Though Still Repressive, Cuba Slowly Improving Human Rights Record

Though Still Repressive, Cuba Slowly Improving Human Rights Record
Street in Havana, Cuba, May 3, 2014 (photo by Flickr user ledgard licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

Last week, officials from the United States and Cuba held their first formal talks on human rights since both sides announced they were working to restore diplomatic ties last December. In an email interview, Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, discussed the human rights situation in Cuba.

WPR: What are the major human rights violations committed by the Cuban government, and are the policies driven more by the central government or by local actors?

Ted Piccone: The Cuban government has a mixed record when it comes to the full panoply of internationally recognized human rights. On political and civil rights, Cuba violates fundamental norms of freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, due process and the right to participate in political affairs. It uses onerous laws against “dangerousness,” for example, to pre-emptively detain citizens suspected of organized political speech, and severely limits the free flow of information through state-controlled media. Elections are not free or fair, as the Communist Party has a virtual monopoly on political competition at all levels of government. The judiciary is controlled by the executive, and judges serve for limited terms.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review