U.S. State Department Report on Human Rights Practices

Cuba is a totalitarian state controlled by Fidel Castro, who is Chief of
State with the titles of President, Head of Government, First Secretary of
the Communist Party, and commander in chief of the armed forces. Castro
exercises control over all aspects of life through the Communist Party and
its affiliated mass organizations, the government bureaucracy headed by the
Council of State, and the state security apparatus. The Communist Party is
the only legal political entity, and Castro personally chooses the
membership of the Politburo, the select group that heads the party. There
are no contested elections for the 601-member National Assembly of People’s
Power (ANPP), which meets twice a year for a few days to rubber stamp
decisions and policies previously decided by the governing Council of State.
The Communist Party controls all government positions, including judicial
offices. The judiciary is completely subordinate to the Government and to
the Communist Party.

The Ministry of Interior is the principal entity of state security and
totalitarian control. Officers of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which are
led by Fidel Castro’s brother General Raul Castro, were assigned to the
majority of key positions in the Ministry of Interior in the past several
years. In addition to the routine law enforcement functions of regulating
migration and controlling the Border Guard and the regular police forces,
the Interior Ministry’s Department of State Security investigated and
actively suppressed political opposition and dissent. It maintained a
pervasive system of surveillance through undercover agents, informers, rapid
response brigades (RRBs), and neighborhood-based Committees for the Defense
of the Revolution (CDRs). The Government traditionally has used the CDRs to
mobilize citizens against dissenters, impose ideological conformity, and
root out “counterrevolutionary” behavior. RRBs consisted of workers from a
particular brigade (construction workers, a factory, etc.) that were
organized by the Communist Party to react forcefully to any situation of
social unrest. The Government on occasion used RRBs instead of the police or
military during such situations. Members of the security forces committed
numerous, serious human rights abuses.

The economy was centrally planned, with some elements of state-managed
capitalism in sectors such as tourism and mining. The country’s population
was approximately 11 million. The economy depended heavily on primary
products such as sugar and minerals, but also on its recently developed
tourism industry. The economy performed poorly during the year, mainly due
to inefficient policies. The 2001-02 sugar harvest was poor, remittances
from abroad decreased, and tourist arrivals declined 5 percent below 2001
levels. In November 2001, Hurricane Michelle severely affected agricultural
production, which did not begin to recover until midyear. Government
officials announced that the economy had grown by 1.1 percent during the
year. Government policy was officially aimed at preventing economic
disparity, but persons with access to dollars enjoyed a significantly higher
standard of living than those with access only to pesos. During the year,
the Government issued a moratorium on new licenses for small private
businesses in the service sector, many of which have been fined on unclear
grounds or taxed out of existence. A system of “tourist apartheid”
continued, whereby citizens were denied access to hotels, beaches, and
resorts reserved for foreign tourists.

The Government’s human rights record remained poor, and it continued to
commit numerous serious abuses. Citizens did not have the right to change
their government peacefully. Although the Constitution allows legislative
proposals backed by at least 10,000 citizens to be submitted directly to the
ANPP, the Government rejected a petition known as the Varela Project, with
over 11,000 signatures calling for a national referendum on political and
economic reforms. The Government mobilized the population to sign a
counter-petition reinforcing the socialist basis of the State; the ANPP
unanimously approved this amendment. Communist Party-affiliated mass
organizations tightly controlled elections to provincial and national
legislative bodies, resulting in the selection of single,
government-approved candidates. Prisoners died in jail due to lack of
medical care. Members of the security forces and prison officials continued
to beat and abuse detainees and prisoners, including human rights activists.
The Government failed to prosecute or sanction adequately members of the
security forces and prison guards who committed abuses. Prison conditions
remained harsh and life threatening. The authorities routinely continued to
harass, threaten, arbitrarily arrest, detain, imprison, and defame human
rights advocates and members of independent professional associations,
including journalists, economists, doctors, and lawyers, often with the goal
of coercing them into leaving the country. The Government used internal and
external exile against such persons. The Government denied political
dissidents and human rights advocates due process and subjected them to
unfair trials. The Government infringed on citizens’ privacy rights. The
Government denied citizens the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and
association. It limited the distribution of foreign publications and news,
restricted access to the Internet, and maintained strict censorship of news
and information to the public. The Government restricted some religious
activities but permitted others. The Government limited the entry of
religious workers to the country. The Government maintained tight
restrictions on freedom of movement, including foreign travel and did not
allow some citizens to leave the country. The Government was sharply and
publicly antagonistic to all criticism of its human rights practices and
discouraged foreign contacts with human rights activists. Violence against
women, especially domestic violence, and child prostitution were problems.
Racial discrimination was a problem. The Government severely restricted
worker rights, including the right to form independent unions. The
Government prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, it
required children to do farm work without compensation.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary and Unlawful Deprivation of Life

There were no reports of politically motivated killings.

On August 16, Juan Sanchez Picoto died in a psychiatric hospital in San Luis
de Jagua, allegedly by suicide. According to family members, Sanchez Picoto
had tried to emigrate nine times since 1998, and after the last attempt the
authorities forcibly removed him from his home and placed him in a
psychiatric unit for alcoholics at a Guantanamo psychiatric hospital. He was
held in a ward for violent and mentally ill offenders, despite a doctor’s
diagnosis that he did not meet criteria for involuntary commitment. He was
allegedly given shock therapy and assaulted by another detainee, resulting
in a head injury. On August 15, he was transferred from the Guantanamo
hospital to the San Luis de Jagua unit and died the next day; family members
were not allowed to see the body.

During the year, there were reports that prisoners died in jail due to lack
of medical care (see Section 1.c.).

There was no new information about the results of any investigation into the
deaths of Leovigildo Oliva and Leonardo Horta Camacho, and no government
action was likely; police reportedly shot and killed both men in 2000.

The Government still has not indemnified the survivors and the relatives of
the 41 victims for the damages caused in the Border Guard’s July 1994
sinking of the “13th of March” tugboat, despite a 1996 recommendation by the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to do so.

b. Disappearance

There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

The Constitution prohibits abusive treatment of detainees and prisoners;
however, members of the security forces sometimes beat and otherwise abused
human rights advocates, detainees, and prisoners. The Government took no
steps to curb these abuses. There continued to be numerous reports of
disproportionate police harassment of black youths (see Section 5).

