Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by President Fidel Castro, who is Chief of State, Head of Government, First Secretary of the Communist Party, and commander in chief of the armed forces. President Castro exercises control over all aspects of Cuban life through the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy, and the state security apparatus. The Communist Party is the only legal political entity, and President Castro personally approves the membership of the Politburo, the select group that heads the party. The party controls all government positions, including judicial offices.

The Ministry of Interior is the principal organ of state security and totalitarian control. Officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), which are led by President Castro's brother Raul, have been assigned to the majority of key positions in the Ministry of Interior in recent years. In addition to the routine law enforcement functions of regulating migration, controlling the Border Guard and the regular police forces, the Interior Ministry's Department of State Security investigates and actively suppresses organized opposition and dissent. It maintains a pervasive system of vigilance through undercover agents, informers, the rapid response brigades, and the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR's). While the Government traditionally used the CDR's to mobilize citizens against dissenters, impose ideological conformity, and root out "counter- revolutionary" behavior, severe economic problems have reduced the willingness of citizens to participate in the CDR's and thereby lessened their effectiveness. Other mass organizations also inject government and Communist Party control into citizens' daily activities at home, work, and school.

The Government's human rights record remained poor. It continued systematically to violate fundamental civil and political rights of its citizens. Citizens do not have the right to change their government. There were several credible reports of death due to excessive use of force by the police. Members of the security forces and prison officials continued to beat and otherwise abuse detainees and prisoners. Prison conditions remained harsh. The authorities routinely continued to harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human rights advocates and members of independent professional associations, including journalists, economists, and lawyers, often with the goal of goading them into leaving the country. The Government used internal and external exile against such persons, and political prisoners were offered the choice of exile or continued imprisonment. The Government denied political dissidents and human rights advocates due process and subjected them to unfair trials. The judiciary is completely subordinate to the Government and to the Communist Party. The Government infringed upon citizens' right to privacy. The Government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association. It limited the distribution of foreign publications and news to selected party faithful. The Government kept tight restrictions on freedom of movement, and some religious activities were restricted. The Government was sharply and publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its human rights practices and sought to thwart foreign contacts with human rights activists. Discrimination against women and racial discrimination often occur. The Government severely restricted worker rights, including the right to form independent unions.

In April the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) again passed a resolution endorsing the report of the UNHRC Special Rapporteur, which detailed Cuba's human rights violations. For the fifth consecutive year, the Government refused the Special Rapporteur permission to visit Cuba.

a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

There were no reports of politically motivated killings by government officials. However, there were several credible reports of death due to the excessive use of force by the national police; government sanctions against the perpetrators were typically light.

On May 21, Guantanamo policeman Marcos Moran Peregrin reportedly shot 27-year-old Gaspar Torres Vegne. Three policemen apparently stopped Torres while he was riding home on his bicycle. The ensuing police search turned violent; Torres was struck and fell to the ground, where Moran shot him. Torres died in the hospital on June 3. The Guantanamo provincial court held a closed-door trial and sentenced Moran to 3 years in prison, one-half the sentence the prosecutors requested. Subsequent to the trial, a human rights group protested the harassment by the police against Torres's nephew, Penis Fornier Torres, as an apparent reprisal for Fournier having pressed changes against Moran.

During the year, at least seven explosive devices detonated in hotels and a restaurant in Havana. One of the explosions killed an Italian tourist on September 4. On September 10, the Government announced the arrest of El Salvador citizen Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon and charged him with being the "material author" of the killings. At year's end, Cruz Leon remained in detention and had not been tried.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution prohibits abusive treatment of detainees and prisoners, but there were instances in which members of the security forces and prison officials beat and otherwise abused human rights advocates, detainees, and prisoners. For example, human rights groups in Pinar del Rio province reported that on March 21, police officer Luis Montano and another policeman beat Luis Reyes Ledesma and then forced him into a crypt at the Arroyo Mantua cemetery for 3 hours because Reyes refused to answer the policemen's questions.

