Three years after the protests of July 11 in Cuba, IACHR and Its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression Condemn Persistent Repression

July 11, 2024

Washington, D.C. – Three years after the eruption of mass protests in Cuba, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression condemn recent State repression of human rights defenders and other activists in the country, as well as worsening conditions compared to those that gave rise to the protests in the first place. The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression urge the State to listen to the legitimate demands of the Cuban people and call for the release of all individuals who are currently deprived of liberty for their involvement in or support of social protests.

On July 11, 2021, thousands of people poured out onto the streets all over Cuba to protest over shortages of food and medicine, lengthy power outages, and restrictions of the exercise of civil and political rights. The protests were violently repressed by the State, through ill-treatment, intimidation, arbitrary arrests, the criminalization of demonstrators, and trials that failed to ensure the guarantees of due process.

According to civil society reports, there have been renewed protests in Cuba this year, mainly about worsening conditions. The State has allegedly resorted to the same repressive patterns that the IACHR has been documenting since 2021. The IACHR has been informed that, during the protests that took place on March 17–18, 2024, in particular, there were instances of militarized cities, activists who were subjected to surveillance inside their homes, Internet shutdowns, and at least 37 arrests. There have allegedly also been interrogations and arrests of activists based on social media posts, as well as work on migration bills that would harm the rights of exiles.

The systematic records of civil society organizations show that, since July 2021, 1,986 individuals have been arrested in connection with social protests in Cuba. Of these, 804 remain in detention, 982 have been tried and punished for taking part in the protests, and at least 99 have gone into exile after being definitively or temporarily released.

These figures are particularly worrying given the deplorable conditions of detention reportedly faced by individuals who are deprived of liberty in Cuba, with overcrowded facilities and poor access to drinking water, food, and adequate medical care. This situation disproportionately affects individuals who are deprived of liberty for political reasons, since these detainees are also subjected to threats, ill-treatment, solitary confinement, or confinement in punishment cells, or are held incommunicado, completely banned from contact with their families, or deprived of medical care for lengthy periods of time.

The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression stress that the right to demonstrate freely and the right to protest peacefully are both essential to the operations and the very existence of democratic systems, as well as enabling people to express their demands and dissent and to demand access to and enforcement of their political rights and their economic, social, cultural, and environmental rights.

The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression urge Cuba to respect the right to demonstrate freely and to refrain from using force or criminalization against demonstrators. The IACHR and its Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression also stress their urgent call for Cuba to release all individuals who are currently deprived of liberty for their involvement in or support of peaceful social protests all over the country, as well as journalists who are deprived of liberty for covering the protests.

The Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression is an office created by the IACHR to promote the defense of the right to freedom of thought and expression in the Americas, considering the fundamental role that right plays in the consolidation and development of all democratic systems.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 162/24

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