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Cuba: Exodus,
Living
Conditions
And
Human Rights
(Summary Of Facts And Considerations)
Realities Of An Exodus
In 1992 the world
became aware of an unprecedented phenomenon: the record number of
Cubans, 2.557, who managed to escape their country, arriving at U.S.
shores in small boats and makeshift
rafts. It is estimated that one
out of every three or four who attempts to escape succeeds, the rest
either perish or are captured. The second escape route has been
entering Guantánamo Base, surrounded by barbed-wire fences and mine
fields, very similar to the anti-escape system of former East Germany.
Since 1959 about 20,000 have fled illegally these ways.
This leads us to ask
who they are and why do they risk their lives this way. They have been
mainly young and working-class people, the very ones claimed by the
government to be the main beneficiaries of the revolution. Their main
motivation has been to flee a totalitarian system that suffocates
them. "I’d rather die at sea than keep living in Cuba" is
a common expression among them. They do not come pursuing the American
dream but fleeing the Cuban nightmare."
Since 1959 about a
million Cubans have gone into exile by legal means. These exiles have
been increasingly representative of the island’s population. They
come from all areas of the country, all social classes and racial
groups. In its latest major wave, the 1980 Mariel boatlift, they were
predominantly from blue-collar background and under 30 years of age.
As a result of their decision to leave the country, they have had to
pay dearly in Cuba in terms of discrimination, privation,
mistreatment, and economic extortion of their relatives in exile and
even hard labor. Their motivation has also been primarily the strong
desire to flee a totalitarian system that attempts to control the
entire lives of its people.
Living Conditions
and Human Rights
Fidel Castro came to
power on January 1, 1959 with the backing of most Cubans. They
believed his promises to restore the ascending democratic process
started in 1940, that was interrupted by the coup d'etat of Gen.
Fulgencio Batista in 1952.
By 1958, Cuba’s
most serious problems were of a political nature. This was due to
political corruption, aggravated by Batista’s dictatorship. In spite
of political repression, Cuba progressed economically and socially,
being ranked among the first four places in indicators of standards of
living in the Americas, with an increasingly influential middle class.
It is apparent, in
retrospect, that Castro’s real goal has been the unlimited enjoyment
of absolute power. To accomplish this he initially waved the
democratic banner. Later he declared himself marxist-leninist. This
enabled him to perpetuate himself in power with an ideological
justification. It also provided him with the vital economic aid and
repressive experience of the former Soviet bloc.
To reach his goal,
Castro had to face the strong opposition of many whom had believed his
democratic promises. Among those who opposed him then (1960-1966) were
mainly the little-known guerrillas in the countryside and in the urban
areas. Thousands were executed by firing
squads. Many of his former
comrades in arms were among them. The defeat of the U.S.-sponsored Bay
of Pigs operation contributed significantly to Castro’s
consolidation in power.
The Castro regime has
arrested or imprisoned hundreds of thousands for political reasons.
These men and women make up the largest and harshest political prison
system in the history of this continent. It is estimated that at its
peak the number of prisoners reached about 100,000. These have come
from all walks of life. In contrast with Batista’s dictatorship
which was lenient by comparison, (Castro being an example receiving 15
years for leading the 1953 Moncada Barracks’s attack and was freed
in 20 months) 20 to 30 year prison terms have been common. This was
respectively the case of Húber Matos and Mario Chanes, former
companions of Castro. Chanes has not even been allowed to leave the
country after serving his entire 30-year sentence.
Human rights
violations with detainees and political prisoners have been rampant.
They have endured torture, including psychological, hard labor, and
unjust additional punishment as with the infamous "drawers"
(small standing-room-only cells where several were locked in).
In less than three
years Castro was able to establish a totalitarian system He abolished
all other political parties, controlled trade unions and professional
organizations. He took over the press, the entire educational system.
