MADRID, Spain.- The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the new Cuban Penal Code for “criminalizing the freedoms of the press and expression, as well as the freedoms of association and assembly.”
The Penal Code, approved this May 15 by the National Assembly and which will enter into force in three months, “has elements similar to military equipment, which the regime can use to attack and undermine the information and independent opinions of dissidents. Citizens will not even be able to freely use social networks or summon their friends to protest,” denounced the IAPA.
In a release Published this Wednesday, the organization, dedicated to the defense and promotion of press freedom, highlighted that the new legislation maintains the death penalty by firing squad in 24 crimes and formalizes life sentences; as well as stipulates up to three years in prison for anyone who insults high-ranking public officials and imposes 10 years in prison on anyone who “supports, encourages, finances, provides, receives or has in their possession funds, material or financial resources” from non-governmental organizations or international institutions used to “fund activities against the State and its constitutional order”.
With the new Penal Code, “Cuban authorities travel to the past, against the grain of the developed world, to dark times, when officials distanced themselves from the people through abuses and privileges,” said IAPA President Jorge Canahuati.
While the president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Carlos Jornet, pointed out that “the laws that criminalize offensive expressions directed at public officials, generally known as ‘insult laws’, violate freedom of expression and the right to information”.
Jornet also referred to Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela as the few countries that, by criminalizing foreign economic assistance for human rights groups and independent media, violate the precepts of the American Convention on Human Rights.
Reactions to the new Penal Code
Among the many organizations and activists who have condemned the new Penal Code is the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJfor its acronym in English).
“We are alarmed by the approval of the new Cuban Penal Code, which further criminalizes the work of independent journalists on the island, since it prohibits financing from foreign sources and thus seriously jeopardizes the existence and sustainability of the work of these communicators” said Ana Cristina Núñez, a researcher with CPJ’s Latin America and Caribbean Program.
For her part, the art curator Anamely Ramos lament what The United States has opted for a new thaw after the approval of the new Penal Code in Cuba “to better repress” and while “more than 1,000 political prisoners” remain.
New criminal code in Cuba to better repress. More than 1000 political prisoners. Minors sentenced to more than 15 years. A planted father demanding freedom. In the midst of this, the United States decides to bet again on the melting. Shame!#SOSCuba @POTUS @EMendrala pic.twitter.com/TcUOTJS0Yw
– Anamely Ramos González (@AnamelyRamos) May 16, 2022
In this regard, the activist Magdiel Jorge Castro stated: “The Cuban regime approved one of the most severe Penal Codes against dissidence and civil society… Today the US Government announces a package of measures that changes the policy of that country towards Cuba”.
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