MADRID, Spain.- From November 1, 2021 to October 31, 2022, a total of 1,199 people have suffered political imprisonment in Cuba, according to the most recent report of the NGO Prisoners Defenders (PD).
At the close of October 31, 2022, the Cuban regime had 1,027 political prisoners and prisoners of conscience imprisoned, with judicial sentences or orders to limit their freedom by prosecutors without any judicial supervision. PD classifies these prisoners as Convicts of Conscience (743), Convicted of Conscience (255) and Other Political Prisoners (29).
Of them, 34 are minors (29 boys and 5 girls); 26 are serving sentence and eight are being criminally prosecuted.
“We must bear in mind that this high figure, however, does not include many other children who have already been removed from the list for having served their sentences in full. A good part of the minors are in prisons for minors, totally penitentiary centers that are euphemistically called “Comprehensive Training Schools,” the document denounces.
Prisoners Defenders also pointed out that among those incarcerated there are 121 women (including trans gender). Regarding this, she highlighted that all trans women in prison of conscience have been and are imprisoned among men, “suffering indescribable situations for their sexual condition.”
The report for the month of October also denounced that the new Criminal Code continues with pre-criminal measures.
Thus, article 434.1. of the new Penal Code indicates that “the competent authority of the Ministry of the Interior can officially warn those who repeatedly carry out actions that make them inclined to commit crimes or break the social and constitutional order”. This warning immediately becomes a criminal conviction thanks to the new articles introduced for it, such as article 189.3., which provides up to 1 year in prison for not heeding said warnings, set by art. 434.1., of being “prone to offending or breaking the social and constitutional order.”
On the other hand, he pointed out that peaceful protests continue throughout the country, which continue to be repressed by the regime. In turn, this repression, together with different factors such as the economic crisis, is leading to the emigration of thousands of Cubans.
Prisoners Defenders also analyzes how the Government of Cuba is drawing fundamentally from Russia to maintain its internal and external financing capacity. And he denounced his supposed solidarity, from the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, despite the sensitivity of the situation.
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