On March 4, state security agents, police, and civilian members of an RRB
beat blind activist Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva, independent journalist
Carlos Brizuela Yera, and eight other activists, who were at a public
hospital in Ciego de Avila protesting the earlier beating of independent
journalist Jesus Alvarez Castillo. Police forcibly removed the protesters
from the hospital and arrested them. On August 21, a municipal court charged
them with “contempt for authority, public disorder, disobedience, and
resistance.” Prosecutors requested a 6-year sentence for Gonzalez Leyva.
Gonzalez Leyva protested his imprisonment through a liquids-only fast, and
at year’s end weighed less than 100 pounds.

On September 17, plainclothes police beat 59-year-old Rafael Madlum Payas of
the Christian Liberation Movement as he approached a police station to
inquire about the cases of seven activists being held at the station.

The Government continued to subject persons who disagreed with it to what it
called acts of repudiation. At government instigation, members of
state-controlled mass organizations, fellow workers, or neighbors of
intended victims were obliged to stage public protests against those who
dissented from the Government’s policies, shouting obscenities and often
causing damage to the homes and property of those targeted; physical attacks
on the victims sometimes occurred. Police and state security agents often
were present but took no action to prevent or end the attacks. Those who
refused to participate in these actions faced disciplinary action, including
loss of employment.

On July 1, the first secretary of the Communist Party in Cruces, Cienfuegos
province, directed 150 persons to engage in an act of repudiation against
Gladys Aquit Manrique of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party. The persons
shouted epithets at Aquit Manrique and kicked her door.

There were also smaller-scale acts of repudiation, known as “reuniones
relampagos,” or rapid repudiations. These acts were conducted by a small
number of persons, usually not from the target’s neighborhood, and lasted up
to 30 minutes. These individuals shouted epithets and threw stones or other
objects at the victim’s house.

On April 21, members of an RRB beat Grisel Almaguer Rodriguez of the
Political Prisoners Association as she departed the home of human rights
activist Elizardo Sanchez Santa Cruz.

On September 21, persons directed by state security officials threw stones
and mud at the home of Jose Daniel Ferrer of the Christian Liberation
Movement and beat Victor Rodriguez Vazquez and Yordanis Almenares Crespo,
who were visiting Ferrer at the time of the attack.

On September 24, police in Santiago province directed persons to beat six
members of the Christian Liberation Movement during an act of rapid
repudiation.

Prison conditions continued to be harsh and life threatening, and conditions
in detention facilities also were harsh. The Government claimed that
prisoners had rights such as family visitation, adequate nutrition, pay for
work, the right to request parole, and the right to petition the prison
director; however, police and prison officials often denied these rights in
practice, and beat, neglected, isolated, and denied medical treatment to
detainees and prisoners, including those convicted of political crimes or
those who persisted in expressing their views. The Penal Code prohibits the
use of corporal punishment on prisoners and the use of any means to
humiliate prisoners or to lessen their dignity; however, the code fails to
establish penalties for committing such acts, and they continued to occur in
practice. Detainees and prisoners, both common and political, often were
subjected to repeated, vigorous interrogations designed to coerce them into
signing incriminating statements, to force collaboration with authorities,
or to intimidate victims. Some endured physical and sexual abuse, typically
by other inmates with the acquiescence of guards, or long periods in
punitive isolation cells. Pretrial detainees were held separately from
convicted prisoners. In Havana there were two detention centers; once
sentenced, persons were transferred to a prison.

Prisoners sometimes were held in “punishment cells,” which usually were
located in the basement of a prison, were semi-dark all the time, had no
water available in the cell, and had a hole for a toilet. No reading
materials were allowed, and family visits were reduced to 10 minutes from 1
or 2 hours. There was no access to lawyers while in the punishment cell.

On May 10, political prisoner Carlos Luis Diaz Fernandez informed friends
that he had been held in solitary confinement since January 2000 in a cell
with no electric light and infested by rats and mosquitoes.

In August six guards at Guamajal prison, Villa Clara province, beat common
prisoner Pedro Rafael Perez Fuentes until he was unconscious. Perez Fuentes
told his mother that the guards had beaten him because he had asked them why
he had been denied exercise privileges. The prison warden verbally abused
Perez Fuentes’ mother when she informed him of her plans to report the
assault.

On August 6, prison officials, including the chief of political reeducation,
beat political prisoner Yosvani Aguilar Camejo. Aguilar Camejo is the
national coordinator for the Fraternal Brothers for Dignity Movement. He was
arrested at the time of the Mexican Embassy break-in by asylum seekers in
late February (see Section 1.d.).

Prison guards and state security officials subjected human rights and
prodemocracy activists to threats of physical violence, to systematic
psychological intimidation, and to detention or imprisonment in cells with
common and violent criminals, sexually aggressive inmates, or state security
agents posing as prisoners.

On February 21, political prisoner Ariel Fleitas Gonzalez advised relatives
that prison authorities had placed a dangerous common criminal in his cell
in Canaleta prison to monitor his activities. That prisoner threatened
Fleitas Gonzalez when the latter called upon officials to respect prisoners’
rights.

On June 20, a guard at Las Ladrilleras prison in Holguin province instructed
a common prisoner to beat political prisoner Daniel Mesa. Mesa reportedly
suffered brain damage as a result of the attack.

In late October, imprisoned dissident Leonardo Bruzon Avila was hospitalized
from the effects of a 43-day hunger strike. In February the authorities had
arrested Bruzon on charges of civil disobedience. In December the
authorities returned Bruzon to prison, where he resumed a liquids-only diet.
Family members and colleagues believed he was returned to prison before he
had fully recovered from the effects of his hunger strike.

In November Ana Aquililla, wife of Francisco Chaviano Gonzalez, reported
that her husband remained confined with common prisoners, that for more than
1 year he was not allowed outside the prison for recreation, and that he
could not receive family visits. Chaviano is the former president of the
National Council for Civil Rights in Cuba and received a 15-year prison
sentence in 1994 on charges of espionage and disrespect.

Political prisoners were required to comply with the rules for common
criminals and often were punished severely if they refused. They often were
placed in punishment cells and held in isolation.

The Government regularly failed to provide adequate nutrition and medical
attention, and a number of prisoners died during the year due to lack of
medical attention. In 1997 the IACHR described the nutritional and hygienic
situation in the prisons, together with the deficiencies in medical care, as
“alarming.” Both the IACHR and the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on Cuba,
as well as other human rights monitoring organizations, have reported the
widespread incidence in prisons of tuberculosis, scabies, hepatitis,
parasitic infections, and malnutrition.