Individuals linked to state security forces subjected human rights advocates to physical aggression and threats. On May 1, state security officers punched, kicked, and dragged human rights activist Ana Maria Agramonte from her home after she declined to restrict her movements during the May Day Communist Party celebrations. Agramonte was subsequently charged with disrespect and sentenced to 18 months in prison on May 16, without the benefit of defense counsel.

In June state security police in Cienfuegos detained human rights activists Miguel Angel Hernandez and Benito Fojaco. During the interrogations, they were put in a small storage cabinet and exposed to noxious fumes for over an hour before being released. In October state security police detained Fojaco and five other human rights activists in Cienfuegos. At year's end, they remained in detention and under investigation on charges of distributing enemy propaganda.

In July state security officers conducted a search of the home of human rights activist Jesus Yanez Pelletier. The officers threatened Yanez Pelletier and his partner, warning that her children would be taken away should they continue their activities. An officer pointed to one of her children's drawings that depicted a human rights theme and said that it showed that they were not raising the children properly, that is, "within the revolution." The officer threatened to bring a government child specialist to "evaluate" the children and the adults' "fitness" to continue raising them.

Similarly, in August state security officers repeatedly threatened human rights activist Leonel Morejon Almagro (see Section l.d.) and his wife Zoiris Aguilar Callejas with the loss of their child. The officers warned that both parents might be sent to jail and the child might be taken from them to be raised by the State, unless they ceased their activities in opposition to the State.

The Government continued to subject those who disagree with it to "acts of repudiation." At state security instigation, members of state-controlled mass organizations, workmates, or neighbors are obliged to stage public protests against those who dissent from the Government's policies, shouting obscenities and often causing damage to the homes and property of those targeted; physical attacks on the victims are not uncommon. Police and state security agents are often present but take no action to prevent or end the attacks. On May 31, four men attacked independent journalist Joaquin Torres at his home in Havana; the men then led an act of repudiation against him as police stood by without intervening. In June human rights activists in Pinar del Rio were subjected to acts of repudiation at their work places by fellow workers coerced into participating by government union foremen; police or local authorities ordered other activists to go to government facilities where they were also subjected to these acts.

Prison conditions continued to be harsh. The Government claims that prisoners have rights, such as family visitation, adequate nutrition, pay for work, the right to request parole, and the right to petition the prison director. However, police and prison officials often denied these rights and used beatings, neglect, isolation, denial of medical attention, and other forms of abuse against detainees and prisoners, including those convicted of political crimes or who persisted in expressing their views. There are separate prison facilities for women and for minors.

The IACHR reported that prison authorities subjected prisoners who protested their conditions or treatment to reprisals such as beatings, transfer to punishment cells, transfer to prisons far from their families, suspension of family visits, or denial of medical treatment. A member of the France-Liberte delegation that visited Cuba in May 1995 interviewed political prisoners and stated that lengthy and often incommunicado pretrial detention constitutes a form of psychological torture. State security officials also subjected dissidents to threats of physical violence, as well as to systematic psychological intimidation, sleep deprivation, imprisonment in cells with common criminals, aggressive homosexuals, or state security agents posing as prisoners, in an attempt to coerce them to sign incriminating documents or to become state security collaborators. Prison authorities often placed political prisoners in cells with common and sometimes violent criminals and required that they comply with the rules for common criminals.

In December Amnesty International (AI) called on the Government to stop abusive treatment of Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina, and Francisco Herodes Diaz Echemendia, held in Combinado de Guantanamo prison. In September over 30 guards reportedly beat and badly injured the three prisoners while they were handcuffed. In October they were being held naked, in punishment cells without bedding, and being denied medical treatment. AI asked the Government to stop holding the prisoners in conditions it termed "cruel, inhuman, and degrading," to undertake an impartial investigation, and to punish those responsible for the abuses.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The Law of Penal Procedures requires police to file formal charges and either release a detainee or bring the case before a prosecutor within 96 hours of arrest. It also requires the authorities to provide suspects with access to a lawyer within 7 days of arrest. However, the Constitution states that all legally recognized civil liberties can be denied to anyone who actively opposes the "decision of the Cuban people to build socialism." The authorities routinely invoke this sweeping authority to deny due process to those detained on purported state security grounds.

