MADRID, Spain.- The independent platform Justicia 11J, the NGO Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) and the Cubalex legal consultancy warned about the possible release of Cuban political prisoners by the regime.
Through a statement issued this Monday the organizations explained their reasons for this consideration; The most important being the recent release of 222 political prisoners from Nicaragua and their immediate deportation to the United States.
They also point to the conversations between the Cuban government and bodies such as the Catholic Church, the European Union (EU) and the United States government, which have expressed positions in favor of the unconditional release of political prisoners.
The text reminds how background the release and exile, in 2010, of the majority of the political prisoners of the Black Spring (2003), as part of the negotiation process in the modification of the Common Position of the European Union regarding Cuba.
As well as the release of 53 political prisoners and the subsequent exile of some of them as the only way to leave behind the pressures of State Security, as part of the negotiation process for the reestablishment of relations between Cuba and the United States.
Faced with this possibility, Cubalex, the OCDH and Justicia 11J recalled that “deprivation of liberty as a form of punishment for exercising freedom of expression, assembly and association, as well as forced expatriation are denounceable practices.” And it exposes that the Cuban State uses them repeatedly to obtain advantages in political, diplomatic and economic negotiation processes, and as a method to exercise social control and demobilize civil society.
“We consider, before a possible negotiation between governments for the release of Cuban political prisoners, that it is a process of humanitarian value. No citizen should be deprived of their freedom for exercising their right to express themselves and demonstrate. His release, therefore, should be immediate,” the statement read.
The signatory organizations also highlight that the forced departure from the country as a condition for the release or release of political prisoners is a violation of the right to free movement, as stated in the first paragraph of Article 12 of the Covenant on civil rights and politicians.
In this sense, they point out: “No person, much less in the inhuman conditions of deprivation of liberty in Cuban prisons, can be forced to leave the country as a condition to achieve their release or final release. Whoever negotiates with the Cuban State should request guarantees that the person deprived of their liberty will make the decision to leave the country without pressure from State Security bodies. The pressure in these cases is a form of forced expatriation”.
The document concludes by stating that in Cuba the spiral of violence, resistance and punishment will not cease until there is a Democratic State of Law, with full respect for human rights.
