Published Wednesday, March 1, 2000, in the Miami Herald

Cuba's state of inhuman rights

The latest indictment of Cuba's police state comes in the State Department's annual Country Report on Human Rights Practices, released last week. Said Harold Hongju Koh, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor: ``Cuba's human-rights record further deteriorated over the past year. . . . Cuban authorities routinely harassed, threatened, arbitrarily arrested, detained, imprisoned and defamed human-rights advocates and independent professionals.''

Here are excerpts from that report:

``Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel Castro, who is chief of state, head of government, first secretary of the Communist Party and commander in chief of the armed forces. President Castro exercises control over all aspects of Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy and the state security apparatus.

``State security investigates and actively suppresses opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the rapid response brigades and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution.

``In most cases, foreign employers are allowed to contract workers only through state agencies, which receive hard-currency payments for the workers' labor but in turn pay the workers a small fraction of this, usually 5 percent, in local currency.

``The system of `tourist apartheid' continued, with foreign visitors who pay in hard currency receiving preference over citizens for food, consumer products and medical services. Citizens remain barred from tourist hotels, beaches and resorts.

``The government was sharply and publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its human-rights practices and sought to discourage and thwart foreign contacts with human-rights activists.

``On Aug. 14, police detained Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez, president of the Lawton Human Rights Foundation, and other activists as they were going to a public park to demonstrate. At the police station, a policeman punched Biscet in the face while another crushed his burning cigarette on Biscet's elbow when Biscet said, `God loves you.'

``Police and prison officials often . . . used beatings, neglect, isolation and denial of medical attention against detainees and prisoners, including those convicted of political crimes or those who persisted in expressing their views.

``The Communist Party controls all media -- except a few small church-run publications -- as a means of indoctrinating the public. Even the church-run publications are watched closely.

``There are very few women or minorities in policymaking positions in the government or the [Communist] party. There are two women in the 24-member Politburo, 18 in the 150-member Central Committee, and 166 in the 601-seat ANPP. Although blacks and mulattos make up over half the population, they hold only six seats in the Politburo.''

The Cuba report in full is at:1999 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (Cuba)

Copyright 2000 the Miami Herald.
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