To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
Cuban political prisoner dies. Human rights activist & activist's mom threatened. Journalist fined under new gag law. Mobilizing and amplifying Cuban voices.
Pablo Moya Delá: Before his October 23, 2020 imprisonment and after being placed on probation in August 2021.
Family members and activists hold the Castro regime accountable for the death of opposition activist and former political prisoner Pablo Moya Delá, who died on August 26, 2021 at the Clinical Surgical Hospital in Santiago de Cuba. He was jailed on October 23, 2020 for protesting socioeconomic conditions and overall repression. He was beaten, mistreated for months, weakened following a hunger strike and after destroying his health released on probation earlier this month near death.
His plight had drawn international attention.
In May 2021 the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) released ten stamps in a campaign titled "Very Important Stamps" that included Cuban political prisoner Pablo Moya Delá who was highlighted again on June 8, 2021 over Twitter by the Frankfurt based human rights organization in an effort to highlight his case. Criminally, the unjust imprisonment, inhuman conditions, and treatment applied against this human rights defender led to his untimely death.
Memory of Nations, a Czech initiative to preserve the memory of the Cuban nation, interviewed Pablo Moya Delá on July 15, 2020 in which he spoke about the nature of the struggle in Cuba.
https://www.memoryofnations.eu/sites/default/files/2021-02/188063_1080.mp4
“I stuck to that idea, despite that pain and that hardship, that I had to continue fighting. And this struggle that I am facing is because the freedom and the political and economic rights in this country come together with a fundamental law, which would allow us the right and the guarantee, not only to the self-employed, but to all Cubans. Because I've been looking at how Cubans are doing right now. Our people are in a tough and dark situation. Very dangerous. But very very very dangerous. So, in this case, I'm willing to fight until the very last consequence, bro. I have nothing left to lose. Because everything has been taken from me. I reached an age where I really need a retirement for everything I have done working for the state power, however, I’ve got nothing. Which means, that there is nothing left. So the only thing left for me is to keep fighting until the death.”.
Today the spokesperson for the German human rights group that had organized the campaign made a statement. "Pablo Moya's death was consciously accepted. Violence against regime critics and torture of political prisoners are components of the dictatorial regime under the Communist Party of Cuba, which has ruled alone for 61 years. While the Cuban regime is announcing economic reforms, it has not prevented the death of the activist, ” said Martin Lessenthin, speaker of the German section of International Society for Human Rights (ISHR).
The threat against human rights defenders also extends outside the island, but without them little would be know about what takes place in Cuba.
Human rights defender Laritza Diversent's mom threatened by secret police
Havana does not release information on arrests, prison population size, and officials lie about it when asked, but other sources provide partial estimates along with concrete data. 14ymedio, the press outfit founded by Yoani Sanchez, estimates more than 5,000 detained. Cubalex, a human rights NGO, identified 875 detained or missing Cubans, related to the protests that began on July 11th, in their database as of August 27, 2021 at 11:50am.
Cuban human rights defenders attempting to document the situation on the island face threats not only against themselves, but against their families. On August 23, 2021 it was also demonstrated that living in the diaspora does not protect you from these threats. State Security visited the mother of exiled human rights defender and Cubalex executive director Laritza Diversent and telling her "that she could end paying for her daughter’s work." Apparently inspired by the May 23, 2021 "intercept" by Belarusian authorities of independent journalist Roman Protasevich, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega who were on board a plane forced down by a MiG 29, the state security agents said that they would “intercept Laritza Diversent in the United States or another country” to “take her to Cuba” and try her.
Yoel Acosta, sanctioned by Decree 35, the new internet "gag law".
Decree 35, that further criminalizes speech online, came into force on August 18, 2021. The German branch of the International Society for Human Rights reported on one of the first activists to be sanctioned.
Cuban journalist Yoel Acosta is among the first sanctioned by the "gag law." A few weeks after nationwide protests, the Cuban government issued a new Internet decree on cybersecurity on August 18, 2021. Acosta was fined 2,000 Cuban pesos (about 71.06 euros) - equivalent to three average monthly salaries on the Caribbean island.- for critical reporting on the living conditions of people in the city of Baracoa in eastern Cuba. With the fine, Yoel Acosta also received a written warning for "attempting to violate the sovereignty of the country and discredit it with his videos and reports." He was given 72 hours to pay the fine, otherwise he faces jail time.
This is why it is so important for the Cuban diaspora to mobilize in order to amplify the demands of the Cuban people on the island, and to seek solidarity from others as Cuban American students did at Princeton in an OpEd published on August 24, 2021, and Cubans and Cuban Americans did on August 22, 2021 marching through Miami, and last month in Philadelphia, Washington DC, Madrid, Los Angeles, and scores of other cities around the world. There is an effort underway to boycott 14th Havana Biennial in protest of the human rights situation in Cuba. Now is also the time for international human rights organizations to step up their focus on repression in Cuba and denounce it before international bodies.
It is already happening and it is making a difference. With hundreds, if not thousands, of political prisoners in Cuba enduring inhumane conditions, and new and more restrictive decrees by the Cuban dictatorship there is much more to do.
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