Governments of 21 countries repudiate “mass arrests” in Cuba

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The governments of 21 countries, including the United States and five Latin American countries, condemned the “massive arrests and detentions” of demonstrators in Cuba and demanded respect for human rights on the island.

The declaration was signed by the foreign ministers of Austria, Brazil, Colombia, South Korea, Croatia, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Ecuador, United States, Estonia, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, and Ukraine.

The communiqué recalls that last July 11, “tens of thousands of Cuban citizens participated in demonstrations throughout the country in protest against the deterioration of living conditions and demand for change,” and denounces that in response to these demonstrations, “the Government responded with violence.”

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The ministers of the aforementioned countries also stressed that the demonstrators “exercised the fundamental freedoms of expression and assembly enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Democratic Convention, and the European Convention on Human Rights.”

They therefore urged the Cuban government to respect “the rights and freedoms of the Cuban people, guaranteed by law, without fear of arrest or detention.”

“We urge the Cuban government to release those detained for exercising their rights to peaceful protest,” the statement added. “We call for freedom of the press and the full restoration of Internet access.”

The largest protests in more than six decades came with the country mired in a severe economic and health crisis, with the pandemic spiraling out of control and severe shortages of food, medicine, and other basic goods, as well as lengthy power outages, pushing Cubans into the streets to criticize their government.

Cuban authorities insist on blaming the U.S. for both the demonstrations and the extreme shortages in the country.