under the law and notes the duties of parents to protect them. Education is free and is
grounded in Marxist ideology. State organizations and schools are charged with the "integral formation of children and
youth." The national health care system covers all citizens. There is no societal pattern of abuse of children. However, child
prostitution is a problem, with young girls engaging in prostitution to help support themselves and their families. Young
girls have constituted the bulk of the prostitutes catering primarily to foreign tourists. It is illegal for a child under 17 years
of age to engage in prostitution. The police began to enforce this law more actively in late 1998 and continued to do so
during the year, as part of their crackdown on prostitution in general.
People with Disabilities
The law prohibits discrimination based on disability, and there have been few complaints of such discrimination. There are
no laws that mandate accessibility to buildings for the disabled.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Many Afro-Cubans have benefited from access to basic education and medical care since the revolution, and much of the
police force and army enlisted personnel is black. Nevertheless, racial discrimination often occurs. There have been
numerous reports of disproportionate police harassment of black youths. In 1997 there were numerous credible reports of
forced evictions of squatters and residents lacking official permission to reside in Havana. The evictions, exacerbated by
Decree 217 (see Section 2.d.), primarily targeted individuals and families from the eastern provinces, which are traditionally
areas of black or mixed-race populations.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Constitution gives priority to state or collective needs over individual choices regarding free association or provision of
employment. The "demands of the economy and society" take precedence over individual workers' preferences. The law
prohibits strikes; none are known to have occurred. Established official labor organizations have a mobilization function
and do not act as trade unions, promote worker rights, or protect the right to strike. Such organizations are under the control
of the State and the Communist Party, which also manage the enterprises for which the laborers work.
The Communist Party selects the leaders of the sole legal labor confederation, the Confederation of Cuban Workers, whose
principal responsibility is to ensure that government production goals are met. Despite disclaimers in international forums,
the Government explicitly prohibits independent unions and none are recognized. There has been no change since the 1992
International Labor Organization (ILO) finding that Cuba violated ILO norms on freedom of association and the right to
organize. Those who attempt to engage in union activities face government persecution. Workers can and have lost their
jobs for their political beliefs, including their refusal to join the official union. Several small independent labor organizations
have been created, but function without legal recognition and are unable to represent workers effectively and work on their
behalf. The Government actively harasses these organizations. Police detained independent labor activist Jose Orlando
Gonzalez Bridon of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba for brief periods in November and December 1998
and in January.
The CTC is a member of the Communist, formerly Soviet-dominated, World Federation of Trade Unions.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
Collective bargaining does not exist. The State Committee for Work and Social Security (CETSS) sets wages and salaries
for the state sector, which is almost the only employer in the country. Since all legal unions are government entities,
antiunion discrimination by definition does not exist.
The 1995 Foreign Investment Law (Law 77) continued to deny workers the right to contract directly with foreign
companies investing in Cuba without special government permission. Although a few firms have managed to negotiate
exceptions, the Government requires foreign investors to contract workers through state employment agencies, which are
paid in foreign currency and, in turn, pay workers very low wages in pesos. Workers subcontracted by state employment
agencies must meet certain political qualifications. According to Minister of Basic Industry Marcos Portal, the state
employment agencies consult with the Party, the CTC, and the Union of Communist Youth to ensure that the workers
chosen deserve to work in a joint enterprise.
There are no functioning export processing zones, although Law 77 authorizes the establishment of free trade zones and
industrial parks.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
Neither the Constitution nor the Labor Code prohibits forced labor. The Government maintains correctional centers where it
sends persons for crimes such as dangerousness. They are forced to work on farms or building sites, usually with no pay
and inadequate food. The authorities often imprison internees who do not cooperate.
The Government employs special groups of workers, known as "microbrigades," on loan from other jobs, on special
building projects. These microbrigades have increased importance in the Government's efforts to complete tourist and other
priority projects. Workers who refuse to volunteer for these jobs often risk discrimination or job loss. However,
microbrigade workers reportedly receive priority consideration for apartments. The military channels some conscripts to the
Youth Labor Army, where they serve their 2-year military service requirement working on farms that supply both the armed
forces and the civilian population.
The Government prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, the Government requires children to work
without compensation. All students over age 11 are expected to devote 30 to 45 days of their summer vacation to farm work,
laboring up to 8 hours per day. The Ministry of Agriculture uses "voluntary labor" by student work brigades extensively in
the farming sector.
d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment
The legal minimum working age is 17 years. However, the Labor Code permits the employment of 15- and 16-year-old
children to obtain training or fill labor shortages. The law requires school attendance until the ninth grade, and this law
generally is respected. The Government prohibits forced and bonded child labor; however, it requires children to work
without compensation (see Section 6.c.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The minimum wage varies by occupation and is set by the CETSS. The minimum monthly wage for a maid, for example, is
$8.25 (165 pesos); for a bilingual office clerk, $9.50 (190 pesos); and for a gardener $10.75 (216 pesos). The Government
supplements the minimum wage with free education and subsidized medical care (but reduces daily pay by 40 percent after
the third day of being admitted to a hospital), housing, and some food--subsidized food is enough for about 1 week per
month. However, even with these subsidies, the minimum wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker
and family. Corruption and black market activities are pervasive. The Government rations most basic necessities such as
food, medicine, clothing, and cooking gas, which are in very short supply.
The Government requires foreign companies in joint ventures with state entities to hire and pay workers through the State.
Human Rights Watch noted that the required reliance on state-controlled employment agencies effectively leaves workers
without any capacity directly to negotiate wages, benefits, the basis of promotions, and the length of the workers' trial period
at the job with the employer. Reportedly these exploitative labor practices force foreign companies to pay the Government
as much as $500 to $600 per month for workers, while the workers in turn receive only a small peso wage from the
Government.
The standard workweek is 44 hours, with shorter workdays in hazardous occupations, such as mining. The Government
also reduced the workday in some government offices and state enterprises to save energy.
Workplace environmental and safety controls are usually inadequate, and the Government lacks effective enforcement
mechanisms. Industrial accidents apparently are frequent, but the Government suppresses such reports. The Labor Code
establishes that a worker who considers his life in danger because of hazardous conditions has the right not to work in his
position or not to engage in specific activities until such risks are eliminated. According to the Labor Code, the worker
remains obligated to work temporarily in whatever other position may be assigned him at a salary prescribed by law.
f. Trafficking in Persons
In February the National Assembly revised the Penal Code to prohibit trafficking in persons through or from the country
and to prescribe the following penalties for violations: A term of 7 to 15 years' imprisonment for organizing or cooperating
in alien smuggling through the country; 10 to 20 years' imprisonment for entering the country to smuggle persons out of
the country; and 20 years to life in prison for using violence, causing harm or death, or putting lives in danger, in engaging
in such smuggling. These provisions are directed primarily at persons engaging in organized smuggling of would-be
emigrants from Cuba to the United States. In addition, the revised Code made it illegal to promote or organize entrance of
persons into or exit of persons from the country for the purpose of prostitution; violators are subject to 20 to 30 years'
imprisonment.
There were no reports that persons were trafficked in, to, or from the country for the purpose of providing forced labor or
services.
[end of document]
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