Havana Cuba. — November 25 was designated by the United Nations as the International Day for the Fight against Violence against Women, with the purpose of raising awareness, denouncing and demanding public policies that contribute to eradicating it. The date has its origin in the murder of the sisters Patria, Minerva and María Teresa Mirabalthree Dominican activists who joined the group “June 14” against the dictator Leónidas Trujillo, who ruled the Caribbean country between 1930 and 1961.
The three sisters tirelessly fought for women’s rights and against the continuous violations of political rights. Trujillo were threatened and finally killed by the Trujillo regime. Their bodies were found, mangled, inside a car at the bottom of a ravine.
The murder of “Las Mariposas”, as they were known, generated popular outrage, led to massive protests and turned the three sisters into a symbol against gender and political violence.
Today, when all women around the world are fighting to win or defend their rights, the Cuban dictatorship decides to support the Ebrahim Raisi regime by voting against an international and independent mission to investigate human rights violations during the recent protests in Iran. .
The convulsive political situation that the Islamic nation is going through had its origin in the unexplained death of the 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died while in the custody of the moral police in Tehran. The reason for her arrest was not wearing the hijab “correctly”, and her alleged murder sparked a wave of social unrest in which thousands of women removed their headscarves in protest.
Cuba’s position in United NationsAlthough unfortunate, it is not a surprise. The political rights of women are also being violated on the island and cases of femicide continue to increase without the Cuban Parliament deigning to approve a comprehensive law against gender violence.
Like Mahsa Amini, saving the obligatory cultural differences, all the women who today are imprisoned for demanding citizenship rights and openly opposing the communist regime have been violated. Although the Cuban repressors avoid beating or murdering dissident women, they do threaten them with increased sentences or the loss of parental responsibility for their children.
The repression of protests in Iran has caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of citizens arrested. Even so, Cuba has bowed to the Iranian government’s discourse as it had already done to the Kremlin’s on the occasion of the invasion of Ukraine. The Díaz-Canel regime depends on both countries to guarantee access to fuel and credit, however limited they may be. Where appropriate, respect for women’s rights and human rights in general, function as a bargaining chip in the increasingly dirty terrain of foreign policy.
The pro-government media have replicated the lies of the Iranian press, which describes the protesters as terrorists and rioters at the service of foreign powers. The same speech that continues to be used on the Island to refer to those who came out to protest on July 11, 2021.
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