In early June, common prisoner Hector Labrada Ruedas died of internal
bleeding after prison authorities refused his requests for medical
attention.

Alberto Martinez Martinez contracted hepatitis and leptospirosis while being
held for attempting to leave the country without government authorization.
He was placed in intensive care following his release. Martinez Martinez is
the son of Alberto Martinez Fernandez, president of the Political Prisoners
and Ex-Political Prisoners Club.

On June 19, the illegal (see Section 2.b.) nongovernmental organization
(NGO) National Office for the Receipt of Information on Human Rights
Violations reported that political prisoner Nestor Garcia Valdes had
contracted tuberculosis while being held in Guantanamo Provincial Prison
with nine infected common prisoners, none of whom had received treatment for
the disease.

The wife of political prisoner Nestor Rodriguez Lobaina reported that
Rodriguez feared for his health because he had been held for an extended
period in a cell with two prisoners suffering from tuberculosis. Rodriguez
was especially concerned because his wife and young daughter visited him in
his cell, exposing them to possible infection as well. Rodriguez’ wife
claimed that the prison doctor had refused to transfer Lobaina after
learning that he was a political prisoner, saying that his fate was of no
concern to her. Rodriguez is in the third year of a 6-year sentence for
“contempt of authority” and “public disorder.”

Political prisoner Osvaldo Dussu Medina reported that inmates in Boniato
prison were forced to wash their clothes in water contaminated with feces
and urine from a broken sewer pipe. Prison authorities had been aware of the
contamination for 2 years but did nothing to remedy the situation.

Prison officials regularly denied prisoners other rights, such as the right
to correspondence, and continued to confiscate medications and food brought
by family members for political prisoners. Some prison directors routinely
denied religious workers access to detainees and prisoners. Reading
materials, including Bibles, were not allowed in punishment cells. Prison
authorities refused to grant blind dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva
access to his Braille Bible.

In July prison officials in Ceramica Roja prison denied religious visits to
political prisoner Enrique Garcia Morejon of the Christian Liberation
Movement. Garcia Morejon twice requested visits by a Catholic priest while
the priest was visiting other prisoners.

There were separate prison facilities for women and for minors. Conditions
of these prisons, especially for women, did not take into account the
special needs of women. Human rights activists believed that conditions were
poor.

The Government did not permit independent monitoring of prison conditions by
international or national human rights monitoring groups. The Government has
refused to allow prison visits by the International Committee of the Red
Cross (ICRC) since 1989. In 2001 the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and
National Reconciliation (CCHRNC), an illegal NGO, appealed to the Government
to create a national commission with representatives from the Cuban Red
Cross, the Ministry of Public Health, and different churches, to inspect the
prisons and recommend changes to the existing situation. The CCHRNC did not
receive a response from the Government.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

Arbitrary arrest and detention continued to be problems, and they remained
the Government’s most effective tactics for harassing opponents. The Law of
Penal Procedures requires police to file formal charges and either release a
detainee or bring the case before a prosecutor within 96 hours of arrest. It
also requires the authorities to provide suspects with access to a lawyer
within 7 days of arrest. However, the Constitution states that all legally
recognized civil liberties can be denied to anyone who actively opposes the
decision of the Cuban people to build socialism. The authorities routinely
invoked this sweeping authority to deny due process to those detained on
purported state security grounds.

The authorities routinely engaged in arbitrary arrest and detention of human
rights advocates, subjecting them to interrogations, threats, and degrading
treatment and unsanitary conditions for hours or days at a time. Police
frequently lacked warrants when carrying out arrests or issued warrants
themselves at the time of arrest. Authorities sometime employed false
charges of common crimes to arrest political opponents. Detainees often were
not informed of the charges against them. The CCHRNC reported a significant
increase in the number of detentions in February and March. In May Amnesty
International recognized the increase of arrests and harassment of
dissidents, including organizers for the opposition Varela Project (see
Section 3), and expressed concern about the increased use of violence by
security forces. The authorities continued to detain human rights activists
and independent journalists for short periods, often to prevent them from
attending or participating in events related to human rights issues (see
Sections 2.a. and 2.b.). The authorities also placed such activists under
house arrest for short periods for similar reasons.

On January 28, police arrested Martha Beatriz Roque, director of the Cuban
Institute of Independent Economists, for refusing to allow government
employees to fumigate her residence against mosquitoes. Roque refused
because she had suffered allergic reactions as a result of previous
fumigations. State security officials took Roque to a Ministry of Health
office, where she was strip searched, held for 4 hours, and released.
Government officials broke into Roque’s house and fumigated it while she was
in detention.

On February 24, state security officials arrested independent journalist
Carlos Alberto Dominguez for participating in an event commemorating the
four pilots killed in February 1996 by military aircraft. He was released
the same day but was arrested again on February 28 and remained jailed on
charges of “contempt for authority and public disorder” (see Section 2.a.).
At year’s end, his relatives reported that Dominguez was in poor health and
receiving inadequate treatment for hypertension and severe migraine
headaches.

In late February, police arrested at least 300 persons near the Mexican
Embassy after 21 asylum seekers used a bus to break through the gates of the
embassy. Many of those arrested were reportedly bystanders not involved in
the embassy intrusion. RRBs summoned by the Government to the Mexican
Embassy beat some bystanders. Most bystanders were interrogated and
released, but on March 6, Fidel Castro indicated that 130 of them would be
tried on charges related to the embassy break-in. According to relatives,
approximately 60 remained jailed at year’s end; none had been tried.

On March 13, police arrested seven human rights activists in Nueva Gerona,
Isle of Youth, as they conducted a public demonstration calling for
democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners (see Sections 2.a.
and 2.b.).

On March 18, state security officials arrested four leaders of the
Brotherhood of Blind Cubans to prevent a demonstration against police
mistreatment of handicapped street vendors and calling for the release of
blind dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva (see Sections 1.c., 2.b., and 5).
Police released the four after citing them with “official warnings.”

On April 17, police arrested Barbaro Vela Coego and Armando Dominguez
Gonzalez, president and vice president, respectively, of the January 6 Civic
Movement, to prevent their attendance at a fast in honor of political
prisoners. They were held for 2 hours and released (see Section 2.b.).

