Cuban Police Search and Seize Property of Independent Legal Center

On September 23, the Havana office of the Independent Legal Center (“Cubalex”), which investigates and advises on human rights issues, was raided by the Cuban Revolutionary Police and State Security. They seized six computers, several hard drives, USB drives and cell phones and informed the Center’s Director, Laritza Diversent, that she could be accused of “illicit economic activity.” The officers also forced the lawyers to strip naked and squat to verify that there was nothing hidden in their bodies.[1]

The independent lawyers asserted that the officers never showed a warrant and did not meet the requirements for a legal search. Diversent said the raid could have been the government’s response to the organization’s mid-August “Report on the situation of freedom of expression and opinion in Cuba” to [the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of] the U.N. Human Rights Council.”[2]

A more detailed protest of this raid was posted on the Cubalex website along with a video and photographs of the raid.[3] It said that “the attorney general of Cuba, Beatriz Peña de la O, and Lt. Col. Juan Carlos Delgado Casanova, the instructor of the Criminal Investigation Division and Operations, and policemen “illegally entered the property [and]  broke the padlocks that protected the entrance arguing that . . . Cubalex had [lodged] a complaint against [them] for illegal economic activities.” After the seizure of computers and other equipment, “members of Cubalex were subjected to interrogations and five of them (four women and one man) were forced to strip in order to conduct a body check.” In  addition, two team members were arrested. One was released after 12 hours while the other (lawyer Julio Alfredo Ferrer Tamayo) as of September 29 was still in solitary confinement.

Earlier, in early May, Cubalex published on its website a searing criticism of the Cuban regime.[4] It concluded the following about current conditions on the island:

• “1- That the Cuban citizens have rights to birth, but not to feed, clothe, recreate, inform us when we grow up.
• 2- That citizens seniors could survive up to 78 years, but without balanced diet, lack of calories corresponding also not enjoy traveling, have, help, because their pension is less than $ 15 a month.
• That there is one doctor for every 400 inhabitants, but are virtual statistics because between closed offices, doctors employed abroad and unconditionally Centers for work, attention is getting worse, this situation, that lack of resources and equipment in the provinces, overload the service in hospitals in Havana, with a corresponding impact on quality.
• 4- The rights of working women (those who suffer most), are also fallacies in Cuba [that] do not fool anyone. [They do] not . . . for their double tasks–work home center or stipends to encourage them to procreate, commercial services in sales of home appliances. The Espín could never make the human life, [any] more fertile to their counterparts to ensure the productive forces tomorrow, given that in every community there exists a subsidiary FMC Center and sexual attention.
• 5- Of the workers, . . . [their] wages are below the poverty line. The minimum wage in Cuba is the lowest in the world, and [for] those with better contracts the state takes away more than half of their pay, also they are prohibited from striking, [organize] freely, being that Cuba [is] a member of the ILO and a signatory to the Conventions 87 and 98 on this subject.”

This earlier statement also asserted, “great Cuban monopolistic [government-owned] corporations such as CIMEX, Shops TRD, ETECSA, TRANSVAL . . . [violate] all kinds of transparency, democracy and legality regarding functions, powers and duties. . . . In recent months [there are] new cases of related desertions or state of defenselessness of workers mainly because their labor disputes . . . [are not investigated].”

Washington, D.C.’s American University Washington College of Law has started a fundraiser in support of Cubalex. The seizure of the Center’s equipment has put the organization in a “precarious financial situation,” and it”needs funds, not only to replace what has been lost but also to cover operating costs and continue their important work.”[5]

According to a Cuban newspaper, Diario de Cuba, the raid on Cubalex was just one of many recent government harassments and arrests of other dissidents: the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), the Independent Trade Union Coalition, the Ladies in White, the Committee for Racial Integration (CIR), the Partido Arco Progresista (PARP) and other unorganized dissidents.[6]

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[1] Cuban police storm independent legal center in Havana, seizing computers, InCubaToday (Sept. 26, 2016); Laritza Diversent: “They want to disqualify me as a lawyer and paralyze the work of Cubalex, Diario de Cuba (Sept. 24, 2016)

[2] Marti, Assail consulting Cubalex, Cuban lawyer who met twice with Obama (Sept. 24, 2016).

[3] Cubalex, Cubalex condemns the recent attack made [on] its facilities and demands an end to government repression (Sept. 29, 2016) The Cubalex lawyer who has been detained is Julio Alfredo Ferrer, who has been a previous subject of government persecution. (Gonzalez, Julio Alfredo Ferrer, the price of being an independent and efficient lawyer, Diario de Cuba (Sept. 26, 2016).)

[4] Cubalex, No rights, no human (May 4, 2016).

[5] The American University raises funds for Cubalex, Diario de Cuba (Oct. 1, 2016).

[6] Editorial, The regime unleashes repression all over the island, Diario de Cuba (Sept. 26, 2016).