The Ministry of the Interior (MININT), in collaboration with the Attorney General's Office and the Comptroller General of the Republic, advocated for the use of "anonymous" messages to report illegal activities in Cuba.
According to Colonel Felipe Oliver García Sariego, head of the Specialized Body for Combating Economic Crimes of the Technical Investigations Directorate (DTI), MININT "gives priority to everything related to citizens' complaints," while also clarifying that this repressive agency has its own methods for detecting crime.
Regarding the anonymous reports, the official assured that there is a specific way to handle them. "They are analyzed, evaluated, and we look into any existing background in that sector. We seek points of agreement that confirm the truthfulness of the facts and consequently investigate them," he added.
Data presented by the official spokesperson Humberto López on the program Hacemos Cuba, broadcasted by Canal Caribe, indicate that between January and May of this year, 58% of the reports made by the public to MININT have aligned with the results obtained from the investigations conducted.
The figure is even higher when it comes to complaints made to the Comptroller's Office, reaching a 70% similarity between what the population reports and the outcome; while in the case of the Prosecutor's Office, it stands at 56%.
"Many of these complaints that reach the Prosecutor's Office are initially made at the agencies, and due to the superficiality of their management, which sometimes underestimates the information, they do not investigate it," explained Luis Pérez Morales, head of the Fiscal Verification Processes Department.
For his part, the Deputy Comptroller General of the Republic, Darlam Dalmau Palomino, stated that the complaints, including anonymous ones, raised by the public serve as "a source of information regarding irregularities that may be occurring in entities, and from these timely reports from the population, we can conduct investigations."
Despite the comments made by these three officials, the reality is perceived differently by Cubans, who often cannot distinguish between an "anonymous complaint" and an "anonymous tip-off," commonly known as a snitching incident.
The government itself uses each of these methods to its advantage and for its own convenience.
Recently, in the television space used to indoctrinate and intimidate the population on the island, Colonel Rogelio Luis Lazo from the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) and head of the specialized investigation and processes unit of the General Directorate of the Revolutionary National Police (PNR), explained the mechanism by which a citizen can be subject to anonymous denunciations, police surveillance, and even criminal prosecution if they are not engaged in any work or academic activities, while continuing to exhibit behavior that disregards the warnings from the social prevention group handling their case.
"What we need is information about the person engaged in these behaviors, about the individuals who disturb the peace," Colonel Lazo told the host.
As a practice, the Cuban regime has always promoted "snitching" as a "civic" behavior aligned with the principles of the so-called "revolution." Denunciation is part of the totalitarian DNA embedded in a society dominated by over 60 years of a one-party dictatorship.
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