On April 22, police arrested Milka Pena Martinez of the Cuban Pro Human
Rights Party for protesting a police search of her home (see Section 1.f.).
Police also arrested Luis Ferrer Garcia of the Christian Liberation
Movement, who was present at the time, and Ramon Collazo Almaguer, who led a
group of dissidents to Pena Martinez’ home to protest her arrest. Pena
Martinez was fined and all three were released.

On May 19, police arrested Nereida Cala Escalona and Evelio Manteira Barban
as they departed a meeting in Santiago de Cuba organized by the Christian
Liberation Movement. They were interrogated, threatened with imprisonment,
and released on May 20.

On June 1, police arrested nine activists as they departed a human rights
course at the illegal NGO Culture and Democracy Institute in Santiago de
Cuba. They were interrogated and released on June 2.

On June 7, police arrested three members of the 30th of November Party in
Santiago de Cuba. They were interrogated and released on June 10.

On June 14, state security officials beat and arrested independent
journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira while he was covering a march by human
rights activists in the Isle of Youth (see Section 2.a.). He was briefly
detained, fined $48 (1,200 pesos), and then released.

On July 24, police arrested human rights activist Adolfo Lazaro Bosq at a
vigil for political prisoners on charges of “resistance and contempt for the
revolutionary process.” On August 2, a municipal court sentenced him to 1
year and 9 months’ imprisonment (see Section 1.e.).

In July state security officials arrested independent journalist Yoel Blanco
Garcia and took him to a local firehouse where he was interrogated. The
state security officials warned Blanco Garcia not to visit the home of
Martha Beatriz Roque, director of the Cuban Institute of Independent
Economists.

On July 29, state security officials arrested Rogelio Menendez Diaz,
president of the Cuban Municipalities for Human Rights. He was held for 35
days in Villa Marista prison, where guards transferred him between chilled
and heated cells. During interrogations, Menendez Diaz was accused of
organizing clandestine cells on behalf of exile groups along with activists
Angel Pablo Polanco and Marcel Valenzuela Salt, who had also been detained.
Menendez Diaz was charged with “contempt against the Commander in Chief” and
warned to cease opposition activities. He was released on September 2 but
rearrested on December 10, apparently to prevent his participation in events
commemorating International Human Rights Day. At year’s end, he had not been
tried and remained jailed.

On July 30, state security officials arrested independent journalist Angel
Pablo Polanco and held him for 4 days in an unregistered house of detention.
Polanco was 60 years old and moved with the aid of a walker. During a search
of his home, state security agents removed a fax machine and a telephone
which Polanco had purchased from a state company, $1,200 in cash, a tape
recorder, books on Cuban history, and files related to his work as a
journalist. The officials did not provide a receipt for the money or the
items (see Section 2.a.). Polanco was charged with inciting others to commit
“contempt of authority” and “insulting the symbols of the State,” apparently
in connection with plans by opposition groups to mark the August 5
anniversary of 1994 riots in Havana. He was accused of organizing
clandestine cells along with activists Manuel Menendez Diaz and Marcel
Valenzuela Salt, who had been arrested on July 29. Polanco was granted
conditional release on August 3. At year’s end, Polanco had not been tried.

On September 11, police arrested Luis Milan of the Christian Liberation
Movement for writing a letter to municipal officials in Santiago de Cuba
calling for improved prison conditions.

On December 6, police arrested Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, a political prisoner
who had been released on October 31 after serving 3 years for disrespect,
creating a public disturbance, and encouraging others to violate the law.
The authorities arrested Biscet and 16 others to prevent them from holding a
seminar on nonviolent civil disobedience. The authorities later released 12
of the detainees, but charged Biscet, his associate Raul Arencibia Fajardo,
and 2 others with public disorder, which carries a sentence of up to 1 year.

The Government often held persons without charges for months and then
released them, which avoided the spectacle of a trial. Of the 36 political
prisoners arrested during the year, 6 were released without charges,
including several who had been informally advised of charges but were never
processed.

State security police used detentions and warnings to prevent organizations
around the island from performing any actions in remembrance of the four
pilots killed in February 1996 by military aircraft. As in previous years,
on July 13, police prevented activists from commemorating the 1994 sinking
of the “13th of March” tugboat (see Sections 1.d and 2.b.).

The authorities sometimes detained journalists in order to question them
about contacts with foreigners or to prevent them from covering sensitive
issues or criticizing the Government (see Section 2.a.).

Time in detention before trial counted toward time served if convicted. Bail
was available and usually was low and more equivalent to a fine.

The Penal Code includes the concept of “dangerousness,” defined as the
“special proclivity of a person to commit crimes, demonstrated by his
conduct in manifest contradiction of socialist norms.” If the police decide
that a person exhibits signs of dangerousness, they may bring the offender
before a court or subject him to therapy or political reeducation.
Government authorities regularly threatened prosecution under this
provision. Both the U.N. Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) and the IACHR
criticized this tactic for its subjectivity, the summary nature of the
judicial proceedings employed, the lack of legal safeguards, and the
political considerations behind its application. According to the IACHR, the
so-called special inclination to commit crimes referred to in the Penal Code
amounted to a subjective criterion used by the Government to justify
violations of individual freedoms and due process for persons whose sole
crime was to hold a view different from the official view.

The Government also used exile as a tool for controlling and eliminating
internal opposition. In May Amnesty International noted that the Government
detained human rights activists repeatedly for short periods and threatened
them with imprisonment unless they gave up their activities or left the
country. The Government used these incremental, aggressive tactics to compel
independent librarian Ramon Humberto Colas and Maritza Lugo Fernandez, vice
president of the Democratic November 30 Party, to leave the country in
December 2001 and January, respectively.

The Government pressured imprisoned human rights activists and political
prisoners to apply for emigration and regularly conditioned their release on
acceptance of exile. Human Rights Watch observed that the Government
routinely invoked forced exile as a condition for prisoner releases and also
pressured activists to leave the country to escape future prosecution.
Amnesty International expressed particular concern about the Government’s
practice of threatening to charge, try, and imprison human rights advocates
and independent journalists prior to arrest or sentencing if they did not
leave the country. According to Amnesty International, this practice
“effectively prevents those concerned from being able to act in public life
in their own country.”

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution provides for independent courts; however, it explicitly
subordinates the courts to the ANPP and the Council of State, which is
headed by President Castro. The ANPP and its lower level counterparts choose
all judges. The subordination of the courts to the Communist Party, which
the Constitution designates as the superior directive force of society and
the State, further compromises the judiciary’s independence. The courts
undermined the right to a fair trial by restricting the right to a defense
and often failed to observe the few due process rights available to
defendants.

