From our Bureau of Socialist Tolerance, Compassion, and Social Justice with some assistance from our Bureau of Socialist Complaint Departments
Castro, Inc.’s courts are sending a clear message to the Cuban people. “Dare to complain and we will lock you up for a long time.” The long sentences imposed on Cubans arrested for taking to the streets in 2022 to protest the gross failure of Castro, Inc.’s electrical grid are intentionally excessive, a signal to increasingly restless natives. Imagine spending 15 years in Castro, Inc.’s gulag for simply complaining out in public.
No need to guess what will happen to those protesters rounded up last month, or to anyone who dares to complain in the days and months to come, which are bound to bring even more hunger, deprivation, and repression.
From Barron’s
Thirteen Cubans received sentences of up to 15 years in jail for protesting prolonged power cuts on the island in 2022, a human rights group said Friday.
The 10 men and three women had already been incarcerated for taking to the streets and demanding improved living conditions and an end to power outages — some lasting up to 18 hours — in the town of Nuevitas, 600 kilometers (370 miles) from Havana.
On Friday, they were notified that their sentences would range from four to 15 years in prison for sedition, contempt, enemy propaganda and sabotage, among other charges, according to a list provided to AFP by Miami-based NGO Justicia 11J.
All 13 were tried in January 2024 by a Camaguey city court, under heavy military and police presence, the Cubalex NGO, also based in Miami, reported at the time.
“My son is doing very badly,” the mother of a 23-year-old man sentenced to 10 years in prison, told AFP by telephone, asking not to be identified.
According to Justicia 11J, those convicted can still appeal their sentences.
Cuba’s energy shortage sparked daily power outages and one of the island’s most difficult years in 2022.
Anti-government demonstrations like the one in Nuevitas have become more common in Cuba, despite the risk of arrest and severe penalties incurred by protesters.
Hundreds of people were arrested during the historic demonstrations of July 11, 2021, and nearly 500 were sentenced to up to 25 years in prison, according to the latest official figures.