The NGO’s most recent report highlights that prisons were “one of the main spaces for violations” of human rights.
MIAMI, United States. – The monthly report of the Cubalex Legal Information Center corresponding to September of this year portrays a month of acute violation of rights in Cuba: the deterioration of living conditions triggered “at least 41 protests”, while the state response was “more repression”, with arrests, exemplary trials and police operations that impacted basic freedoms, in a context of growing insecurity.
“The right to food continues to be affected by food shortages and high prices,” with a pound of pork at 1,200 CUP and a State that “is not even capable of guaranteeing milk (…) to minors.”
Cubalex documented “185 events that constitute human rights violations” in 14 provinces and 45 municipalities, with the highest incidence in Havana (66), Santiago de Cuba (16) and Pinar del Río (11). The 185 events involved 349 incidents of harassment, with peaks in violations against people deprived of liberty (78), police operations (29), threats or coercion (24), violence or harassment (23) and denial of medical care (18).
The organization also identified “at least 140 people (26 women and 114 men)” as victims in the month.
Three contexts marked the repression: first, arrests and harassment against people who protested or expressed discontent, with alarming cases in Gibara and Maniabón, where at least seven detainees were known – including minors and a pregnant woman – and reports that raise that number to several dozen.
Second, trials used as social deterrence: the Supreme People’s Court reported “sentences of up to nine years of deprivation of liberty against 15 people” for the March 2024 protest in Bayamo. Third, operations around religious dates (September 8 and 24) that prevented activists, relatives of prisoners and journalists from leaving their homes or attending churches, and which “constitute violations of religious freedom.”
The report highlights that prisons were “one of the main spaces for violations.” Among the most serious events, the “death by suicide” of the inmate Leudis Ramos Mejías in the Boniato prison, after lack of timely psychological care, and the death of Alfredo Ulecia Planche at the Guantánamo Complex, “after three days” subjected to the torture known as “mechanical fixation.” Beatings, punitive transfers, arbitrary prohibitions on visits, extension of sentences and denial of legal benefits persist.
In parallel, the epidemiological situation “it got considerably worse”. Although the authorities recognized the seriousness, their evaluations “do not fully reflect the reality” of outbreaks of dengue, chikungunya, oropouche and other conditions without precise diagnosis. Citizen complaints point to state neglect: uncollected garbage, deteriorated health infrastructure, lack of medicine and poor nutrition, in addition to prolonged blackouts and lack of drinking water; The rains generated floods and landslides.
The report also includes facts from the external front. Miguel Díaz-Canel “met in China with Xi Jinping”, signed “11 new agreements” and renegotiated the debt. The Minister of the FAR, Álvaro López Miera, held a meeting with his counterpart in Beijing. Ukrainian intelligence “stated that there are around 20,000 Cubans” fighting alongside Russia, and it came to light that the person who murdered Nicaraguan dissident Roberto Samcam in Costa Rica received training “in Russia and Cuba.”
To the United States, the report attributes the rejection of visas to MINSAP executives for “national security” and the deportation to the Island of Judge Melody González Pedraza.
At the regional level, the regime maintained its support for Nicolás Maduro with official statements and collection of signatures—including minor students—; In addition, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were excluded by the Dominican Republic from the Tenth Summit of the Americas.
Methodologically, Cubalex specifies that the report was prepared “with 718 records collected between September 1 and 30, obtained mainly from publications on Facebook (459), websites (197), direct information offered to Cubalex (27) and publications on X (25). The NGO warns that “the data in this report should not be considered total or definitive” due to limitations of network monitoring and complaints that remain invisible.
Finally, the document emphasizes the basic social situation that fuels citizen unrest: record rise in foreign currency, runaway prices and a State that contrasts its inability to guarantee basic products with “gourmet food festivals for tourists” and “luxury receptions in New York”, while the sale of food in dollars from abroad flourishes.