Civilian courts existed at the municipal, provincial, and supreme court
levels. Panels composed of a mix of professionally certified and lay judges
presided over them. There was a right to appeal, access to counsel, and
charges were known to the defendant. Defendants enjoyed a presumption of
innocence, but the authorities often ignored this right in practice.

Military tribunals assumed jurisdiction for certain counterrevolutionary
cases and were governed by a special law. The military tribunals processed
civilians if a member of the military was involved with civilians in a
crime. There was a right to appeal, access to counsel, and the charges were
known to the defendant.

The law and trial practices did not meet international standards for fair
public trials. Almost all cases were tried in less than 1 day; there were no
jury trials. While most trials were public, trials were closed when there
were alleged violations of state security. Prosecutors may introduce
testimony from a CDR member about the revolutionary background of a
defendant, which may contribute to either a longer or shorter sentence. The
law recognizes the right of appeal in municipal courts but limits it in
provincial courts to cases such as those involving maximum prison terms or
the death penalty. Appeals in capital cases are automatic. The Council of
State ultimately must affirm capital punishment.

Criteria for presenting evidence, especially in cases involving human rights
advocates, were arbitrary and discriminatory. Often the sole evidence
provided, particularly in political cases, was the defendant’s confession,
usually obtained under duress and without the legal advice or knowledge of a
defense lawyer (see Section 1.c.). The authorities regularly denied
defendants access to their lawyers until the day of the trial. Several
dissidents who served prison terms reported that they were tried and
sentenced without counsel and were not allowed to speak on their own behalf.

The law provides the accused with the right to an attorney, but the control
that the Government exerted over the livelihood of members of the
state-controlled lawyers’ collectives compromised their ability to represent
clients, especially when they defended persons accused of state security
crimes. Attorneys reported reluctance to defend those charged in political
cases due to fear of jeopardizing their own careers.

On January 30, the Havana Provincial Court sentenced activist Carlos Oquendo
Rodriguez to 2 years’ imprisonment for “contempt for authority” and “public
disorder.” The provincial court confirmed the sentence levied against
Oquendo Rodriguez by a municipal court in 2001 and appealed by him to the
provincial court. Prior to sentencing, police officials offered to suspend
Oquendo Rodriguez’ sentence if he recanted his political beliefs, but
Oquendo Rodriguez refused.

On August 2, a municipal court sentenced human rights activist Adolfo Lazaro
Bosq to 1 year and 9 months’ imprisonment for “resistance and contempt
against the revolutionary process.” Bosq was arrested on July 24 at a
candlelight vigil for political prisoners (see Section 1.d.).

Vladimiro Roca Antunez of the Internal Dissident Working Group was released
on May 5, after serving most of his 5-year sentence for a 1997 conviction
for acts against the security of the State in relation to the crime of
sedition after the group peacefully expressed their disagreement with the
Government. Three other members received conditional releases in 2000.

Human rights monitoring groups inside the country estimated the number of
political prisoners to be between 230 and 300 persons. At year’s end, the
CCHRNC reported that 36 political prisoners had been arrested and that there
were 248 political prisoners in the country; at the end of 2001, the CCHRNC
had reported 240 political prisoners. The CCHRNC noted that since the
Government refused to publish the number of prisoners in the country, its
figures were based on information obtained from family members of prisoners.
A spokesperson for the CCHRNC noted an end to a recent downward trend in the
numbers of political prisoners, with an increase in detentions in February
and March (see Section 1.d.). The authorities imprisoned persons on charges
such as disseminating enemy propaganda, illicit association, contempt for
the authorities (usually for criticizing President Castro), clandestine
printing, or the broad charge of rebellion, which often was brought against
advocates of peaceful democratic change. The Government did not permit
access to political prisoners by human rights organizations. It continued to
deny access to prisoners by the ICRC.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence

Although the Constitution provides for the inviolability of a citizen’s home
and correspondence, official surveillance of private and family affairs by
government-controlled mass organizations, such as the CDRs, remained one of
the most pervasive and repressive features of daily life. The State assumed
the right to interfere in the lives of citizens, even those who did not
oppose the Government and its practices actively. The authorities utilized a
wide range of social controls. The mass organizations’ ostensible purpose
was to improve the citizenry, but in fact their goal was to discover and
discourage nonconformity. Citizen participation in these mass organizations
declined; the economic crisis both reduced the Government’s ability to
provide material incentives for their participation and forced many persons
to engage in black market activities, which the mass organizations were
supposed to report to the authorities.

The Interior Ministry employed an intricate system of informants and block
committees (the CDRs) to monitor and control public opinion. While less
capable than in the past, CDRs continued to report on suspicious activity,
including conspicuous consumption; unauthorized meetings, including those
with foreigners; and defiant attitudes toward the Government and the
revolution.

The Government controlled all access to the Internet, and all electronic
mail messages were subject to censorship. Dial-up Internet service was
prohibitively expensive for most citizens. The Interior Ministry’s
Department of State Security often read international correspondence and
monitored overseas telephone calls and conversations with foreigners. The
Government also monitored domestic phone calls and correspondence. The
Government sometimes denied telephone service to political dissidents. Cell
phones were generally not available to average citizens.

Dolia Leal Francisco of the Cuban Institute of Independent Economists
reported that state security officials pressured her local CDR to deny her
home telephone service because of her “counterrevolutionary activities.”
State security officials threatened to terminate telephone service of Leal
Francisco’s neighbors if they allowed her to use their phones. A CDR member
and a state security agent warned one neighbor that she would lose her job
and that her daughter’s education would be affected if she allowed Leal
Francisco access to a telephone.

On February 8, state security officials threatened to evict activist Adonis
Castro Martinez from his home, which he had rented for 4 years from his
employer, the Ministry of Health, because he had used the home for meetings
of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov
Foundation (see Section 2.b.).

In late March, police instructed a neighbor of independent labor organizers
Luis Sergio Nunez and Gabriel Sanchez of the Independent National Labor
Organization to report on any calls made by them from her telephone (see
Section 6.b.).

