Cuba and human rights

Factual Questions
1

Please could someone point me in the direction of some decent sources regarding Cuba’s human rights record?

I was hauled up by a friend last night for drinking Bacardi Breezer because apparently it is an ‘ideologically impure’ drink (in fact her main point was that it’s a girl’s drink and I should have been drinking lager instead, but that’s another issue :)). That got us into the whole “Cuba is a socialist paradise being crushed by the US” vs. “Cuba is a totalitarian state no better than the rest” debate but despite a happy half-hour hurling insults at each other we didn’t really get anywhere.

I have had a look through the Straightdope boards archive and a scout around Google, but apparently (according to my friend) much of the online information available is produced by anti-Castro groups and is not exactly unbiased. From my observations, so too is the pro-Cuba information (tends to be written by lefties?).

For example, I had a look at a report by Amnesty International, but even they begin by saying that

which immediately makes it look like they have a political axe to grind as well. Also, many of the sources they quote are their own reports so again I’m not convinced they will provide a properly balanced view.

Are there any reputable, scholarly studies that I could read to aquaint myself with the situation properly, but which present the cases for and against without excessive ideological posturing ? I’m sure it’s not as black and white as it seems from lots of the sources I’ve read so far…

Thanks,
– Quirm

2

No, I’m reading that AI statement as, “Many of these human rights violations can be blamed on the economic hardships imposed by the U.S. trade embargo”.

Overall, I think AI is a balanced source for human rights info. But there are other groups out there.

Human Rights Watch, main page. Search for “cuba” for more stuff.
http://www.hrw.org/

Their 1999 report on Cuba.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/

Their 2000 report.
http://www.hrw.org/wr2k1/americas/cuba.html

The U.S. State Department 2001 report on Cuba and human rights.
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2001/wha/8333.htm

The UN Human Rights Commission. Search for “cuba”.
http://www.unhchr.ch/

The “just plain” UN Human Rights. Ditto.
http://www.un.org/rights/index.html

3

This provides a compilation from a host of sources about democides in Cuba. The general consensus appears to show that somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000 people have been murdered by Castro’s regime.

4

Thank you both, I shall start reading :slight_smile: