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Spotlight on Cuba: Crackdown on Dissidents
In April 2003, 75 dissidents advocating for political change through non-violent means were sent to jail for 6 to 28 years, accused of working with US diplomats to undermine the Cuban government. This bulletin tracks these and related developments. It follows the actions and statements by the Cuban Government, Cuban dissidents and the international community.
March 2003 - 2008
Chronological summary of key events since March 2003:
2008
October 23, 2008: The Cuban government and the European Union re-establish cooperation that was broken after the crackdown on dissidents in 2003.
September 16, 2008: The Cuban government accepts the resumption of formal political dialogue with the European Union.
June 19, 2008: The European Union agrees to lift its diplomatic sanctions against Cuba.
May 28, 2008: The Ladies in White express alarm over supposed plans by Cuban authorities "to launch a wave of repression" similar to that of 2003.
May 12 – 23, 2008: The Cuban government increases accusations against dissidents.
April 21, 2008: Near Revolution Square, Police agents and a group of government supporters break up a peaceful demonstration by the Ladies in White who were demanding the release of their jailed husbands.
March 18, 2008: Human rights advocates and international organizations recalled the 2003 crackdown on dissidents, and requested the release of political prisoners to Cuban authorities.
February 15, 2008: Pedro Pablo Alvarez Ramos, serving a 25-year sentence; Omar Pernet, serving 25 years; José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, serving 20 years; and Alejandro González Raga, serving 14 years, were freed and sent to Spain with their families.
January 16, 2008: According to a report released by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), the number of political prisoners has decreased, but at least 325 people were arbitrarily arrested.
January 15, 2008: Opposition activist Yanci Ruiz Martínez is released after serving out a one-year prison term.
2007
December 10, 2007: In Human Rights Day, a group of dissidents headed by Dr. Darsi Ferrer march in protest in the Vedado neighborhood while government supporters shoved and shouted down the activists.
December 9, 2007: Fifty members of the Ladies in White, female relatives of Cuban political prisoners, march to National Assembly headquarters demanding the release of their loved ones.
December 4, 2007: State Security officials surround a group of dissidents and enter into Santa Teresita church in Santiago de Cuba, before detaining at least five oppositionists.
October 25, 2007: At the request of Spain, the Cuban Government authorizes ex-political prisoner Héctor Palacios, released from prison on medical parole, to travel to Spain to receive medical attention.
October 23, 2007: The Council of Human Rights Rapporteurs of Cuba (CRDHC) expresses serious concern over the astounding number of prisoners infected with tuberculosis in Cuban jails.
September 27, 2007: A group of dissidents stage a sit-in in front of the Justice Ministry in Havana after delivering a letter demanding improvements in jail conditions for political prisoners.
September 27, 2007: Dozens of dissidents, who were intending to take part in a peaceful demonstration organized in Havana in demand of better jail conditions for political prisoners, are arrested.
September 24, 2007: Some 50 peaceful dissidents carry out a demonstration in Santa Clara to denounce the beatings endured by political prisoner Carlos Luis Díaz Fernández.
August 14, 2007: Oswaldo Paya sends an open letter to the public denouncing the growing risk of death that prisoners of conscience face in Cuban prisons.
August 10, 2007: Francisco Chaviano, one of Cuba's longest-serving political prisoners, is released after serving 13 years in prison.
July 13, 2007: Dissident Rene Montes de Oca is set free after two years behind bars.
July 2, 2007: Relatives and a Cuban human rights group call for an investigation into how dissident Manuel Acosta died while in police custody.
June 26, 2007: The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation reports the death in police custody of dissident Manuel Acosta.
June 22: Cuba bluntly rejects the European Union's calls for negotiations to warm relations with the island.
June 18, 2007: The UN Human Rights Council ends the mandate of the Special Representative on Cuba.
June 18, 2007: European Union foreign ministers agree not to reactivate sanctions against Cuba and hold out an offer for an "open political dialogue" with the island.
June 16, 2007: On the eve of Father’s Day, the Ladies in White march along the streets of Havana in demand of the release of political prisoners.
May 30, 2007: The governments of Spain and Cuba hold in Havana the first round of talks on human rights.
May 12, 2007: On the eve of Mother’s Day, the Ladies in White march along the streets of Havana in demand of the release of their beloved ones from jail.
May 9, 2007: Roberto de Jesus Guerra, a dissident reporter who spent nearly two years in prison for joining an anti-government protest, is released.
April 22, 2007: Jorge Luis Garcia Perez (Antúnez), one of Cuba's longest-serving political prisoners, is set free.
April 13, 2007: Oscar Sánchez Madan, an independent Cuban journalist is tried and sentenced to four years in prison in a one-day trial for the charge of "social dangerousness."