On April 22, police arrested Milka Pena Martinez of the Cuban Pro Human
Rights Party for protesting a police search of her home (see Section 1.d.).
Police claimed to be searching for an individual who did not live at that
residence. Asked by Pena Martinez to produce a warrant, a police lieutenant
wrote out a warrant on a blank sheet of paper. Police also arrested Luis
Ferrer Garcia of the Christian Liberation Movement, who was present at the
time of the search of Pena Martinez’ home, and Ramon Collazo Almaguer, who
led a group of dissidents to Pena Martinez’ home to protest her arrest. All
three were released after Pena Martinez was fined $80 (2,000 pesos) for
being unable to explain the presence of a large quantity of flour in her
home.

On May 8, telephone service was cut to the home of Luis Octavio Garcia
Gonzalez, spokesman for the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated with the
Andrei Sakharov Foundation. When service was restored, unknown persons made
repeated calls to Garcia Gonzalez shouting revolutionary slogans.

On May 17, police went to the home of Pedro Veliz, president of the
Independent Medical School of Cuba, and instructed him to leave Havana for
the day to prevent his attendance in ceremonies marking the founding of a
prerevolutionary political party (see Section 2.b.). Veliz, along with his
wife and children, were forced to leave their home and were followed by
state security officials until they left the city.

On June 2, the National Office for the Receipt of Information on Human
Rights Violations in Cuba reported that workers at a popular cyber cafe had
been instructed to review all outgoing e-mails and to track websites viewed
by individual patrons.

On June 19, state security officials threatened to block the university
admission of the son of human rights activists Carmen Luz Figueredo and
Sergio Gomez Fernandez because of their failure to sign a government
petition making socialism an “untouchable” element of the Constitution. That
same day, CDR officials warned independent journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira
that his public refusal to sign that government petition threatened his
9-year-old daughter’s future. In late June, directors of an agricultural
cooperative in Camaguey province suspended food subsidies to cooperative
member Jorge de Armas for failing to sign the government petition (see
Section 3).

There were numerous credible reports of forced evictions of squatters and
residents who lacked official permission to reside in Havana. For example,
on June 1, police in Havana province arrived in the neighborhood of Buena
Esperanza to remove persons from eastern Cuba living in the area without
authorization. An unknown number of men were removed in trucks on that date,
while women and children were given 72 hours to depart (see Section 2.d.).

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for citizens’ freedoms of speech and press insofar
as they “conform to the aims of socialist society.” This clause effectively
bars free speech. In law and in practice, the Government did not allow
criticism of the revolution or its leaders. Laws against antigovernment
propaganda, graffiti, and disrespect of officials impose penalties between 3
months and 1 year in prison. If President Castro or members of the ANPP or
Council of State were the objects of criticism, the sentence could be
extended to 3 years. Charges of disseminating enemy propaganda, which
included merely expressing opinions at odds with those of the Government,
could bring sentences of up to 14 years. In the Government’s view, such
materials as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, international
reports of human rights violations, and mainstream foreign newspapers and
magazines constituted enemy propaganda. Local CDRs inhibited freedom of
speech by monitoring and reporting dissent or criticism. Police and state
security officials regularly harassed, threatened, and otherwise abused
human rights advocates in public and private as a means of intimidation and
control.

The Constitution states that print and electronic media are state property
and can never become private property. The Communist Party controlled all
media except for a few small church-run publications. Even the church-run
publications, denied access to mass printing equipment, were subject to
governmental pressure. Vitral magazine, a publication of the diocese of
Pinar del Rio, continued to publish during the year.

Citizens did not have the right to receive publications from abroad,
although news stands in hotels for foreigners and certain hard currency
stores sold foreign newspapers and magazines. The Government continued to
jam the transmission of Radio Marti and Television Marti. Radio Marti
broadcasts at times overcame the jamming attempts on short-wave bands, but
its medium-wave transmissions were blocked completely in Havana. Security
agents subjected dissidents, foreign diplomats, and journalists to
harassment and surveillance, including electronic surveillance.

All legal media must operate under party guidelines and reflect government
views. The Government attempted to shape media coverage to such a degree
that it not only exerted pressure on domestic journalists but also pressured
groups normally outside the official realm of control, such as visiting
international correspondents.

The 1999 Law to Protect National Independence and the Economy outlaws a
broad range of activities that undermine state security and toughens
penalties for criminal activity. Under the law, anyone possessing or
disseminating literature deemed subversive, or supplying information that
could be used by U.S. authorities in the application of U.S. legislation,
may be subject to fines and prison terms of 7 to 20 years. While many
activities between citizens and foreigners possibly could fall within the
purview of this law, it appeared to be aimed primarily at independent
journalists; however, no one has been tried under this law.

The Government continued to threaten independent journalists, either
anonymously or openly, with arrests and convictions based on the 1999 law.
Some journalists were threatened repeatedly since the law took effect.
Independent journalists noted that the law’s very existence affected their
activities and increased self-censorship, and some said that it was the
Government’s most effective tool to harass members of the independent press.

The Government continued to subject independent journalists to internal
travel bans; arbitrary and periodic detentions (overnight or longer);
harassment of family and friends; seizures of computers, office, and
photographic equipment; and repeated threats of prolonged imprisonment (see
Sections 1.d., 1.f., and 2.d.). Independent journalists in Havana reported
that threatening phone calls and harassment of family members continued
during the year. Dozens of reporters were detained repeatedly. The
authorities also placed journalists under house arrest to prevent them from
reporting on conferences sponsored by human rights activists, human rights
events, and court cases against activists. Independent journalists reported
that detentions, threats, and harassment were more severe in the provinces
than in the capital. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the
Inter-American Press Association, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the
Committee to Protect Journalists repeatedly called international attention
to the Government’s continued practice of detaining independent journalists
and others simply for exercising their right to free speech. In addition,
police increasingly tried to prevent independent journalists from covering
so-called sensitive events (see Section 1.d.).

On February 24, state security officials arrested independent journalist
Carlos Alberto Dominguez for participating in a commemoration of the four
civilian pilots killed in February 1996 by military aircraft (see Section
1.d.).

On February 28, police beat a British and an Italian journalist as they were
filming asylum seekers breaking into the Mexican Embassy (see Section 1.d.).
Castro ordered an investigation into the beating of the pair, and the
Foreign Minister apologized to both journalists for their mistreatment.

On March 4, state security officials arrested independent journalist Carlos
Brizuela Yera while he and nine other activists were protesting the earlier
beating of an independent journalist during which police beat and arrested
blind dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva (see Section 1.d.). In August
prosecutors charged Brizuela with “public disorder, contempt for authority,
resistance, and disobedience.” He had not been tried by year’s end and
remained in jail.

