Former Swiss Ambassador to Cuba Speaks Out
HAVANA TIMES – Swiss diplomat Mauro Reina, currently ambassador to Denmark, denounced the situation of repression that Cubans experience on the island on October 1, 2024, in Madrid, Spain.
In his acceptance speech for the 2023 Award for Committed Diplomacy for Human Rights in Cuba — from the Center for Opening and Development in Latin America (Cadal) — Reina highlighted the work of the Swiss embassy on the island in favor of human rights. He also stated that the award was a tribute to “the tireless struggle of thousands of Cubans who for more than six decades have witnessed repression and injustice in their country.”
Mauro Reina — who was ambassador to Cuba during a critical period — highlighted the deterioration of the human rights situation, especially after the protests on July 11, 2021. “The deterioration of the human rights situation on the island, particularly after the events of July 11, 2021, was of unavoidable concern in the work of the Swiss embassy,” stated the diplomat.
Referring to the work of the Swiss Embassy in Cuba during his tenure, Reina mentioned the title of an article by jurist Julio Fernández Estrada in El Toque: “We mustn’t be accomplices of horror.”
He noted that his efforts and those of Lorenzo Suarez — diplomatic advisor to the Swiss Embassy in Cuba from 2019 to 2024 — aligned with Swiss policy on human rights and the promotion of democracy with a touch of their own initiative.
In July 2021, the Swiss embassy urged on social media that the island’s government respect human rights, including the rights to freedom of assembly and expression. Additionally, they called for the release of those who peacefully protested and urged the authorities to engage in an inclusive dialogue with the demonstrators.
Furthermore, during Reina’s time in Cuba, the Swiss Embassy expanded its contacts with the families of political prisoners, independent journalists, and human rights defenders. “It is very sad to see how many of them have had to leave the country, more or less voluntarily. This forced exile is one of the most vile forms of repression exercised by the Cuban authorities,” he explained.
They also collected and documented the abuses committed on the island and the number of prisoners, with the collaboration of non-governmental organizations like Prisoners Defenders.
After the protests of July 11, Switzerland led an initiative on the island with other countries — including Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom — to present a proposal to the Cuban regime. However, Reina lamented: “The response from the authorities was completely unsatisfactory.”
Another gesture from the Swiss mission was the issuance of an official note on February 23, 2022, regarding the forced exile of Cuban jurist Julio Antonio Fernández Estrada. Switzerland was the only country that publicly spoke out against the lawyer’s exile.
Despite the grim picture described by Reina in his acceptance speech, the diplomat holds hope for change in Cuba. “My hope is that the plunge into the abyss of the current social, political, and economic situation in Cuba, with its cohort of increasingly painful personal and family dramas, can stop before it is too late.”
The diplomat expressed his confidence in the Cuban people’s ability to build “a nation that is finally free, independent, and prosperous, where everyone can live a dignified existence.”
Reina called for maintaining the commitment to human rights in Cuba and reaffirmed the need for continuous and coordinated action from the international community in favor of the freedom and dignity of the Cuban people.
The Award for Committed Diplomacy for Human Rights in Cuba is awarded annually by Cadal to accredited diplomats on the island who have provided support and encouragement to Cuban democratic activists in their efforts to defend human rights and promote political pluralism.
Since its inception, 16 foreign diplomats from Germany, the Czech Republic, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Switzerland have been honored.
Mauro Reina’s selection as the 2023 award recipient reflects the impact of his work during his mission in Cuba from 2019 to 2023. The ceremony was held at the residence of the Swiss ambassador in Spain, Hans Peter Mock.
Regarding the award, Julio Antonio Fernandez Estrada told elTOQUE that it was well-deserved because Mauro Reina “demonstrated dignity, courage, professionalism, and intelligence without deviating from the traditional path of his mission and his government.”
“Mauro is an example of how to respectfully acknowledge the Cuban reality, the people, the culture, and the aspirations for change in Cuba, without any Eurocentric position or discrimination,” he added.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.