March 19-20, 2007: Groups of government supporters try to break up the peaceful demonstrations of the Ladies in White throughout the streets of Havana.
March 18, 2007: After Sunday Mass, a group of Italian activists join the Ladies in White during their silent weekly demonstration in demand of the release of political prisoners.
March 11-15, 2007: Leaders of the dissident movement denounce the intensification of persecution and harassment against dissidents.
March 8, 2007: Political prisoner Rafael Corrales Alonso is released from prison after 10 months in jail.
February 13, 2007: The opposition organization Assembly to Promote Civil Society (APSC) demands that the Cuban government stops harassing the dissidents.
February 8, 2007: After being held for 19 months without being charged, veteran dissident attorney Rene Gomez Manzano is unexpectedly released from prison.
January 10, 2007: Cuban dissident Manuel Valdes Tamayo, one of 75 activists jailed in a massive crackdown in 2003 and released a year later for health reasons, dies.
2006
December 10, 2006: A mob of some 200 people uses force to halt a peaceful march organized by the National Council of the National Patriotic Front to commemorate International Human Rights Day.
December 6, 2006: Hector Palacios, a well-known dissident jailed in 2003, is released from prison.
November 23, 2006: Dissident Alberto Hernández Suárez, in detention since midyear, is released from jail.
November 21, 2006: The Cuban government sets free dissidents Oscar Mario Gonzalez and Santiago Valdeolla, who were arrested on July 22, 2005, as they were organizing a demonstration in front of the French Embassy.
November 9, 2006: Cuba's best-known dissidents urge member nations of the UN Human Rights Council to demand the release of all Cuba's political prisoners.
November 8, 2006: The Progressive Arch coalition urges the Cuban government to stop the “acts of repudiation” against dissidents.
November 1, 2006: The Cuban Foundation for Human Rights asks for solidarity as repression against dissidents increases.
September 25, 2006: The dissident coalition Progressive Arch invites the UN Human Rights Commission to list groups like the Rapid Response Brigades, created by the Cuban government to suppress opponents, as “terrorist”.
August 31, 2006: Dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas who refused to eat solid foods for nearly seven months in his demand for full Internet access for all Cubans ended his hunger strike.
August 28, 2006: The Ladies in White appeal to leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement to press the Cuban government for the release of political prisoners.
August 22, 2006: Activist Martha Beatriz Roque requests from the Cuban government to stop the harassment against her and the dissident movement.
August 6, 2006: The Ladies in White ask Raul Castro to give a signal of change in Cuba by freeing the regime's political prisoners.
July 5, 2006: The Cuban government steps up extra-judicial harassment of opponents, the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) says in a report.
June 23, 2006: Cuba criticizes the European Union calling it "a lackey" of the United States.
June 12, 2006: The European Union foreign ministers urge the Cuban government to "unconditionally release all political prisoners," and "welcome the resumption of a political dialogue with the Cuban authorities."
May 31, 2006: Frail and fed through an intravenous tube, hunger-striking Cuban dissident journalist Guillermo Farinas finishes a fourth month demanding Internet access.
May 23, 2006: Amnesty International releases its 2006 Report denouncing the Cuban government for intimidating dissidents and for maintaining in jail 70 prisoners of conscience.
May 13, 2006: The Ladies in White, wives and relatives of Cuban political prisoners, demonstrate along Havana’s streets in demand of the release of their beloved ones.
May 2, 2006: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expresses concern about the human rights situation in Cuba.
April 25, 2006: A mob organized by Cuban authorities beats up dissident Martha Beatriz Roque and invades her home.
March 20, 2006: The Ladies in White commemorate three years of the incarceration of their beloved ones by marching for the second time in three days through the streets of Havana.
March 17, 2006: In a report on the situation of human rights in Cuba, Amnesty International “urges the Cuban authorities to unconditionally and immediately free all prisoners of conscience”.
March 7, 2006: A report by UN Special Representative to the High Commissioner on Human Rights denouncing an increase of repression against dissidents and ill-treatment in jail to political prisoners is posted in the Commission’s web site.
March, 2006: Several international institutions and dissident organizations make calls to put an end to repression against the dissident movement and to violence.
February 2006: Several international institutions and dissident organizations make calls to put an end to repression against the dissident movement and to violence.
2005
December 1, 2005: Mario Enrique Mayo Hernández, one of 75 dissidents arrested in a spring 2003 crackdown, is released for health reasons.
November 30, 2005: Cuba's political prisoners increasingly are resorting to "acts of desperation" - including hunger strikes, suicide attempts, and self-mutilation - in a cry for international recognition and solidarity.
October 28, 2005: Cuban authorities ban a national holiday reception which the Czech embassy organized, branding it a "counter-revolutionary event."
