MIAMI, United States. — The digital portal Yucabyte and the Inventory Project reported a total of 272 violations of digital rights in Cuba during 2022, the year in which the island’s regime reinforced the harassment and persecution of activists and human rights defenders.
The main victims of these violations were precisely independent civil society actors, which manifested themselves in selective cuts of mobile data (149), disabling of mobile lines (38), cyberbullying (37), fines by Decree Law 370 (21), connection speed reduction (16) and cell phone confiscations (10).
“The most vulnerable groups in terms of digital rights in Cuba are mainly activists, journalists and their families, as well as those around political prisoners,” he said. Yucabytea Cuban communication project on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and its impact on society.
In the case of Internet outages, an action most often used by the political police to limit the reach and influence of activists, they usually occur both on designated dates (such as December 10, Human Rights Day) or during days of demonstrations and public protests.
Digital rights violations are also visible through cyberbullying and phone seizures. The report of Yucabyte points out that journalists are the ones who suffer the most from cyberbullying; while the relatives of political prisoners, activists and journalists are more vulnerable to the confiscation of cell phones.
To implement Internet censorship, the regime maintained during 2022 other springs applied in previous years, such as Decree Law 370, through which 21 people were fined.
Among the journalists and activists who reported the most violations are Luz Escobar, from the independent daily 14ymedio; and Marthadela Tamayo and Osvaldo Navarro, members of the Committee for Racial Integration (CIR). The latter have addressed their complaints several times to the Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA), without receiving clear answers from the state monopoly.
ETECSA is precisely the technological arm of the violation of digital rights in Cuba. As the sole provider of telephone and Internet services, the company works openly with State Security to neutralize activists and opponents, something that the company itself recognizes, and this has been included in the contracts to the clients.
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