Defending repressed Cubans

Ana Navarro

These are edited excerpts from a speech by Ana Navarro, head of the Nicaraguan delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva this week.

I n past decades, we the Nicaraguan people have suffered the experience of living under a totalitarian regime that forced hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans into exile, where we met other peoples suffering similar circumstances.

I have had the sad privilege of meeting victims of Fidel Castro's totalitarian regime. I have met political prisoners, seen the scars on their bodies and souls. I have met relatives of those executed in Cuba. I have seen how empty rafts are found floating in the ocean. Thousands of Cubans prefer to risk their lives rather than live without freedom.

We Nicaraguans have experienced the miracle of recovering our country and freedom. That is why we feel a great moral obligation to speak on behalf of those who still suffer totalitarian regimes. We will lend our voice to speak for those who cannot do so for themselves.

There is only one country in the Western Hemisphere whose government has not been democratically elected and that systematically violates human rights. That is why Nicaragua focuses its attention on the human-rights violations perpetrated by Castro's regime.

The resolution on Cuba approved last year expressed profound concern about the repression of members of the political opposition and about the detention of dissidents and all others detained or imprisoned for peacefully expressing their political, religious and social views.

During 2001, repression has increased in Cuba. For the last 43 years, the basic human rights of the Cuban people have been violated. Cubans do not have political rights because Castro and the Communist Party, the only legal party, have absolute power. Those who peacefully have tried to promote changes have ended up in prisons.

For the Cuban people, there is no justice. The fundamental democratic precept of judicial independence is not valid. Judges are chosen by the Communist Party based on their political integration and commitment to the regime. Closed-door and summary trials are frequently held. The common citizen has no protection against the regime's violence. People under arrest are held incommunicado indefinitely. The police and the armed forces, too, are politicized; they beat, arrest and even murder those who protest against the lack of rights.

In Cuba, the ''Rapid Response Brigades,'' armed with sticks and iron bars and dressed as civilians, attack human-rights advocates to give the impression to the international media that ''the common people'' spontaneously clash with opposition groups.

The political prisoners suffer the most. They are confined in cells with highly dangerous common prisoners who attack them, with the guards' tacit approval. Political prisoners also are denied medical attention as a form of punishment.

Cubans are afraid to tell their suffering. Few dare speak out; the price is high. Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet, a dissident, has been beaten and arrested many times. He is still in prison.

Freedom of the press is suppressed totally. All mass media belong to the government, and there is no possibility of expressing a dissenting opinion in the media.

Cuban authorities brag about their education and health systems. But they fail to mention that students must participate in pro-government activities to be able to attend universities or technical schools. Or that students who don't sympathize with the government are expelled. Or that workers who disagree with regime policies are fired from their jobs.

The repression in Cuba is such that distributing the Declaration of Human Rights is classified a ''counterrevolutionary activity,'' which is enough to earn a Cuban a beating from the police or paramilitary brigades.

The human-rights violations perpetrated by the Cuban government are inexcusable. We, the countries that believe in freedom and live in democracy, should not abandon the people of Cuba.

The government of Nicaragua cannot forget Cuba. We must speak for Cuba and its people.