The organization Cubalex reported an increase in repression and violations of human rights in Cuba in its latest semiannual report, which documents hundreds of incidents recorded in various provinces of the country.
According to the report from Cubalex, during the analyzed period, 246 violation events were documented, which involved 540 repressive incidents categorized into 45 types of repression.
Among the most frequent incidents are violations against individuals deprived of liberty with 68 cases, police surveillance operations with 58, threats or coercion with 48, house arrests with 43, arbitrary detentions with 41, transfers to detention centers or penitentiary establishments with 40, internal mobility restrictions with 36, and incidents of violence or harassment with 34.
The organization warns that these figures represent an underreporting of actual violations due to the difficulties in gathering information on the island, exacerbated by the extensive blackouts that impact communication and the reporting of complaints.
The violations were recorded in all provinces of the country.
Havana recorded the highest number with 87 cases, followed by Santiago de Cuba with 26 and Camagüey with 17. At the municipal level, the highest reports were recorded in Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Plaza de la Revolución, and Diez de Octubre.
The monitoring identified 179 individuals as victims of at least one repressive event, among them 51 women and 128 men.
Among those who suffered the most violations are the opposition figure Ángel Moya Acosta, independent journalist Henry Constantín Ferreiro, the family member of political prisoner Wilber Aguilar Bravo, and the leader of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler Fernández.
The most repressed groups were human rights defenders, Afro-descendants, and incarcerated individuals.
However, Cubalex notes that the majority of the recorded victims do not belong to independent civil society organizations, which reflects the extensive scope of the repression.
Among the most affected organizations are the Ladies in White, the Patriotic Union of Cuba, the United Anti-Totalitarian Front, the Emilia Project, and the Union Party for a Free Cuba.
The report places part of the repressive context in the recent political events in the region, including the capture of the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro on January 3 during a U.S. military operation and the statements by President Donald Trump regarding the possibility of promoting political changes in Cuba.
Following these events, Cubalex documented acts of harassment related to popular protests and public expressions linked to the fall of Maduro and potential changes on the island.
On social media, there were reports of the transfer of military recruits from the eastern provinces to Havana, forced recruitment of young people who refused to join mandatory military service, and an increase in police presence and movements of weaponry.
The report also includes several cases of direct repression. The young man Ankeilys Guerra was violently arrested at his home and taken to the State Security headquarters known as Villa Marista after holding a Facebook live stream in which he called on U.S. President Donald Trump to end the Cuban dictatorship.
In Santiago de Cuba, the young woman Selena Lambert Ortega was summoned, interrogated, and detained by the police, forced to leave her residence, and pressured to delete a survey she had posted on her Facebook profile regarding political preferences between Miguel Díaz-Canel and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The report also details pressures against opposition members in prisons. Political prisoner Pedro Luis Fernández Peralta was placed in a punishment cell at the Cuba-Panamá prison after celebrating the capture of Nicolás Maduro and shouting slogans against the regime, while José Oscar Sánchez Madan was threatened in Combinado del Sur for discussing this event with other inmates.
Cubalex also reported the sexual assault against political prisoner Onaikel Infante Abreu in the Agüica prison, allegedly perpetrated by common inmates under orders from State Security.
The report also notes the death of political prisoner Lázaro García Ríos in the Combinado del Este, attributed to the lack of adequate medical care within the Cuban prison system.
The organization warns that these events are occurring amid a deep economic and social crisis on the island, characterized by daily power outages of over 20 hours, shortages of fuel and food, deterioration of public services, transportation issues, and a significant decline in the population's purchasing power.
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