Today, even the world’s largest democracies have embraced the idea that unconditional “engagement” with Cuba’s “reformist” military dictatorship will bring about economic and political reform. As a result, they have afforded it widespread impunity, legitimacy, and support. Yet, Raúl has been supreme leader of Cuba for over a decade and Cuba’s “capitalist” re-insertion into world markets after the end of Soviet Communism began over a quarter century ago. The evidence to date shows no significant empowerment of Cuba’s citizens with economic, civil or political rights during Raúl Castro´s tenure as president. Instead, repression and persecution against human rights’ defenders and members of Cuba’s peaceful opposition movement and independent civil society has greatly intensified both in scope and viciousness. Internationally, Cuba’s alliances have strengthened with totalitarian/autocratic and rogue regimes.
RAÚL CASTRO´S TRACK RECORD OF CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITYNothing in Raúl Castro’s history denotes a disposition to reform; rather, he has been directly responsible for unspeakable and systematic crimes against humanity over the course of the 57 year-old dictatorship —first as second-in-command and head of the Armed Forces until July 2006 and, subsequently, as “maximum” leader for the last ten years.
Raúl Castro’s killing career began early on. During the revolutionary struggle in the mountains, he ordered the execution of deserters and alleged informants. When the revolution took power January 1st 1959, with brother Fidel and Ché Guevara, he masterminded the wave of terror designed to reduce the population into submission. In charge of Oriente province, Raúl had hundreds of men executed simply for wearing the uniform of the Police or Constitution
al Armed Forces. In Santiago de Cuba, he ordered 71 men shot by firing squad without trial. Among the victims was U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican heritage,
Benito Cortés Maldonado, a policeman put to death on fabricated charges of raping a woman.
Video testimony of priest Jorge Bez Chabebe on the mass execution ordered by Raúl Castro in Santiago de Cuba on January 12 1959. https://youtu.be/MS60-myaU3g (9:03 mins.)
During the anti-Communist rural uprising of the sixties in Cuba, Raúl’s Armed Forces executed prisoners on the spot. In Angola, he reportedly ordered attacks on civilian populations, including with chemical weapons. On February 24, 1996, MIGs of his Air Force shot down in international airspace two unarmed U.S.-based civilian airplanes belonging to a humanitarian group. Four men were murdered, three were U.S. citizens:
Armando Alejandre, Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa and
Pablo Morales.
Raúl’s crimes against defenseless people, including children, have no precedent even among the bloodiest Latin American dictatorships. For decades, Cubans have been systematically murdered by Cuba’s Border Guard for attempting to flee the island by sea and through embassies or the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo. Cuba’s official media showed Raúl awarding medals to Border Guard sharpshooters who killed
Iskander Maleras and
Luis Angel Valverde, as they attempted to swim to the U.S. base on January 19, 1994.
Raul Castro’s Victims: Death and Disappearances from July 2006 to DateSince Raúl Castro assumed command of Cuba in 2006, Cuba Archive has reports of 213 cases of death or disappearance of a political nature. The actual number of victims is likely many times higher, as reporting from Cuba is extremely restricted. (See “The Human Toll of Raúl Castro´s Rule: Partial Record of Deaths and Disappearances Attributed to the Cuban State July 31, 2006 – December 31, 2015” at www.cubaarchive.org -see Reports).
Notably, in the last ten years of Raúl Castro’s tenure as head dictator,
twelve human rights’ defenders have been killed or disappeared at the hands of authorities, some quite evidently, others in circumstances that suggest an extrajudicial killing by state agents. Some have been threatened with death, a few have been victims of suspicious “accidents.” (Cuba Archive has received additional testimony since publishing a report in 2012 on “
strange accidents and unexplained deaths.” Because all medical facilities in Cuba are state-owned and controlled, a strong State Security presence typically accompanies any treatment for human rights’ defenders and many fear seeking medical attention.