October 26, 2005: The European Parliament grants the 2005 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the "Ladies in White", a group of women that has been protesting peacefully against the continued detention of their relatives who are political dissidents in Cuba.
October 5, 2005: Political prisoner Félix Navarro Rodríguez ends the hunger strike he began on September 15, in solidarity with political prisoner Victor Rolando Arroyo.
October 4, 2005: Cuban political prisoner Víctor Rolando Arroyo ends the hunger strike he began on September 10.
October 3, 2005: The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation issues a statement on the "visible increase in political repression throughout the country" in recent months.
October 3, 2005: During Cuba’s Foreign Minister visit to Canada, Canada’s Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigre presses Cuba on its human rights record and expresses particular concern about Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Victor Rolando Arroyo and Felix Navarro, three political prisoners who are on hunger strike.
September 29, 2005: The European Union issues a statement on the poor health condition of Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia, Victor Rolando Arroyo and Felix Navarro, three political prisoners who began a hunger strike on September 10.
August 19, 2005: The Cuban government confiscates the land where an unprecedented gathering of Cuban dissidents took place on May 20.
August 15, 2005: Mobs organized by Cuban authorities demonstrate in front of the houses of members of the dissident movement.
July 26, 2005: In a public speech, Fidel Castro warns that attempts to destabilize Cuba’s government would be confronted by the population.
July 22, 2005: Cuban dissident leader Marta Beatriz Roque and more than a dozen other activists are arrested in a new crackdown on the Cuban opposition.
July 22, 2005: A small protest stages outside the French Embassy in Havana urging the release of political prisoners.
July 21, 2005: The Cuban government launches a massive civil monitoring operation in response to a series of opponents’ protests in Havana.
July 15, 2005: France moves beyond EU nations toward normal relations with Cuba, inviting Cuban government officials to a Bastille Day celebration.
July 13, 2005: Several dozen dissidents commemorating a deadly 1994 tugboat sinking clash with a larger group of government supporters; over twenty dissidents are arrested.
June 13, 2005: The European Union decides not to re-impose on Cuba the diplomatic sanctions suspended earlier this year.
May 20, 2005: The European Union describes as "unacceptable" the expulsion from Cuba of European lawmakers and journalists.
March 26, 2005: The European Union commissioner Louis Michel meets with Fidel Castro and Cuban authorities in Havana.
March 20, 2005: Some 200 women supporters of Fidel Castro’s government counter demonstrate a march by the "Ladies in White" in an attempt to intimidate them.
March 2, 2005: Personal Representative to UN Human Rights Commission urges Cuba to free all political dissidents.
February 18, 2005: Wearing pictures of their husbands on their shirts, the “ladies in White” march to Revolution Plaza to demand amnesty for all political prisoners.
February 1, 2005: Fidel Castro expresses disdain for what was meant to be a conciliatory gesture by the European Union, saying Cuba does not need either Europe or the United States
January 31, 2005: European Union foreign ministers agree to end a nearly two-year-old freeze on high-level contacts with the Cuban government.
January 10, 2005: Cuba announces resumption of contacts with the European Union's office in Havana and the nations with which relations have remained frozen.
January 6, 2005: The European Union reiterates the need for Cuba to renew diplomatic ties with the whole 25 members bloc.
January 3, 2005: Cuba ends a diplomatic deadlock with eight European Union nations.
2004
December 6, 2004: The Cuban government releases independent journalist Jorge Olivera Castillo.
December 2, 2004: The Cuban authorities release Edel Jose Garcia Diaz, a journalist serving a 15-year term, due to health reasons.
November 30, 2004: Cuba frees the acclaimed poet and journalist Raul Rivero.
November 29, 2004: Cuban authorities release jailed dissidents, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Marcelo Lopez and Margarito Broche due to health reasons.
November 25, 2004: Cuba restores normal diplomatic relations with Spain.
November 17, 2004: The European Parliament opposes the move by the EU's executive that Brussels might pursue a rapprochement with Cuba's regime.
November 16, 2004: Representatives of the EU's 25 member states review their policy towards Cuba at the request of Spain's new Socialist government.
October 16, 2004: The Dutch and the Spanish government protest the arrest and deportation of three lawmakers.
October 15, 2004: Cuba's communist government bars three European lawmakers from entering the country on a visit to support Cuban dissidents.
October 6, 2004: The wife of a jailed Cuban dissident demonstrates in a park in front of the building of Cuban State Council in demand that her husband be transferred to the capital for medical treatment.
August 11, 2004: Cuban political prisoner Cándido Terry Carbonell is released from prison after a two-year sentence.
August 2, 2004: The Spanish government proposes to its EU partners a reconsideration of the sanctions adopted toward Fidel Castro's regime in 2003.