On March 5, RSF protested the detention of independent journalists Jesus
Alvarez Castillo, Lexter Tellez Castro, Carlos Brizuela Yara, Normando
Hernandez, and Juan Basulto Morell in various incidents. RSF requested that
Interior Minister General Abelardo Colome punish the authorities responsible
for the arrests. At year’s end, the Government had not responded to that
request.

On June 7, a state security official threatened to arrest the president of
the Independent Human Rights Center in Santiago de Cuba if he did not cease
providing information to foreign radio stations.

On June 14, state security officials beat and arrested independent
journalist Carlos Serpa Maceira while he was covering a march by human
rights activists on the Isle of Youth (see Section 1.d.).

In October the authorities seized material from a French journalist
departing the country, according to RSF.

In December RSF released a report “Cuba, where news is the exclusive reserve
of the State,” which criticized the complete absence of freedom of the
press. RSF also described the constant harassment of independent journalists
and the prison conditions faced by independent journalists jailed for trying
to practice their profession (see Section 1.c.).

In February 2001, Edel Garcia, director of the Central Norte del Pais press
agency, was detained for 12 hours to prevent him from participating in the
commemoration of two planes that were shot down by military aircraft in
international airspace in 1996. At year’s end, Garcia was not in detention,
and his trial on charges of collaborating with the enemy, providing
information to Radio Marti, and conspiracy to commit crimes and espionage
remained pending.

Jesus and Jadir Hernandez of Havana-Press were charged with trafficking in i
llegal migrants and collaboration with a foreign mission in 2000; their
trial was pending at year’s end.

During the year, at least five independent journalists were denied the right
to emigrate, including Manuel Vazquez Portal, Edel Morales, Jorge Olivera,
Dorka Cespedes, and Normando Hernandez.

The authorities often confiscated equipment when arresting journalists,
particularly photographic and recording equipment. It was possible to buy a
fax machine or computer, payable in dollars; if a receipt could be produced,
the equipment usually was not confiscated. However, police seized a
telephone and fax machine from independent journalist Angel Pablo Polanco
despite the fact that he demonstrated proof of purchase in the country for
both items (see Section 1.d.). Photocopiers and printers either were
impossible to find on the local market or were not sold to individuals,
which made them a particularly valuable commodity for journalists.

Resident foreign correspondents reported that the very high level of
government pressure experienced since 2000, including official and informal
complaints about articles, continued throughout the year. The Government
exercised its ability to control members of the resident foreign press by
requiring them to obtain a government exit permit each time they wished to
leave the country.

Distribution of information continued to be controlled tightly. Importation
of foreign literature was controlled, and the public had no access to
foreign magazines or newspapers. Leading members of the Government asserted
that citizens did not read foreign newspapers and magazines to obtain news
because they did not speak English and had access to the daily televised
round tables on issues with which they needed to concern themselves. The
Government sometimes barred independent libraries from receiving materials
from abroad and seized materials donated by foreign diplomats.

The Government controlled all access to the Internet, and all electronic
mail messages were subject to censorship. Access to computers and peripheral
equipment was limited, and the Internet only could be accessed through
government-approved institutions. Dial-up access to government-approved
servers was prohibitively expensive for most citizens. E-mail use grew
slowly as the Government allowed access to more users; however, the
Government generally controlled its use, and only very few persons or groups
had access. The Government opened a national Internet gateway to some
journalists, artists, and municipal-level youth community centers, but the
authorities continued to restrict the types and numbers of international
sites that could be accessed.

The Government officially prohibits all diplomatic missions in Havana from
printing or distributing publications, particularly newspapers and newspaper
clippings, unless these publications exclusively address conditions in a
mission’s home country and prior government approval is received. Many
missions did not accept this requirement and distributed materials; however,
the Government’s threats to expel embassy officers who provided published
materials had a chilling effect on some missions.

The Government restricted literary and academic freedoms and continued to
emphasize the importance of reinforcing revolutionary ideology and
discipline over any freedom of expression. The educational system taught
that the State’s interests took precedence over all other commitments.
Academics and other government officials were prohibited from meeting with
some diplomats without prior approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Ministry of Education required teachers to evaluate students’ and their
parents’ ideological character and to place such evaluations in school
records. These reports directly affected students’ educational and career
prospects. As a matter of policy, the Government demanded that teaching
materials for courses such as mathematics or literature have an ideological
content. Government efforts to undermine dissidents included denying them
advanced education and professional opportunities. President Castro stated
publicly that the universities were available only to those who shared his
revolutionary beliefs.

Artistic expression was less restricted. The Government encouraged the
cultural community to attain the highest international standards in order to
sell its work overseas for hard currency. However, in 2000 the Government
began implementing a program called “Broadening of Culture” that tied art,
socialism, and modern “revolutionary” ideology and legends into its own
vision of culture. The Government used the government media and the schools
to impose this vision on the public, particularly the youth.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Although the Constitution grants limited rights of assembly and association,
these rights are subject to the requirement that they may not be “exercised
against the existence and objectives of the Socialist State.” The law
punishes any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including
those for private religious services in private homes, by up to 3 months in
prison and a fine. The authorities selectively enforced this prohibition and
often used it as a legal pretext to harass and imprison human rights
advocates.

The Government’s policy of selectively authorizing the Catholic Church to
hold outdoor processions at specific locations on important feast days
continued during the year. On September 8, the Government permitted for the
fifth consecutive year a procession in connection with Masses in celebration
of the feast day of Our Lady of Charity in Havana. A number of activists
participated in the procession. Police in Santiago de Cuba warned several
dissidents in that city not to attend a procession for Our Lady of Charity
(see Section 2.c.). There were no reports that processions were denied
permits during the year.

The authorities never have approved a public meeting by a human rights group
and often detained activists to prevent them from attending meetings,
demonstrations, or ceremonies (see Section 1.d.). Asked by a foreign
correspondent in October whether his Government obstructed demonstrations,
President Castro responded that he had “no need to control what does not
occur.” There were unapproved meetings and demonstrations, which the
Government frequently disrupted or attempted to prevent. The authorities
sometimes used or incited violence against peaceful demonstrators.