Prominent human rights’ activists and opposition leaders
63 year-old,
Laura Pollán, leader of the internationally renowned human rights’ group, Ladies in White, died October 14, 2010 at a Havana hospital. She developed a sudden and undiagnosed illness after being pricked with a needle by pro-government thugs. A killing by poisoning or biological agent is suspected. Human rights’ activist and former political prisoner
Juan Wilfredo Soto, age 46, died May 8, 2011 at a Santa Clara hospital following a brutal beating by four uniformed policemen. The blows severely damaged his pancreas and caused lesions to his kidneys. 60 year-old opposition leader
Oswaldo Payá, recipient of the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament, was killed July 22, 2012 with
Harold Cepero, a 32-year old activist from his movement, in a car accident reportedly provoked by State Security agents and suggestive of a state murder.
Lesser-known human rights’ defenders
Just a few months after Raúl assumed the lead role in Cuba, Former prisoner of conscience
Miguel Valdés Tamayo, age 50, died January 10, 2007 at a state hospital, his death widely reported to have been induced. Dissident
Luis Angel Lima Machado, age 47, was found dead by hanging at his house in Havana on October 23, 2007. He suffered from emotional problems fueled by constant harassment from Cuban authorities. There is no evidence that his death was not self-inflicted. That same year, activist
Liborio Borroto Monroe, age 65, was killed November 19, 2007 after a horse-drawn cart ran him over at his hometown, Jatibonico, Sancti Spiritus. Earlier that day three Communist Party members had visited his home to threaten him with death for placing stickers with the word "change" on the walls of his house.
Human rights’ activist
Roberto Franco Alfaro disappeared May 20, 2009 in
Havana, coincidentally on the anniversary of Cuba´s independence and namesake of his opposition group. State
Security had threatened him with his disappearance. Human rights’ activist,
Alberto Sigas Hernández, age 32, also disappeared January 5, 2010 after police reported he was being held at Villa Marista, State Security Headquarters in Havana. State Security had harassed him repeatedly and threatened him with his disappearance..
See video testimony on Alberto Sigas’ disappearance (4:10 mins.) in Spanish at
HEREDaysi Talavera Ortíz, a female human rights’ activist and former political prisoner, died January 2011 in Matanzas after being run over by a car in mysterious circumstances. Blind human rights’ activist
Sergio Díaz Larrastegui, age 54, died April 19, 2012 at a Havana hospital. Fellow activists believe he was assassinated, as he had been repeatedly threatened by the political police. He suddenly became very ill and died after being diagnosed with an autoimmune liver disease and hepatic cirrhosis doctors attributed to unidentified chemicals. In May 2014,
Vicente Medrano Ramos, age 58, was found at home in Guantánamo with his throat slit. He was a sympathizer of the peaceful opposition group UNPACU, which had repaired the roof of his home, damaged from Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Authorities had threatened him with death for expressing his gratitude publicly all around town.
Continued killing of civilians attempting to flee Cuba At Guantánamo, things haven´t changed at all —to this day, the U.S. base is surrounded by an active mine field and Cuban guards with orders to shoot. Plus, Cuban authorities continue enforcing a longstanding practice to prevent exit attempts, considered illegal without government approval. Many caught leaving are detained, some are killed, albeit more sporadically than in the past.
Recent victims include 18 persons who left Cuba on a small boat from Isla de la Juventud at dawn on February 1, 2011. 24 days later, Cuban border guards said they had detected the vessel near the coast of Pinar del Río with just one body riddled with bullets, that of
Wilfredo Peña Leyva. Among those “disappeared” was 42 year-old
Ariel García Fernández.
Cuban-born Italian resident, 32 year-old
Diosbel Díaz Beoto, was killed December 16, 2014 after the boat in which he left Cuba from the coast of Matanzas (with 7 women, 2 children and 23 men) was shot at for two hours by Cuban Border Guard and rammed until it sunk.
Yurinieski Martínez Reina, age 30, was killed April 19, 2015 at a beach in Matanzas by a State Security agent who fired on his group of five unarmed men after they had been detained for attempting to leave on a homemade raft. A military tribunal sentenced the perpetrator to 13 years in prison for involuntary homicide, but it is unknown if he is actually serving prison.
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