CIVICUS speaks with Johanna Cilano, Amnesty International's researcher for the Caribbean, about protests in Cuba and the challenges of activism in closed civic space.
Amnesty International is an international civil society organisation fighting for human rights in over 150 countries around the world.
Are there still protests in Cuba after the repression used against mass mobilisations in 2021?
Amnesty International's ongoing monitoring of the situation in Cuba shows that social protest has increased in recent years. Protest events have occurred on a sustained basis almost everywhere. For example, in 2022 there were significant protests in the city of Caimanera in May and in Maisí in October. The most recent ones took place in March this year in the cities of Bayamo and Santiago de Cuba.
The protests are still taking place in a context of systematic repression. Restrictions on the exercise of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly intensified with the entry into force in December 2022 of a new Penal Code that poses great risks to independent journalists, activists and anyone critical of the authorities. Tactics of repression include criminalisation, arbitrary arrests and harassment of activists, journalists and human rights defenders, blanket and selective internet shutdowns and the application of administrative sanctions stemming from provisions such as Decree 370 on cybersecurity.
Who are the protesters, how do they organise and what are their demands?
Social protest is linked to the context of Cuba's persistent economic crisis, which stems from structural causes and is not only attributable to US government sanctions. A set of monetary unification measures, a new official exchange rate and fixed prices, salaries and pensions, along with other economic measures, have had a severe impact on access to food and basic services, which are precarious and increasingly deteriorating. Triggers for protests include power cuts and food and medicine shortages.
It is important to note the spontaneous, self-organised, geographically dispersed and autonomous nature of these protests, with prior local coordination practically non-existent. Women, and specifically mothers, played a particularly prominent role in the March protests. Although the trigger was the food crisis and the crisis in public services such as electricity, there were also demands for structural changes in the country's direction. The slogan ‘Freedom, Homeland and Life’ reappeared and complaints were voiced about government inefficiency.
How have the authorities responded?
The Cuban state has tried to reimpose a culture of fear so people don’t dare exercise their rights to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly. It has passed even stricter criminal laws and used them to criminalise many people who have participated in protests, arbitrarily detaining them and prosecuting them for crimes such as ‘public disorder’.
The state has resorted to familiar repressive patterns, such as blanket internet shutdowns at protest sites to prevent the flow of communication and the contagion effect that social media had on the protests that began on 11 July 2021. It also deploys police and military forces in areas where demonstrations are taking place and in areas of special interest such as the capital. It uses harassment as a preventive and deterrent measure. This includes summonses for interrogation, visits by police, state security agents or local authorities, and arbitrary arrests of activists, human rights defenders and members of opposition groups, including many who did not participate in the protests.
As of April 2024, Justice 11J, a civil society organisation, has documented the cases of more than 1,900 people arrested in connection with protests since 11 July 2021, 800 of whom are still incarcerated.
In the last four years, as social protest has increased, the authorities have subjected artists, intellectuals and other critical voices to alarming levels of surveillance. Journalists and activists often find the police outside their homes and know that they can be arrested at any time, which has a strong impact on their privacy, freedom of movement and ability to work. In some cases, they are under de facto house arrest.
The novelty of the protests this March was that the state response included the provision of some food and the restoration of electricity in protest areas. Rather than offering structural solutions, these measures appeared to seek to placate and defuse grievances, at least temporarily. At the same time, the authorities used the usual media strategy of delegitimising and minimising the protest and blaming the blockade, US policy and Cuban exiles for instigating demonstrations.
How do civil society activists continue their work in a context of closed civic space?
In Cuba, almost every possibility of exercising the rights to freedoms of association, expression and peaceful assembly is unduly restricted or unjustly sanctioned. Article 120.1 of the Penal Code means anyone who ‘endangers the constitutional order and the normal functioning of the Cuban state and government’ can be punished with between four and 10 years in prison. In addition, Article 143 prohibits the receipt and use of funds when their purpose is deemed to ‘defray activities against the Cuban state and its constitutional order’. Anyone found guilty of possessing funds deemed to be for such purposes can be punished with four to 10 years behind bars.
Human rights defenders, activists, artists and journalists carry out their work in an environment of harassment, intimidation and criminalisation. They have been waiting for years for legal and institutional changes to improve this situation, which have been repeatedly announced and inevitably postponed.
In this scenario, the window of opportunity opened by communications technologies and specifically social media has been key. Social media has marked a before and after in protests. The courage and commitment of activists and their creativity to generate new spaces have also the key to keeping the defence of human rights alive in Cuba.
How can global and Latin American civil society more effectively support Cuban activism?
At Amnesty International we firmly believe in the power of global solidarity. For decades, alongside Cuban activists and human rights organisations and other sister organisations, we have documented and denounced the repression of dissent, violations of freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly and the unjust imprisonment of activists, artists, journalists and human rights defenders. Our work has been to mobilise global solidarity in the face of the injustices committed by the authorities, which continue to this day. People can support our work and Cuban activism by following us on social media, sharing our content and denunciations, donating, writing to their governments and participating in events.
The commitment of international civil society to the promotion and defence of human rights in Cuba is vital to make visible and recognise the courage of those who, through their action and commitment, have defied undue restrictions on their most fundamental freedoms and are paying the high price of losing their freedom.
Civic space in Cuba is rated ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.
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