On December 10, the authorities monitored, but did not block, a
commemoration of International Human Rights Day by more than 50 persons at
the home of dissident Martha Beatriz Roque. Police did not impede similar
activities at the home of dissident Odilia Collazos and other sites
throughout the country. Roque reported that 1,300 people across the country
participated in commemorations, most of which the Government monitored but
did not obstruct. However, police arrested Rogelio Menendez and two others
in Havana to prevent their participation in December 10 ceremonies (see
Section 1.d.).

In February state security officials threatened to evict an activist from
his home because he had used the home for meetings of the Cuban Pro Human
Rights Party Affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov Foundation (see Section
2.b.). Also in February, state security officers detained prodemocracy
activists in different parts of the country to prevent them from staging
activities commemorating the 1996 shooting down of two civilian aircraft in
international airspace (see Sections 1.d. and 2.a.).

On March 13, police arrested seven human rights activists in Nueva Gerona,
Isle of Youth, as they conducted a public demonstration calling for
democratic reforms and the release of political prisoners (see Section
1.d.). Police beat the activists as they were conducting a silent march and
took them to a local police station. They were fined and released.

On March 18, state security officials arrested four leaders of the
Brotherhood of Blind Cubans to prevent a demonstration against police
mistreatment of handicapped street vendors and to call for the release of
blind dissident Juan Carlos Gonzalez Leyva (see Sections 1.c. and 5). Police
released the four after issuing them “official warnings.” Earlier, on March
4, police arrested protesters at the public hospital in Ciego de Avila.

On April 1, police called Alberto Fernandez Silva and Humberto Echevarria
Herrera of the Cuban Pro Human Rights Party Affiliated with the Andrei
Sakharov Foundation to a local police station to warn them that they would
be imprisoned if their organization did not cease all meetings, masses, and
vigils.

On April 17, police arrested Barbaro Vela Coego and Armando Dominguez
Gonzalez, president and vice president, respectively, of the January 6 Civic
Movement, to prevent their attendance at a fast in honor of political
prisoners. They were held for 2 hours and released (see Section 1.d.).

On May 17, police went to the home of Pedro Veliz, president of the
Independent Medical School of Cuba, and instructed him to leave Havana to
prevent his attendance at ceremonies marking the anniversary of a
prerevolutionary political party (see Section 1.f.).

On May 25, police beat and arrested four members of the Cuban Pro Human
Rights Party Affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov Foundation who were on
their way to a Mass in honor of a dissident figure (see Section 2.c.). The
four were searched, threatened with imprisonment, fined, and released.

On June 1, police arrested nine activists as they departed a human rights
course at the Culture and Democracy Institute in Santiago de Cuba (see
Section 1.d.). They were interrogated and released on June 2.

On June 7, police forcefully removed 17 persons from the home of activist
Migdalia Rosado Hernandez, where the group was commemorating the second
anniversary of the Tamarindo 34 hunger strike. The police took 14 persons
far from their homes and abandoned them by the roadside. Three others were
fined and released.

On June 24, police blocked access to the home of activist Francisco Moure
Saladriga to prevent a meeting of members of the Cuban Human Rights Party
scheduled for that day.

In July state security officials in Santiago de Cuba warned activists Evelio
Manteira Barban, Orestes Alberto Alvarez, Manuel de Jesus Nario, Joaquin
Jimenez Hernandez, and Carlos Jimenez Cespedes that they would be beaten and
arrested if they held events commemorating the sinking of the “13th of
March” tugboat.

In early August, state security officials warned opposition activists who
were planning protests to coincide with the eighth anniversary of the
antigovernment riot that took place in Havana on August 5, 1994 that they
would be jailed if they participated in such events. Independent journalist
Angel Pablo Polanco and activists Rogelio Menendez Diaz and Marcel
Valenzuela Salt were arrested on suspicion that they were organizing
protests for August 5 (see Section 1.d.).

On September 7, state security officials in Santiago de Cuba warned Orestes
Alberto Alvarez Vega not to attend a Mass in honor of Our Lady of Charity
(see Section 2.c.).

The Government organized marches on May Day and held a rally, “Tribuna
Abierta,” every Saturday in a different municipality in the country. There
was both radio and television coverage of the weekly rally.

The Government generally denied citizens the freedom of association. The
Penal Code specifically outlaws illegal or unrecognized groups. The Minister
of Justice, in consultation with the Interior Ministry, decides whether to
give organizations legal recognition. The authorities never have approved
the existence of a human rights group. However, there were a number of
professional associations that operated as NGOs without legal recognition,
including the Association of Independent Teachers, the Association of
Independent Lawyers (Agramonte), the Association of Independent Architects
and Engineers, and several independent journalist organizations.

Recognized churches (see Section 2.c.), the Roman Catholic humanitarian
organization Caritas, the Masonic Lodge, small human rights groups, and a
number of nascent fraternal or professional organizations were the only
associations outside the control or influence of the State, the Communist
Party, and their mass organizations. With the exception of the Masons, who
had been established in the country for more than a century, the authorities
continued to ignore those groups’ applications for legal recognition,
thereby subjecting members to potential charges of illegal association. All
other legally recognized NGOs were affiliated at least nominally with or
controlled by the Government.

c. Freedom of Religion

The Constitution recognizes the right of citizens to profess and practice
any religious belief within the framework of respect for the law; however,
in law and in practice, the Government continued to restrict freedom of
religion. In general, unregistered religious groups continued to experience
various degrees of official interference, harassment, and repression. The
Government’s main interaction with religious denominations was through the
Office of Religious Affairs of the Communist Party. The Ministry of Interior
engaged in active efforts to control and monitor the country’s religious
institutions, including through surveillance, infiltration, and harassment
of religious professionals and practitioners. The Government’s policy of
permitting apolitical religious activity to take place in
government-approved sites remained unchanged; however, citizens worshiping
in officially sanctioned churches often were subjected to surveillance by
state security forces, and the Government’s efforts to maintain a strong
degree of control over religion continued.

The Constitution provides for the separation of church and State. In 1991
the Government allowed religious adherents to join the Communist Party. A
1992 constitutional amendment prohibits religious discrimination and removed
references to “scientific materialism,” (i.e., atheism) as the basis for the
State. Members of the armed forces did not attend religious services in
uniform, probably to avoid possible reprimand by superiors.

The Government requires churches and other religious groups to register with
the provincial registry of associations within the Ministry of the Interior
to obtain official recognition. In practice the Government refused to
recognize new denominations; however, the Government tolerated some
religions on the island, such as the Baha’i Faith. Unregistered religious
groups were subject to off