Health care, and practically the entire economy. He eliminated private
enterprise, making individual entrepreneurship a crime. Religion was
significantly repressed initially when all private and religious
schools were confiscated in 1961, and hundreds of priests were
forcibly expelled, including a bishop.
An analysis of living
conditions under the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights shows that most rights have been repressed. The population as a
whole has seen its rights violated not only to those persecuted and
incarcerated.
We can differentiate
between two types of human rights violations: those that are the
result of direct repression that tend to violate the rights of some,
most of the time, versus those which are the result of Indirect
repression that violate the rights of all the people, all the time.
Direct repression has
operated through the unjustified and often massive executions
since
1959 that haven’t stopped to this date. Executions —in some cases—
have also been accompanied by the inhuman drawing of most of the
prisoner’s blood before being shot. It comprises also the long
imprisonments the CDR’s (surveillance committee organized by block
since 1960 to spy on the citizens), the military committees that
continuously supervise the male population, the arbitrary arrests, the
"acts of repudiation" performed by
nazi-style-government-organized mobs to terrorize dissidents. A more
recent variation of that pattern has been the "rapid response
brigades." The cruel acts against those arrested and imprisoned
have included the psychological breakdown of the individual, including
the undue use of electroshocks.
However, most human
rights violations have been the less apparent, but much more effective
in the control of the people. This type of highly refined repressive
system is applied through the social institutions to the entire
population all the time, as we shall see.
Indirect repression
is possible because of the totalitarian nature of Cuban society today.
There, one studies, works, eats or receives medical attention in and
by the state. A citizen’s advancement and benefits are determined
mostly by his degree of "political and ideological
integration." This attempt to control every facet of the
individual’s social expression has operated through a system of
coercion almost invisible to the foreign eye. This coercion involves:
The use of the 1976 Constitution,
which is an example of a document that legalizes human rights
violations. A flagrant case refers to Article 61 which asserts that
an individual’s rights will only be recognized if said individual
adheres to the objectives set forth by the government in its purpose
to build a socialist state. Many times the government violated its
own legality. In 1959 Air Force pilots were tried a second time and
declared guilty after being acquitted by a revolutionary tribunal.
The Constitution states that a national who adopts a foreign
nationality will automatically lose his Cuban citizenship. However,
since the late 1970s those Cubans nationalized as U.S. citizens and
other nationalities have been forced to obtain a Cuban passport, as
another form of extortion, when traveling to Cuba.
The educational system, highly
repressive of the youth. Cubans can only receive the education the
marxist-leninist government offers. In addition to this fact,
repression takes place mainly through the use of the Cumulative
Academic Record. This record hangs over the student and his family’s
heads. The "ideological integration" and political conduct
of the student and each of his/her parents is annually evaluated
here. Through this record, the teacher becomes a watchdog of
ideological and political loyalty. The threat of a blot of this type
on the student’s record is a constant warning of impending danger
both to the student and to his parents. Students from Junior High
level are further exploited by being forced to work in the
agricultural fields for free. The record of political integration
will determine whether the student can pursue higher education and
the type of career. Careers with a potential social impact will
normally be closed to the non-integrated person.
At the place of employment. The
Labor Record, follows the Academic Record, and accompanies the
citizen throughout his lifetime. Here, ideological behavior is noted
and skinnerian techniques have been utilized through a system of
"merits" and "demerits" to further control the
individual. Labor unions have become an important source of control
of the worker, rather than his defender. Their goal is to increase
productivity, coercing the individual to work for free through the
so-called "voluntary work" and to indoctrinate him. In
practice there is no right to strike.
The procurement of foodstuffs. A
ration book is in effect for those products since 1962. A similar
one exists for manufactured ones. The ration books record the
rations and transactions of practically all products and have become
increasingly restrictive. This is another form of control of the
individual since he must shop in the stores assigned by the state.
