Cuba’s poorest youth could face decades in jail for protesting

young protesters Cubans from Havana’s poorest neighborhoods face decades behind bars in upcoming trials, relatives and human rights groups said, amid sanctions for some who took part in last year’s unprecedented anti-government protests.

The demonstrations on July 11 and 12 saw thousands of people take to the streets in towns and cities across the island, many denouncing the communist government and the shortage of food, medicine and electricity at a time when coronavirus cases they shot up

Human rights organizations say that more than 1,000 people were arrested following the protests. The trials of those accused of serious crimes began in mid-December and some have already led to prison sentences of more than 20 years, according to the groups and interviews with relatives of the accused.

Cuba’s government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the trials.

Island authorities, however, previously said those arrested were guilty of crimes including public disorder, resisting arrest, theft and vandalism. Cuba blames the United States for financing the July riots and fueling them.

In the poor neighborhood of La Güinera in Havana – where the July 12 march was followed by vandalism, a clash with police and the only reported death during the unrest – Reuters spoke to more than a dozen residents who said they neighborhood youths who joined the demonstrations now face harsh prison sentences.

They denied any larger plot against the government and said the decision to march was spontaneous.

Emilio Roman, 50, said his two sons, Emiyoslan, 18, and Yosney, 25, as well as his 23-year-old daughter, Mackyani, had joined the July protests and were now facing 15, 20 and 25-year-olds. behind bars, respectively, if convicted.

All three have been in jail since mid-July, Roman said.

“Everyone came out…as if this were a party, a troupe, right? But no one thought he was going to take this so seriously, because that’s not what it’s for. They have exceeded… asking for the number of years they are asking for, as if they were terrorists, murderers,” said Roman, trying to contain his tears.

Another neighbor, Alcides Firdo, 47, said his son, Jaime Alcides Firdo, 22, was initially detained for public disorder after allegedly throwing stones during the July 12 march, but that the charges were later escalated to sedition.

The state is now seeking to jail her son for 20 years in a trial that is scheduled to begin Jan. 17, Firdo said.

“You killed a person: 8 years, 10 years, 15 years. So a person for throwing a stone at a person, you are going to sentence him to 30 years, 25 years, 20 years. That is an injustice what is being committed, “said Firdo.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm details of the two cases with authorities, as judicial officials do not routinely speak to the media in Cuba. It was also not possible to contact the accused.

Laritza Diversent, director of the US group Cubalex, declared that the Cuban authorities had increased the sentences to set an example and quell future protests.

“All the criminal proceedings brought against the protesters of July 11 have a clear intention to have an exemplary effect on the rest of society. In other words, what they are looking for is that in Cuba, in any part of the island, people do not go out to demonstrate again,” he said.

Various rights groups, including Cubalex, say the sentences for dozens of people already sentenced, including for sedition, have ranged from 4 to 30 years behind bars.

Reuters saw several sentencing documents from trials in December in which sentences ranged from 2 to 8 years in prison for protesters convicted of offenses including disobedience, public disorder and assault. None of the convictions reviewed by Reuters were for sedition, which carries the harshest penalties.

Not everyone who participated in last year’s demonstrations has faced harsh sanctions.

The communist regime recently dropped charges against several artists who protested outside the Cuban Radio and Television Institute on July 11, according to a Facebook post by historian Leonardo Fernández Otaño. However, he stated that race and poverty had weighed in the process.

“I am grateful,” Fernández Otaño wrote on social media after the charges were dismissed. “But also sad… because the young people of La Güinera have not had the same luck and are being sentenced to unjust and politicized sentences,” he said.

The Cuban government has said that it respects the rights of all those detained after the protests and that the harshest penalties would be reserved for repeat offenders and the most serious crimes.