The United States condemned the oppression of the Cuban dictatorship and praised those who speak out against repression

The United States condemned the “wave of oppression” in Cuba and praised those who speak out against “the repression” of the dictatorship, it said in a tweet by the head of diplomacy for the Americas published on Tuesday.

“The #11J, the Cuban regime unleashed a wave of relentless oppression against its own people. Each and every voice that rises in the face of this repression makes a difference in the lives of those who are unjustly persecuted. Join us in getting up and asking for #PresosPorQué,” Brian Nichols tweeted.

The tweet accompanies a video under the hashtag #PresosPorQué, a State Department campaign for Cuban political prisoners launched months ago. In just over a minute he says that “hundreds of innocent Cubans are being sentenced to years in prison” for “the crime of protesting peacefully.”

“On July 11, 2021, tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets (...) because of the repression of freedom of expression, a failed health system and economic mismanagement. Instead of listening to the Cuban people, the Cuban regime detained more than 1,400 of them; in an attempt to silence them, they use false judgments to unjustly imprison hundreds of Cubans,” a sign that accompanies images read.

“A generation of Cubans will spend much of their lives behind bars just for the sake of speaking,” he adds.

“The United States stands with all Cubans who seek a better life and a voice in their government,” insists the video, which urges the international community to speak out and “act to help the Cuban people.”

Recently, the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights (OCDH) reported that the Cuban dictatorship “committed at least 406 repressive actions against the civilian population in March.”

The Madrid-based organization documented 121 “arbitrary” arrests and 285 “abuses” as “housing sites, trials, harassment, fines, police summons, threats, mandatory exile exile or labor expulsion.”

“We denounce that the regime is consolidating its offensive against the opposition and activists, who find themselves in the position of choosing between constant harassment, imprisonment or exile,” the OCDH said in a statement.

In addition, the NGO recalled that, during February, activists of the dissident organization Ladies in White were repeatedly arrested. Last Sunday, the leader of the opposition collective, Berta Soler, was arrested for the eleventh consecutive Sunday.

In July 2021, demonstrations broke out on the island, leaving one dead, dozens injured and 1,395 arrested, of whom 728 remain imprisoned, according to the latest count by Miami-based NGO Cubalex.

Some of those arrested in July were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison, according to the Justice 11J group, which monitors the trials.

(With information from AFP)

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