NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) accuses the Cuban government of arbitrarily detaining, mistreating prisoners and conducting mock trials after unprecedented summer protests, in a report released Tuesday 19 October.
“
When thousands of Cubans demonstrated in July, the Cuban government responded with brutal repression designed to instill fear and crush opposition,
” writes Juan Pappier, researcher in charge of the Americas for the NGO.
Read alsoIn Cuba, dissent does not disarm
More than 1000 people have been arrested by the Cuban authorities, so that "
the fear weighs more than the despair of the people,
" Juan Pappier told AFP.
Cuba was shaken on July 11 by angry protests in some fifty towns on the island, which resulted in one death and dozens of wounded, and several hundred people still imprisoned.
Protesters imprisoned and sometimes beaten
These spontaneous demonstrations, unprecedented since the 1959 revolution, had taken place with cries of "
We are hungry
", "
Down with dictatorship
" and "
Freedom
", against the backdrop of a serious economic crisis, the worst in 30 years. Peaceful protesters and government opponents have been arrested, placed in solitary confinement and mock trials, said HRW, which details in its report the fate of 130 detainees, most of them subjected to repeated questioning. Some prisoners have been deprived of sleep or beaten while others have been threatened with reprisals against them or their families for participating in the protests, according to HRW.
Between July and October, Human Rights Watch spoke to more than 150 people, including victims of violence, relatives and lawyers, consulted court documents, and corroborated numerous photos and videos.
Despite the violence denounced by the NGO, the Cuban opposition on Tuesday maintained its call to demonstrate on November 15, a rally already declared illegal by the government.
"
We will then see if the government's fear strategy has worked,
" says Juan Pappier.