The authorities routinely engage in arbitrary arrest and detention of human rights advocates, subjecting them to interrogations, threats, and degrading treatment and conditions for hours or days at a time.

On June 25, the Government arrested medical doctor and human rights activist Dessy Mendoza at his home in Santiago de Cuba. Dr. Mendoza was detained because of his efforts in February to alert the public, through the international media, about an outbreak of hemorrhagic dengue fever in Santiago de Cuba, which resulted in the death of about 30 persons. In June the Government finally acknowledged the outbreak and began a belated fumigation effort in Santiago de Cuba, Havana, and elsewhere. In December the Government tried, convicted, and sentenced Dr. Mendoza to 8 years in prison for disseminating false information. The unhealthful conditions of his detention required his hospitalization.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The law and trial practices do not meet international standards for fair public trials. Almost all cases are tried in less than a day. There are no jury trials. While most trials are public, trials are closed when state security is allegedly involved. Prosecutors may introduce testimony from a CDR member as to the revolutionary background of a defendant, which may contribute to either a longer or shorter sentence. The law recognizes the right of appeal in municipal courts but limits it in provincial courts to cases such as those involving maximum prison terms or the death penalty. Appeals in death penalty cases are automatic. The death penalty must ultimately be affirmed by the Council of State.

f. Arbitrary Interference With Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

The authorities regularly search people and their homes, without probable cause, to intimidate and harass them. State security agents searched the homes of hundreds of political dissidents, human rights advocates, and independent journalists, seizing typewriters, personal and organizational documents, books, and foreign newspapers.

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The Government does not allow criticism of the revolution or its leaders. Laws against antigovernment propaganda, graffiti, and insults against officials carry penalties of from 3 months to 1 year in prison.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The law punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including for private religious services, even in a private home, by up to 3 months in prison and a fine. The authorities selectively enforce this prohibition and often use it as a legal pretext to harass and imprison human rights advocates.

The Government denies citizens the freedom of association. The Penal Code specifically outlaws "illegal or unrecognized groups." The Ministry of Justice, in consultation with the Interior Ministry, decides whether to give organizations legal recognition. The authorities have never approved the existence or a public meeting of a human rights group.

Citizens do not have the legal right to change their government or to advocate change. The Constitution proscribes any political organization other than the Communist Party. While the Constitution provides for direct election of provincial, municipal, and National Assembly members, the candidates must be approved in advance by mass organizations controlled by the regime. In practice, a small group of leaders, under the direction of President Fidel Castro, select the members of the highest policymaking bodies of the Communist Party--the Politburo and the Central Committee.

The Government does not recognize any domestic human rights groups, or permit them to function legally. The Government subjects domestic human rights advocates to intense intimidation, harassment, and repression. In violation of its own statutes, the Government refuses to consider applications for legal recognition submitted by human rights monitoring groups.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

Neither the Constitution nor the Labor Code prohibit forced labor. The Government maintains correctional centers where it sends people for crimes such as dangerousness. They are forced to work on farms or building sites, usually with no pay and inadequate food. The authorities often imprison internees who do not cooperate. The Government employs special groups of workers, known as "microbrigades," on loan from other jobs, on special building projects. Microbrigades have become more important in the Government's efforts to complete tourist and other priority projects. Workers who refuse to volunteer for these jobs often risk discrimination or job loss. However, microbrigade workers reportedly receive priority consideration for apartments. The military channels some conscripts to the Youth Labor Army, where they perform their 2-year military service working on farms that supply both the armed forces and the civilian population. The Government prohibits forced and bonded labor by children and enforces this prohibition effectively.