It is a crime to buy food from the remaining small farmers in order
to manage the great shortages not satisfied by the ration book. This
situation is unparalleled in the former communist bloc, including
China, where free peasant markets were never outlawed. Free work and
private initiative is also forbidden, thus an individual cannot hire
or be hired by another or have a business: only the state can
perform this economic task. Thus, Cubans have been forced to
function at the survival level, worrying constantly about the
procurement of food, which used to be abundant in Cuba before Castro’s
absurd economic policies.
The geographical mobility of the
individual in and out of the country. The personal ID
(Carné de
Identidad) that everyone must carry after 16, looks like a passport,
but is much more than that due to the amount of individual
information it contains (past and present places of residence, work,
spouses, children and codes for ideological integration). The
individual must ask permission for change of residence, work place
and to leave the country, which is highly restricted.
The "mass organizations"
(for children, youth and adult women and men) to which the
individual is coerced to belong. Those organizations control even
more the free time of the person through constant meetings and the
use of ‘voluntary work" for all ages starting at the school
level. That type of work is usually in the countryside, contributing
to the breakdown of family unity and the traditional values,
political indoctrination and great promiscuity. The latter has
resulted in a very high premarital pregnancy and abortions rate.
The Castro regime has
degraded the people forcing them to steal in order to survive, and to
feign a loyalty they do not feel for the system. Prostitution (by the
jineteras, mostly with foreigners) and sexual promiscuity have reached
alarming proportions. Various sources indicate that the number of
abortions is greater than the number of births. Alcoholism and suicide
have become common escape methods.
Indirect repression
has resulted in the persistent discrimination of the individual who
dares to think for himself or simply wants to he politically neutral,
something virtually impossible in today’s Cuba. This discrimination
affects the citizen in all facets of life, thus making him, in
practice, a second or third class citizen. In this way, artistic,
literary or even purely recreational activities are highly controlled
by the omnipotent and omnipresent State.
Control by the
totalitarian state is of a magnitude that virtually eliminates
privacy. This has reached such extremes as the use of psychiatrists
and psychologists as instruments to control the population. These
should report to State Security the "ideological deviants"
they encounter in their practice. The records of their patients are
totally open to Security agents. It has been documented that
electroshock therapy has been used as a repressive instrument.
Gynecology has also been misused by inserting IUD’s without
permission in females who had given birth or had an abortion.
These types of
repressive measures have led to a situation that can be considered a
political-ideological-religious apartheid. Being religious has become
a stain on the individual’s record. Religion, however, has been
repressed subtly. It follows Castro’s directive of "making
apostates, not martyrs" of the faithful. These directives have
been masked in the policy of not closing churches or incarcerating
persons for purely religious reasons.
Repression against
religion has functioned in various ways. Many personal verification
and written forms constantly report on this "flaw", and the
believer faces constant discrimination at school and at work. They, in
fact, become second or third class citizens. This has implied that
certain careers with social impact will be forbidden to him or that a
promotion at work will be denied. Practically all believers have been
victims of indirect repression and often of the direct type. Examples
of the latter have been the internment in concentration camps (the
UMAP, 1965-1967) of many priests (including the current Archbishop of
Havana), ministers, seminarians and prominent lay persons. Special
animosity has been shown toward the openly persecuted Jehovah’s
Witnesses whose Kingdom Halls have been closed and many forced into
exile.
More recently, Cubans
have had to suffer another shameful form of apartheid. They are
discriminated against in their own country when tourists and
foreigners have privileged access to goods or services (like food,
gasoline, beaches, hotels and restaurants) from which the nationals
are banned, partially or totally, due to their lack of dollars, which
they are any way forbidden to carry by law.
Conclusion
The collapse of the
Soviet Bloc brought about the elimination of the umbilical chord
(about US $ 6 to 7 billion per year!) with which the USSR vitally supported
and subsidized the Castro regime. It is not the U.S. economic embargo,
but the lack of Soviet subsidy along with the extreme inefficiency of
a system that Castro stubbornly has refused to liberalize what has
brought about Cuba’s present deprivation. The people are lacking the
essentials at all levels. The standards of living have regressed to
the XIX th Century and are probably lower than ever before in Cuba’s
history in contrast with the rest of the world.
