Cuba’s Dictatorship Also Celebrates Human Rights Day
HAVANA TIMES – A friend invited me to her house for lunch, “just like old times,” she said. So, I left early to buy a bottle of wine. The store where I thought I could find one was closed. I headed toward the downtown area, where I usually find them. On my way, I passed the Children’s Park and noticed a lively atmosphere. There was music, equipment for kids to play on, lots of people—everything was unusually vibrant for a Wednesday afternoon.
I walked through another park, San Jose. The same energy. Then I reached the main park, Calixto García, and it was even busier: Children’s parades, sports and recreational school activities in the middle of the park, games, loudspeakers, and microphones set up in the corridors near the library. It was all very engaging.
At the store, there was no wine of any kind. I decided to buy some beer instead. I stepped out, turned left, and crossed yet another park, Las Flores. The same lively atmosphere greeted me: tables for board games like checkers, chess, and parchisi, and banners—this time from the Henry García Sports Complex. Curious, I asked what all the excitement was about. It wasn’t carnival season, and New Year’s festivities were still weeks away.
“What’s all the fuss about?” I asked. A few people, their faces weary and voices dull, answered: “It’s International Human Rights Day.” I had to laugh. I didn’t reply because these people, Cubans like me, knew the truth just as well as everyone else living on the island.
Human rights in Cuba?
In a country where the highest authority in workplaces and schools isn’t the director, an expert, or a specialist but the head of the Communist Party cell—even if they know absolutely nothing about the work being done there—and where their word is final, whether right or wrong, because “you don’t argue with the Party.”
In a country where the prevailing ideological interests dictated from Havana always take precedence over the common good. A clear example is when you plan to go somewhere but realize the already limited public transport is even worse because the government has used what there is for their activities.
In a country where it’s well understood that human beings are worthless unless they serve the system unconditionally. Evidence of this lies in the brutal suppression of any dissent, whether physical, psychological, moral, or emotional. Take, for example, the hate rallies still carried out today or the people recently imprisoned for protesting on July 11, 2021, as they demanded their rights.
This is a country where, during the COVID pandemic, when health authorities urged everyone to stay home, the government passed out wooden sticks to members of the Communist Party and Communist Youth (UJC) in the parks, under the slogan: “The order has been given.” That order essentially granted them full license to beat anyone seen protesting for any reason.
There are countless other bitter experiences that people endure here simply because the regime insists on imposing a single voice, a single way of thinking and acting, in defiance of human nature’s inherent diversity.
Yet it is in this very country that the Communist Party organizes celebrations for International Human Rights Day.
Even if no one believes it. Even if I laugh at the irony, there are the games in the parks, the music, and the parades, supposedly showcasing the importance of fighting for and recognizing human rights.
Even though these rights aren’t upheld and a criminal regime like this mocks them every single day, human rights remain one of civilization’s greatest achievements. Many Cubans—whether in prison, at home, in temples, or elsewhere—are waiting for the day when these rights will be celebrated with true justice and honesty.