Interview with Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, head of the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation, conducted by Radio Nederland.
R.N.: Several days have passed since the announcement of a possible improvement in the prison condition of political prisoners in Cuba. Are you still optimistic that this will happen?
SANCHEZ: I
think, yes, that the government will make concessions – not many – with regard to the prisoners of opinion. We're talking about Cuban prisoners of conscience, formally adopted by Amnesty International years ago.
What's happening is that the expectations were raised a bit too early. It would seem that, in the next several days, prisoners will be moved to their home provinces, in other words, moved from one prison to another, but that's almost irrelevant.
More important than that is the fact that the government seems willing to release a group of prisoners of conscience who are very sick.
R.N.: Do you consider this movement of pieces by Raúl Castro a part of his strategy to quieten the rising criticism from the so-called international community? I refer specifically to Europe and the United States.
R.N.: Several days have passed since the announcement of a possible improvement in the prison condition of political prisoners in Cuba. Are you still optimistic that this will happen?
SANCHEZ: I
What's happening is that the expectations were raised a bit too early. It would seem that, in the next several days, prisoners will be moved to their home provinces, in other words, moved from one prison to another, but that's almost irrelevant.
More important than that is the fact that the government seems willing to release a group of prisoners of conscience who are very sick.
R.N.: Do you consider this movement of pieces by Raúl Castro a part of his strategy to quieten the rising criticism from the so-called international community? I refer specifically to Europe and the United States.
SANCHEZ: Actually, this is not the first time this government releases prisoners for political motives. Back in 1978 and '79, they freed 3,600 political prisoners at one blow. After that, the Cuban jails filled once again with people condemned for their opinions or political preferences.
In other words, while the government of Cuba maintains, as it has until now, the criminalization of the exercise of basic rights – such as civil, political, economic and cultural – the danger that the prisons will be filled again remains in place.
Because it's not that the rulers in Cuba are particularly wicked; it's that the totalitarian neo-Stalinist model, such as the one that exists in Cuba, presupposes a large penal system, a huge Gulag, which is what we have in Cuba. When this government came to power, there were 14 or 15 prisons; now, there are 200 prisons and prison camps, which is unacceptable.
This, then, does not allow us to talk in terms of Raúl Castro's government's (or regime's) experimenting with a certain opening. I don't see that opening anywhere, at least on the matter of fundamental civil, political and economic rights.
On the contrary, we see that the regime's repressive machine, which is one of its bases of support, is ready to continue to repress, even better than before, day after day. Because of my mission – and that of my colleagues on the Human Rights Commission where I work – we are outside the law; we run the risk of being imprisoned, as has happened in the past.
Our opinion is of skepticism in view of what we might expect from a government that keeps the country in the situation of poverty and despair in which it is. Not to mention the stage in which we find ourselves, which, lamentably, is the worst in Latin America when it comes to human rights.
In other words, while the government of Cuba maintains, as it has until now, the criminalization of the exercise of basic rights – such as civil, political, economic and cultural – the danger that the prisons will be filled again remains in place.
Because it's not that the rulers in Cuba are particularly wicked; it's that the totalitarian neo-Stalinist model, such as the one that exists in Cuba, presupposes a large penal system, a huge Gulag, which is what we have in Cuba. When this government came to power, there were 14 or 15 prisons; now, there are 200 prisons and prison camps, which is unacceptable.
This, then, does not allow us to talk in terms of Raúl Castro's government's (or regime's) experimenting with a certain opening. I don't see that opening anywhere, at least on the matter of fundamental civil, political and economic rights.
On the contrary, we see that the regime's repressive machine, which is one of its bases of support, is ready to continue to repress, even better than before, day after day. Because of my mission – and that of my colleagues on the Human Rights Commission where I work – we are outside the law; we run the risk of being imprisoned, as has happened in the past.
Our opinion is of skepticism in view of what we might expect from a government that keeps the country in the situation of poverty and despair in which it is. Not to mention the stage in which we find ourselves, which, lamentably, is the worst in Latin America when it comes to human rights.
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