Press release

Geneva, 23 July 2021 - PRESS RELEASE (Unofficial translation)

• Cuba, as a State party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, complies with the postulates established in these legal instruments.
• People in Cuba cannot be subjected to forced disappearance, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, as established in Article 51 of the Constitution.
• In Cuba there are no missing persons. There were none for the processes referring to recent disorders, or for any other process that has been carried out against any other person for any reason.
• There are also no secret establishments to which those who are detained for any reason are taken, and their families and relatives know the detention center where they are located.
• With every person who is taken to a police unit, the first step taken is to enter him/her in a register book, manually, and it is included further in an automated register, interlaced between all police units. These records guarantee to know the location of any detained person, anywhere in the country.
• In recent cases related to 11 July violent disturbances, all the families know where their relatives are detained, they have attended the places, and delivered belongings with personal hygiene or specific medicines. The information on the whereabouts of people is established and auditable by the control bodies of the Attorney General's Office (FGR), as the body in charge of ensuring legality.
• Among the detainees, one group has already been released because it has been confirmed that they have not had criminal participation, others are under a non-detentive precautionary measure, and there are other defendants in the preparatory phase of criminal record, with a precautionary measure of provisional imprisonment.
• All persons detained after the events of July 11 are able to appoint a lawyer, or are assigned one ex officio, in accordance with their right to receive legal assistance, in accordance with Article 95 of the Constitution. That some detainees do not have a lawyer yet is up to their own choice.
• The elaboration of alleged lists with detained or supposedly disappeared persons since what happened on July 11, loses credibility due to the lack of data on these. It has been found that some of those registered on said lists have never been detained or even interviewed by the authorities, or simply did not participate in any way in those events.
• Since July 12, due to events associated with the disturbances, 63 people have addressed the FGR, whose complaints or claims have not been related to disappearances, but rather to the interest of knowing details about the arrests of their acquaintances. In all cases, those who approached the FGR were informed of the place where their relatives were detained.
• The FGR has reported, as part of its transparency policy, that it is investigating 5 complaints about general non-conformities of the judicial process derived from the events that occurred on July 11 and 12. In none of these cases, are the claims originated by the lack of knowledge of the place of detention, since the family members know these data, or by abusive treatment suffered by the detainees.
• The mechanism established by the FGR to receive the concerns of the population is receptive and effective. During 2020, for example, the FGR served more than 129,000 people throughout the country. During the first semester of 2021, the FGR's attention to the population exceeds 49,000 people.
• Like enforced disappearances, torture is prohibited in Cuba. The history of the Revolution demonstrates this, and it is not and will not be the practice of the forces of order to use force against the indicted persons.
• The legislation in force in Cuba, including that which governs actions in places of detention, contains universally accepted fundamental guarantees to protect all persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• In the event that there is any denunciation, complaint, or claim that citizens formulate in the legal order; including those deprived of liberty, the FGR has the duty to address it, investigate and respond to them. In cases where it notices violations of the law, those responsible for these, depending on the seriousness of the acts committed, may be criminally charged.
• In Cuba there is and will not be space for impunity, nor laws or regulations that promote it. There are no disappeared or tortured, and if any irregularity occurs or has occurred in the actions of the forces of order, it will be investigated, the results will be informed and, if violations are found, measures will be taken to allow the restitution of legality.

Permanent Mission of Cuba