Back in 1948, when Cuba was still a free country, Cubans played a role in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, under a communist dictatorship, Cuba is one of the worst human rights offenders in the world.
The Center for a FREE Cuba takes a look at Cuba then and now:
CubaBrief: Special edition for International Human Rights Day
International Human Rights Day presents an opportunity to examine both Cuba’s human rights record today, and the role played by Cuban diplomats in the drafting, and ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Eleven days ago on November 30, 2024 Manuel de Jesús Guillén Esplugas was beaten to death by guards, according to the evidence found on his bruised and battered body. In a video that went viral, his mother, Dania María Esplugas, says her son was murdered by prison officials.
Manuel endured terrible prison conditions “including bedbug and rat infestations, lack of medical care for scabies, poor nutrition, and being held in close quarters with violent criminals.” The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation published an OpEd today by the Center for a Free Cuba executive director titled, “Denouncing Prison Conditions in Cuba Can Get You Killed“.
The Cuban dictatorship does not release data on Cuba’s prison population, and over the past 65 years, only allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit Cuba’s prisons in 1988 and 1989.
This is in contrast to over 100 visits of the ICRC to the prison at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo since 2002 where Al Qaeda terrorists are jailed.
Worse yet, Cuban human rights defenders who report on prison conditions are subjected to reprisals by prison guards. This has been going on for decades. Some have survived, and today they reflected on International Human Rights Day, and Cuba’s political prisoners.
Ignacio Raúl Cuesta Valle, known as El Piche, served 29 years and 10 months of political imprisonment in Cuba during the communist dictatorship. In his message, he calls on the international community to take into account the plight of Cuban political prisoners on Human Rights Day.
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