My name is Jose A. Gutierrez-Solana, a former Cuban political prisoner, from January 1961 to January 1971. I was content when I came across the recent announcement made on December 23rd, 2011 by Raul Castro that the Cuban Government pardoned roughly two thousand nine hundred prisoners. However, the media spreads the recent law pardon, as a step towards a more open society, without an analysis of the details behind their penitentiary system and the governing laws.
For starters, according to official reports; only seven of those liberated had been condemned for political reasons. They are: Alexis Ramirez Reyes (completed 12 years in prison), Modesto Alexei Martinez Torres (completed 8 years in prison), Carlos Martinez Ballester, Walfrido Rodriguez Piloto, Yordani Martinez Carvajal, Yran Gonzalez Torna ( completed 21 years in prison) y Augusto Guerra Marquez. Furthermore, the number of prisoners who obtained the law pardon represents only 4% of the total imprisoned population, which fluctuates from 70,000 to 80,000 people, according to some estimates. A very large portion of the Cuban population has gone to prison in the last 53 years under Castro's rule. The mere fact that the influx of new prisoners exceeds the number of ones who received this law pardon demonstrates the decaying state of this once prosperous island.
In any democratic society the exemption of prisoners could be considered a good will gesture from the government throughout the holiday season, but in Cuba this is not the case. It is a political game used to mask the realities of a penitentiary system that is replete of prisoners, lacking the most basic hygienic conditions, and suffering from systematic hunger, as well as physical and psychological torture. This "gracious" law pardoned does not fix the totalitarian law which condemns any commercial activity, such as selling or buying food, construction materials, or any writing that could go against the ideology of the system, such as a pamphlet containing the Human Right's Declaration.
The law pardon that the Cuban regime has propitiated is nothing new, nor original. The system has always dealt this card as an escape valve to control the negative resentment inside the country and as a cosmetic cover-up in front of the world. These prisoners will be out of jail, just to come back to a society that is depleted of democratic rights. Therefore, I believe we need to look at the larger picture of the legal system that controls the society and the complexity of the penitentiary system. Because as long as the individual liberties and civil rights continue to be violated in Cuba there is nothing to brag about, nothing to celebrate.
Margarita Gutierrez
How much is she/he worth ? What benefit do we get if we let them go ? if we trade them ?
Anything else is just a travesty...those that defend these 50+ years of totalitarianism, would yell until blue in the face if it were a right wing dictatorship..Fascism by the left is still fascism..
Because of US aggression Cuba has been virtually under a state of emergency for 50 years. Can't really blame them for being paranoid when the Great Satan lives only 90 miles away.
In it criticized the lack of openness of the Cuban regime: "Cuba's refusal to allow domestic or international human rights monitors to conduct regular visits to its prisons casts a veil of secrecy over its extensive prison system, reportedly one of the largest per capita in Latin America and the Caribbean. Cuba refuses to disseminate even the most basic prison statistics, such as prison population figures. Cuba's Penitentiary Establishment Directorate, however, reportedly maintains a centralized, computerized system that would readily make available detailed information about all detainees in Cuba's prisons."
According to an article in the Miami Herald (LINK PROVIDED) in September 2003 Cuba's jails may hold over 100,000 inmates. The same article puts the last visit of any international organization to Cuba's prisons in 1989 (International Red Cross). The UN estimated the number of prisoners in Cuba between 100,000 and 200,000 in its 1995 UNHCR Special Rapporteur's (LINK PROVIDED) report. A figure of 100,000 or more makes Cuba the country with the most prisoners per capita in the world.
International organizations have reported that inadequate food and medical assistance, sexual abuse, limits and restrictions on visits, beatings,... in Cuba's prisons. Amnesty International (LINK PROVIDED) has often started letter letter writing operations to support suffering prisoners of conscience.
http://www.cubaverdad.net/cuba_prison_system.htm
PRISONS
Number of prisons and correctional facilities thought to be in Cuba: more than 500.
Last year the UN described food and hygiene levels as "sub-standard" and medical care as "either unavailable or inappropriate".
According the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, thousands of young Cubans are in prison on the charge of "peligrosidad predelectiva" (that is, they are considered likely to commit a crime).
Cuba is one of the few countries in the world to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons.
Castro himself served two years of a 15-year sentence handed down after his failed attempt to topple President Batista. After a period of exile in Mexico he achieved his goal in 1959.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-castropedia-fidels-cuba-in-facts-and-figures-432478.html
5. On 10 August 1994, pursuant to his mandate, the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the United Nations Office at Geneva requesting the collaboration of the Cuban Government in accomplishing his mandate and an opportunity to visit the country. To date, there has been no answer to this letter.
9. As far as the Special Rapporteur has been able to ascertain, the authorities do not provide figures on the number of persons serving sentences for politically related crimes. A partial list prepared by non-governmental groups in the country in November 1994 and sent to the Special Rapporteur contains 1,195 names. With a few exceptions, this list does not include the names of persons sentenced for antisocial behaviour or because they attempted to leave the country illegally. The authorities have also continued the practice of releasing some of these persons before they have served their full time, on the condition that they leave the country. These are persons on whose behalf foreign Governments or institutions interceded as mediators with the Cuban Government. Some of them rejected the offer and are still in prison.
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/commission/country51/52.htm