July 22, 2004: Cuba frees dissident economist Martha Beatriz Roque, the only woman among 75 people arrested 16 months ago in a crackdown on dissent.
July 15, 2004: The European Council of Ministers issues a press release, on behalf of the European Union concerning the release of political dissidents in Cuba, that “welcomes the recent releases of political dissidents imprisoned in Cuba”.
June 23, 2004: Cuban dissidents Roberto de Miranda Hernandez and writer and poet Manuel Vázquez Portal are released for health reasons.
June 18, 2004: Cuban authorities free political prisoners Carmelo Diaz Fernandez and Orlando Fundora Alvarez for health reasons.
June 14, 2004: The European Union Ministers reiterates diplomatic sanctions against Fidel Castro's regime.
June 9, 2004: The Cuban government releases a fifth imprisoned dissident, Miguel Valdés Tamayo, due to health reasons.
June 9, 2004: Four Cuban dissidents held in prison without trial for more than two years –including Leonardo Bruzón Avila-- are released.
April 15, 2004: The UN Human Rights Commission condemns Cuba for its spring 2003 crackdown that sent 75 peaceful dissidents.
April 1, 2004: The Cuban Catholic Church urges the Cuban government to pardon or reduce the sentences of the 75 dissidents sentenced to up to 28 years in prison in April 2003.
March 18, 2004: Dressed in white, the wives of 15 Cuban political prisoners jailed in last year's crackdown on dissent hold a march in the streets of Havana.
March 17, 2004: Cuba defies the United Nations' top human rights body by rejecting a UN expert's criticism of abuse in the country and barring her from the country.
February 24, 2004: The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) awards its World Press Freedom Prize to Cuban journalist Raúl Rivero Castañeda, serving a 20-year prison sentence.
February 17, 2004: A United Nations Special Representative publishes a scathing report on Cuba's treatment of political dissidents in prison.
2003
September 4, 2003: The European Parliament condemns human rights violations in Cuba and urges Fidel Castro to release political prisoners.
July 31, 2003: Cuban Foreign Affairs Ministry sends a letter to the EU Commission confirming Cuba's decision to decline EU aid.
July 26, 2003: In a speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the attack to Moncada barracks, Fidel Castro fires a stinging rebuke at the European Union.
July 21, 2003: The foreign ministers of the European Union approves their Common Position on Cuba denouncing human rights violations, but at the same time calls for continued "constructive engagement with the island.
June 27, 2003: The United Nations' top human rights official for Cuba urges Fidel Castro to pardon the dissidents, after the Cuban high court confirmed their sentences.
June 20, 2003: The EU Summit in Thessaloniki ratifies decisions taken on Cuba by European Foreign Ministers.
June 16, 2003: Cuba's Supreme Court has upheld 22 prison terms handed down earlier this year to several dissidents.
June 16, 2003: European Union foreign ministers ratify diplomatic sanctions on Cuba.
June 16, 2003: Spanish Foreign Affairs Ministry summons Cuba's ambassador to Spain.
June 12, 2003: Fidel and Raúl Castro lead hundreds of thousands of people in a march outside the Spanish and Italian Embassies in Havana.
June 11, 2003: The Cuban government issues an official statement responding to the EU.
June 7, 2003: Fidel Castro accuses the EU of joining Washington in ganging up on Cuba.
June 6, 2003: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham says the OAS should follow the lead of the European Union.
June 5, 2003: The EU decides to impose several diplomatic sanctions against Cuba.
May 6, 2003: Cuba has placed in solitary confinement most of the 75 people imprisoned.
April 30, 2003: After examining the latest events in Cuba, the European Commission decides to postpone "indefinitely" the presentation of its analysis to the Group of Fifteen regarding the request from Havana to join the Cotonou Agreement.
April 23, 2003: All dissidents convicted to long jail sentences are transferred to prisons far away from their place of residence.
April 11, 2003: Cuba executes three men convicted of highjacking.
April 9, 2003: Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien says Cuba has a human rights problem but supports engaging in dialogue with Havana.
April 9, 2003: Cuba defends its speedy prosecution of 75 dissidents.
April 9, 2003: The Cuban Ministry of Justice issues an official statement on the summary proceedings against dissidents.
April 8, 2003: Cuban authorities announced the start of a summary trial against the hijackers of a passenger boat.
April 8, 2003: Cuban courts have tried at least 75 government opponents.
April 5, 2003: Fidel Castro justifies the detentions.
April 4, 2003: Canada protests to Havana over the crackdown on dissidents.
March 21, 2003: Canadian authorities express concern on the crackdown.
March 18, 2003: Cuba's government announces arrests of dissidents. Human rights activist reports over 30 being arrested. |
