Prisoners Defenders: The Use of Torture in Cuba is Systematic and Widespread

In CUBA there have been more than 5,000 arbitrary detentions following the historic peaceful and pro-democratic protests of July 11, 2021 and more than 1,167 political prisoners.

The regime in Cuba has turned the island into the nation with the highest amount of political prisoners in the Americas. As a prison regime, it not only surpasses other nations in the hemisphere, but also others such as Russia and Iran.

In this context, the NGO Prisoners Defenders has published a report titled: "CRUEL, INHUMANE OR DEGRADING TREATMENT AND TORTURES OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN CUBA.” Documenting repression in Cuba and the arbitrariness against the defenseless population of the island has been the mission of this NGO since its foundation with numerous reports on forced expatriations, exploitation and slave labor of Cuban doctors and professionals and regular reports on political prisoners.

The report is based on testimonies of 101 Cuban political prisoners who denounce having been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in a systematic and widespread manner. It will be presented to the Committee Against Torture by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 73rd session of the United Nations Committee Against Torture to be held from April 19 to May 13, 2022. The report shows that 100% of political prisoners in Cuba suffer some form of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.

Among the most frequent forms of torture are deprivation of medical care, solitary confinement, forced labor, subjection to uncomfortable and harmful positions, hate speech and degrading treatment based on the prisoner's race and sexual orientation.

The victim who accumulates the highest number of types of torture is precisely a 17-year-old minor, Jonathan Torres Farrat.

The victim with the highest intensity of torture is José Daniel Ferrer García, 51 years old, who has been receiving constant sonic attacks for 260 days, to which is now added an unknown chemical poisoning, and who is locked up all this time in isolation, and in a punishment cell technologically prepared for these tortures. His physical and psychomotor degradation is gradual due to this constant torture aimed at slowly killing him.

Types of Tortures:

77% of them have been subjected to 5 or more different types of torture. For example, 65.91% of the defendants have been subjected to threats to themselves, their integrity, their safety and that of their loved ones. On July 11, 2021, thousands of demonstrators were arrested and imprisoned, and in some cases several members of the same family were imprisoned, a fact that has allowed the repressive regime to innovate its practice of intentional subjection to anguish by torturing the prisoner in the presence of his family.

The use of punishment cells plagued by insects, humidity, with cement beds and no ventilation (no windows and only one door) is widespread. All this, added to the high temperatures of these cubicles during the summer and intense cold in winter, are unbearable spaces where the most varied diseases of the skin and respiratory system appear.

The use of temperature as a torture mechanism is practiced against both detainees and prisoners. During detention, it is common to be held for hours in hermetically sealed police vehicles, under the sun and with a high degree of humidity, a method of torture known as "patrol-oven" which causes feelings of asphyxia, fainting, vomiting and dehydration.

More than half of the defendants consulted claim to have been subjected to direct physical aggression. Among the complaints, there are all kinds of assaults. It is common to handcuff the detainee or prisoner beforehand, by means of torture immobilization with handcuffs on the back, which is called the "Shakira".

The violence practiced on them often results in broken ribs and loss of consciousness. The use of pepper spray has been documented in these cases, both during arrests and in the cells.

In many of the testimonies collected, humiliations and verbal abuse based on the sexual orientation and race of the political prisoner are also reported.

“He is gay and [the guards] did not call him by his name, they called him a faggot" ... "He was verbally abused by the guards, who called him a faggot stone thrower" ... "All the time you are humiliated and humiliated by the guards.”

"All the time you are humiliated and treated like an animal. All the time you fear for your life or your freedom. They offend you and slander you as a criminal, they make you feel helpless and that your family will receive reprisals, and they undress you for no reason and exhibit you publicly."

"The guards shout at him stone thrower, dog, that he has no right to eat, that he will be imprisoned for 30 years, they tell him that he has no right to carry the Cuban flag, nor sing the Cuban national anthem."

"[They told them] that if they didn't look too black to be in the streets protesting and that besides blacks were not wanted anywhere in the world and Cuba would be no exception"

"In the first days of detention they referred to him by his sexual orientation with the adjective faggot and not by his name."

Testimonies collected on the usual humiliations and verbal abuse.