Tag: arbitrary detention

A pastor arrested over YouTube videos, a child detained for days, a country in crisis. What is happening in Cuba?

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

On 15 March Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora was arrested in front his family in a park in Peñas Altas, Matanzas, in northern Cuba, moments after he had finished uploading a Bible teaching video to his YouTube channel.

It is not clear what offence the political police officers who arrested him believed he had committed. Pastor Pérez told CSW that he records and uploads videos in the park, which is one of only two locations in the area with public Wi-Fi, every week. His wife, Gelayne Rodríguez Ávila, joins him and often prays for those who gather to listen and request prayer.

Video footage taken by Mrs Rodríguez depicts her husband being forced into a patrol car by two officers as he protests: ‘You’re mistreating me for no reason. I haven’t done anything wrong.’ The cries of his young children can be heard in the background.

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Un pastor fue arrestado por videos en YouTube, un niño detenido durante días, un país en crisis. ¿Qué está pasando en Cuba?

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba ES, español, Latin America ES

El 15 de marzo, el Pastor Rolando Pérez Lora fue arrestado frente a su familia en un parque de Peñas Altas, Matanzas, en el norte de Cuba, momentos después de haber terminado de subir un video de enseñanza bíblica a su canal de YouTube.

No está claro para la policía política que arrestó al pastor, qué delito había cometido. El pastor Pérez declaró a CSW que todas las semanas graba y sube videos en ese parque, porque es uno de los dos únicos lugares públicos con zona wifi en la ciudad. Normalmente su esposa, Gelayne Rodríguez Ávila, lo acompaña y a menudo ora por quienes se reúnen para escuchar y después suelen pedir oración.

Un video grabado por la Sra. Rodríguez muestra a su esposo siendo forzado por dos agentes a entrar en una patrulla, mientras él protesta: «Me están maltratando sin motivo. No he hecho nada malo», mientras se oyen los llantos de sus hijos pequeños de fondo.

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For authorities in Cuba’s prisons, the right to freedom of religion or belief is a tool to manipulate 

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba, Latin America

It has been understood for decades that conditions in Cuba’s maximum-security prisons are terrible. They have only grown worse over the past few years as the entire country has experienced an economic and infrastructure crisis, with critical shortages of food and medicine across the country alongside the repeat failure of the island’s entire electrical grid, sometimes for days at a time.  

Since 1989, the Cuban government has refused access to the International Committee of the Red Cross to monitor or assess prison conditions. Prisoners are held in unhygienic, sometimes overcrowded conditions, in cells infested with mosquitoes and bedbugs. The food served to prisoners is unpalatable, riddled with insects and worms, and low in nutrition. Despite rampant disease, including tuberculosis, dengue, and dysentery outbreaks, throughout the prison facilities, medical attention is inadequate, if provided at all.  

During the hot and humid summer months, temperatures inside the cells can rise to dangerous levels. Multiple former political prisoners have told CSW that the only water they had extremely limited access to, both for drinking and personal hygiene, was cloudy or dirty.  

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Para las autoridades de las cárceles cubanas, el derecho a la libertad de religión o creencias es solo una herramienta de manipulación

Posted on by cswpress in Cuba ES, español, Latin America ES

Durante décadas es bien sabido que las condiciones en las cárceles de máxima seguridad de Cuba son terribles. Estas condiciones no han hecho más que empeorar en los últimos años, , pues el país entero está hundido en una crisis económica y de infraestructura, agravada por la escasez de alimentos y medicamentos en toda la isla, aunado a los repetidos fallos de la red eléctrica de la  nación, a veces durante días. 
 
Desde 1989, el gobierno cubano ha negado el acceso al Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja para supervisar o evaluar las condiciones carcelarias. Los presos se encuentran recluidos en condiciones insalubres, a veces de hacinamiento, en celdas infestadas de mosquitos y chinches. La comida que se les sirve es insípida, plagada de insectos y gusanos, y de bajo valor nutritivo. A pesar de la proliferación de enfermedades, como la tuberculosis, el dengue y los brotes de disentería, en las instalaciones penitenciarias, la atención médica es insuficiente, o incluso nula.

Durante los calurosos y húmedos meses de verano, las temperaturas dentro de las celdas pueden alcanzar niveles peligrosos. Numerosos ex presos políticos han declarado a CSW que el agua a la que tenían acceso,  tanto para beber como para su higiene personal, estaba extremadamente limitada, además de turbia o sucia.  

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Bridging the gap: The importance of finding common ground between religious groups and secular human rights organisations 

Posted on by cswpress in Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua

Oppressive governments depend, in part, on two things: unity among those who support them and divisions within the communities that do not. One of the greatest challenges in addressing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in countries where that right is regularly violated is bridging divisions between different groups within the religious sector, as well as the gap that often exists between the religious sector and secular human rights and other independent civil society organisations. 

Religious groups often occupy a unique position within larger independent civil society. They are networked and organised, to different extents, with members who regularly attend and participate in their activities. They often possess a dedicated physical space, where they are able to hold their activities with minimal outside interference. Some religious groups will run outward focused activities, providing social services. In many cases, religious leaders not only hold a significant decree of influence within their respective community – they may also be perceived as moral adjudicators more widely even by people who do not share their religious beliefs.  

Oppressive regimes are sensitive to the danger posed to them by a socially engaged religious sector and outspoken religious leaders who are willing to work hand in hand with larger civil society in defending civil and political rights. Division, therefore, is deliberately encouraged and stoked, often by intelligence and security agencies, with the goal of neutralising or coopting organised independent civil society, including the religious sector.  

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