CubaCurious 7.11.24 - 7.18.24

Even the Repressors Are Leaving Cuba . . .A Dissident Journalist's Hunger for Freedom . . .Cuba Defends Russia at UN

Here’s my underground news update for 7.11.24 - 7.18.24. Key sources are daily podcasts by independent online news sites 14yMedio's "Cafecito Informativo" and Dario de Cuba's "Cuba a Dario."

Número Uno

Repressed demonstrator in Villa Clara, Cuba, 7.11.21(14ymedio archive)

Is Another Cuban Uprising Likely?

Cubans are confronting harsher conditions than existed at the time of the unprecedented protests of July 11, 12, and 13, 2021. Economic hardships, constant power outages, and repression have all worsened since 11J, as the uprising is known in Cuba. A mass exodus is still underway. More than 600 Cubans who participated peacefully on11J alone, and are documented political prisoners, remain behind bars. They and their families have seen their lives upended, but some of the repressors, too, have experienced profound changes in their lives.

Yuri, who had served for years as an informant for State Security, was sent to beat protestors during the uprising. He would later brag about the beatings. He is a 23-year-old gym rat and said that day was: “like a walk in the park.” He boasted about the skulls he cracked, the stomachs he punched, and how he loaded protestors into “cage” trucks that took hundreds of people to prisons. He has now deleted his Facebook page where he’d crowed about his role during the protests. He’s celebrating another kind of achievement: being granted US parolee status so he can get into the country, specifically Jacksonville, Florida, where he plans to reside. He says he wouldn’t return to Cuba even if he “were tied and hauled there.”

Why it matters: Could the transformation of many loyal repressors into disenchanted citizens mean that another 11J is near? Discontent over long hours in darkness due to electricity shortages, uncontrolled inflation, and the senseless official excuses for the hardships is rising, but the regime’s methods to protect itself from another uprising have intensified. Would-be protestors are deterred by the long sentences routinely handed to peaceful demonstrators and the massive migratory exodus is reducing the number of potential protestors. But not everyone can leave. How is this new Cuban reality affecting the regime’s ability to find the revolutionary informants, agents, and repressors it needs to prevent another massive protest?

Número Dos

After multiple arbitrary abusive detentions by police, dissident journalist Carlos Michael Morales was arrested in Caibarién/Facebook.

Imprisoned Dissident Ends Hunger Strike

Independent journalist and political prisoner Carlos Michael Morales ended his latest month-long hunger strike on 7/26/24. He announced his decision from the convict ward at the Hospital Provincial de Villa Clara.

Morales was imprisoned for almost three years for participating in the 11J protests. After his release last March, he was detained again on May 4^.th at the Unidad de Instrucción Penal in Caibarien. He has gone on two hunger strikes since his last arrest. Morales has described being physically and mentally tortured while in custody. He said during his first hunger strike, when he experienced severe chest pain, medical assistance was denied, and instead he was beaten by the prison chief.

Why it matters: The regime says it has no political prisoners and denies access to international human rights groups that advocate for people like Morales. State-controlled media doesn’t report on these issues. Testimonies like Morales’, and other released prisoners, or their families, are crucial sources for international groups who follow the fate of these prisoners, NGOs like Justicia11 and Prisoners Defenders, two of the handful of groups that maintain pressure on the regime to release all political prisoners (estimated at over 1,000).

This week Justicia 11 issued a new report, “Death While in Custody in Cuba,” that documents 56 deaths that occurred while people were in custody, from January 2022 to January 2024. Most were prisoners (34), but there were also some who were being detained by police (9), recruits under mandatory military service (11), and feminicides (2).

Número Tres

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, near the city of Enerhodar, Ukraine.  (AP)

Cuba Opposes UN Resolution Demanding Russia Return Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant to Ukraine

The resolution, adopted this week in the General Assembly with 99 votes for, 9 against, and 60 abstentions, condemns Russia’s failure to comply with previous UN and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolutions aimed at ensuring the safety of nuclear power plants. It also demands that Russia grant full access to the (IAEA), remove military and other unauthorized staff from the facility, and cease attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy supply. Ukraine depends heavily on nuclear power, which supplies approximately 50% of the country’s energy demands.

The Cuban delegate noted she voted against the resolution because it “. . . does not facilitate cooperation” and it weakens the key principles of nuclear safety. She also cited the lack of inclusivity in the process and said her delegation would have proposed certain amendments while listening carefully to other positions.

Why it Matters: Cuba frequently criticizes foreign interference, from invasion threats to condemnations for its human rights violations, often defiantly claiming its sovereignty. Yet it has been one of the most vocal defenders of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even voting to block president Zelensky from addressing the General Assembly in 2022. Then as it did this week, it voted in lockstep with Russian allies like North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Syria, and Belarus. Cubans have been fighting and dying alongside Russian soldiers during the conflict, some have accused Russian recruiters of lying about what they would be required to do. But Cuba needs Russian political, economic and energy support and has a long alliance with the country that stretches back to the beginning of the 1959 revolution. Defending Russia’s “special military operation,” even though it decries criticism of its own domestic policies, is crucial if Cuba wants Russia to continue to deliver much needed resources to the Cuban government.