Cuba’s human rights abuses worse despite U.S. ties

(Photo: Desmond Boylan – AP)

On the first anniversary since Cuba re-opened its embassy in Washington, D.C., one thing is clear: the re-establishment of U.S.-Cuban diplomatic ties — which I have cautiously supported in this column — has not helped improve by one iota Cuba’s human rights situation. On the contrary, human rights abuses have worsened.

This is not a conclusion based on random anecdotes from the island, but the result of a well-documented report just released by the Havana-based Cuban Human Rights and Reconciliation Commission, the island’s oldest and most respected non-government, human-rights monitoring group.

According to the commission, short-term political detentions have gone way up so far this year, from a monthly average of 718 last year to a monthly average of 1, 095 during the first six months this year. The number of political detentions skyrocketed during the months before and after President Obama’s visit to the island in March, the monthly figures show.

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