Castro has called
this dramatic situation a "special period in times of
peace." This crisis has to be attributed to the lack of
flexibility of Castro and the elite surrounding him. They prohibit
Cubans from exercising their private initiative, which could solve
most of their problems. That elite constantly proclaims the slogan of
"socialism or death," but doesn’t have to endure the
consequences of the totalitarian measures they have imposed. Castro
—increasingly out of touch with reality— has proclaimed himself as
the world leader of an ideology rejected by the peoples of the world.
The Cuban "nomenklatura" (or the pinchos and mayimbes as
they are known by the people) has enjoyed unprecedented privileges,
lacking nothing. They are considered to be "the property holders
of nothing and yet the owners of everything"
The stated situation
of discrimination leads to the conclusion that human rights of the
apparent minorities are not respected. Those who dare to dissent from
the ruling elite in any way will run the risk of not only being
discriminated, having their civil rights disregarded, but also suffer
public beatings and imprisonment. But it must also be emphasized that
most basic human rights are violated to all the people, all the time.
The so-called
achievements of the revolution, such as in the areas of health care
and education are obscured by the totalitarian repressive apparatus.
That repressive system has been totally unnecessary to achieve any
progress in those areas. Yet, the quality and equality of those
services are highly questionable since their inherent deficiencies are
well known, as well as the fact that the Cuban elite has access to
highly privileged educational and medical services.
Finally, the
harassment of dissidents and human rights activists is on the rise
with the imprisonment of many. These include, the renowned poet María
Elena Cruz Varela, who was beaten and forced to swallow opposition
papers written by her, and was sentenced in 1991 to two years in
prison. Sebastian Arcos Bergnes, a leader of the human rights movement
was detained for months and then sentenced in 1993 to four and a half
years in prison. Many other leaders of that movement are also now in
prison or were forced to leave the country. On the other hand, Castro
increases his political power while he prepares the people—like
Hitler— for a tragic end, urging them to live at subsistence levels
as the answer to the economic chaos created by his bankrupt system.
It can be predicted
that economic conditions will continue to deteriorate reaching levels
of hunger, and that epidemics will continue to develop. Efforts to
flee the island will continue as a direct result of the growing
totalitarian repression. It can also be expected that the number of
suicides, already among the highest in the world, will rise.
Human rights
violations in Cuba must be made known to Western governments and
enterprises that are trading or dealing with the Castro government.
They should be urged to condition any business transactions to a
minimum of respect for human rights in that country. These governments
and institutions could have great leverage with the Castro regime due
to its need for hard currency. They also have great responsibility in
helping to promote the inevitable internal change so that it may come
as soon as possible and without a bloodbath.
CUBAN LIVING
CONDITIONS PROJECT
-COMMUNITY ACTION
AND RESEARCH
(1993, Third Edition)
Summary prepared by
sociologist Prof. Juan Clark, Ph.D. from Miami-Dade Community
College. The translation and editorial suggestions of professors
María Messina and Lillian Bertot are highly appreciated. For further
details see by the author Cuba: Mito y Realidad Testimonios de un
Pueblo, Saeta Ediciones: Miami-Caracas, 1992,2nd Edition, and by
Clark, Angel de Fana and Amaya Sánchez, Human Right. In Cuba, An
experiential Perspective, Coral Gables: Research Institute for Cuban
Studies, University of Miami, 1991. See also Charles J. Brown and
Armando M. Lago, The Politics of Psychiatry in Revolutionary Cuba, New
Brunswick-London: Transaction publishers, 1991, and Andrés
Oppenheimer, Castro’s Final Hour, New York: Simon & Schuster,
1992. |
