Cuba

In May 1963 and in April 1967, the Commission approved reports on the situation regarding human rights in Cuba, which were transmitted to the governments of the member states through their representatives on the Council of the Organization^[1]. Both of these reports contain the background of the Commission's activities in relation to the situation regarding human rights in Cuba and an account of the denunciations and testimony received on violations of human rights in that country.

From the publication of these reports to the end of 1970, the Commission has continued to receive communications or complaints in which acts in violation of human rights in Cuba are denounced. The great majority of these denunciations refer to the conditions under which political prisoners are confined, as well as the cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment to which they are subjected.

On a number of occasions the Commissions has addressed the Government of Cuba, requesting information on the new acts denounced or authorization to visit Cuban territory. In view of the silence of the Cuban authorities and the provisions of Article 51, paragraph 1 of the Regulations, the Commission, on the basis of the acts denounced and other evidence in its possession, reached the following conclusions at its twenty-fifth Session:

1. That in Cuba many persons, including women and children, have been imprisoned for political reasons or deprived of life without trial or after a trial in which the accused did not enjoy the guarantees of due process.
2. That the situation of political prisoners in Cuba, sentenced to confinement after arbitrary arrest and trial in which the guarantees of due process were not observed, continues to be incompatible with the principles set forth in the Charter of the Organization of American States, the American Convention on Human Rights, the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
3. That the Government of Cuba should be severely castigated for the repeated violations of human rights with which it is chargeable, and for the maintenance of conditions already denounced by this Commission as gravely injurious to those rights.

^[1]. Report on the Situation of Political Prisoners and their Relatives in Cuba (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.7, Doc.4) and Report on the Situation Regarding Human Rights in Cuba (OEA/Ser.L/V/II.17, Doc.4 Rev.).

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