EMILIO ROMÁN, a resident of La Güinera, a poor neighbourhood in Havana, is the daddy of three kids (pictured), all of whom are at the moment behind bars. His two sons and daughter, aged 18, 23 and 25, had been detained on July 14th final 12 months, after participating in protests which introduced 1000's of Cubans out onto the streets. There they demonstrated peacefully in opposition to rampant inflation, energy outages, and shortages of meals and drugs. Additionally they denounced the Communist regime.
That regime has responded with trumped-up prices which is able to little question result in harsh punishments. As The Economist went to press, the state was holding a collection of closed trials. Some 60 protesters are charged with such crimes as public dysfunction, resisting arrest, theft, sabotage and sedition. Mr Román’s youngest son has been instructed that he could resist 15 years behind bars, although due to his youth his sentence might be decreased to seven. His older son is taking a look at 25 years.
Miguel Díaz-Canel, the president, has claimed with a straight face that “there are not any political prisoners in Cuba.” The truth is there have been greater than 800 on the finish of 2021, in accordance with Prisoners Defenders, a Spanish human-rights organisation. Over 1,000 folks had been detained after the protests in July. In all probability most are nonetheless in cells.
Earlier than the protests final 12 months, most political prisoners had been well-known activists and dissidents. Against this, these being charged this month are welders, artwork historians, biologists, athletes, taxi drivers and small-business house owners. A minimum of 5 are as younger as 16. Laritza Diversent, the director of Cubalex, a charity that gives authorized recommendation to the households of detainees, observed a surprisingly excessive variety of schoolteachers and medical doctors, two professions that are inclined to help the federal government.
The regime is clearly spooked by final 12 months’s show of discontent. It's clamping down on any contemporary signal of dissent with a brand new ferocity. A follow-up protest, deliberate for November, was squashed earlier than it started. Protesters are adopted, their telephones are tapped and observers are stationed outdoors their homes. Some have fled overseas to flee such persecution.
The sentences being doled out this month are unusually harsh and lengthy, even for a one-party state. The thought is to make detainees really feel helpless, says Ms Diversent. Sadly, it's working. ■
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