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CubaBrief: Human Rights Watch denounces rights violations against Cubans trying to protest the killing of a young black man in Cuba in June 2020 by police https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 1/
On June 24, 2020 in Guanabacoa, Cuba an unarmed 27 year old Black Cuban, Hansel E. Hernández was shot in the back and killed by the police. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 2/
Officials claim that he was stealing pieces and accessories from a bus stop when he was spotted by two Revolutionary National Police (PNR in Spanish). https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 3/
Upon seeing the police Hansel tried to run away and the officers pursued him nearly two kilometers. They claim that during the pursuit Hansel threw rocks at the police. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 4/
Officials claim police fired 2 warning shots and a third in his back killing him. Hansel's body was quickly cremated, and an independent autopsy to verify official claims is now impossible. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 5/
This would normally have ended silently with no one being the wiser, but Facebook and the courage of a traumatized family member prevented that outcome. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 6/
On June 25, a woman posted on Facebook a photo of the dead Black youth who, she said, had been the victim of the national revolutionary police a day earlier. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 7/
"I feel deep pain for the murder of my nephew Hansel Ernesto Hernández Galiano committed yesterday morning in La Lima, Guanabacoa (in eastern Havana), by two patrolmen (police)," she wrote. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 8/
"We, the family members, ask for mercy that this cruel act at the hands of our supposed national security does not go unpunished in any way. Because a police officer, a uniform, does not give the right to murder anyone in such a way." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 9/
"If we know very well that they are trained with personal defense, they must carry spray, tonfas, etc. " https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 10/
"Why then did they have to resort to their firearm and take a son from a mother, a father, a nephew from their aunt, a brother from their younger sister ... Noting that he was NEVER armed, please, justice." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 11/
Human Rights Watch on July 28th denounced that "Cuban authorities committed numerous rights violations in June 2020 against people organizing a protest over police violence, effectively suppressing the demonstration." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 12/
The human rights organization was referring to the murder of Hansel in Cuba by Castro's police a month earlier and the state security operation to shut down public protests over his killing. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 13/
Despite this, the Castro regime, their allies, and agents of influence in the United States are engaged in a campaign to promote policing in Cuba as an improvement over policing in the United States. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 14/
The Progressive, a magazine founded in 1909 in Wisconsin, on June 18th published "Foreign Correspondent: Police Lessons From Cuba" that claims "Contrary to the image of brutal & repressive communists, police in Cuba offer an instructive example for activists in the US." 15/
On July 26th the Minnesota Cuba Committee held a discussion titled "Police Conduct and Community Crime Control: Lessons of the Cuban Revolution". https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 16/
The main speaker was August Nimtz, a faculty member in the Department of Political Science, and African American & African Studies at the University of Minnesota. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 17/
What does real policing look like in Cuba, and civilian oversight? https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 18/
According to Cuban lawyer Humberto Lopez asked on June 10th, on an episode of his “Hacemos Cuba” TV show "recording the police officer isn't illegal or constitute a crime" ... https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 19/
... but “if this image is uploaded onto a digital platform without this person’s consent, then you are using it without their authorization,”would violate the right to privacy of the police officer under Article 48 of the Cuban Constitution. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 20/
The Cuban attorney added "that if the intent of the publication is to defame police actions, it is an administrative violation, which is subject to a fine, b/c it violates Decree-Law 370 passed in 2018, by the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications." 21/
Professor August Nimtz in a July 7, 2020 webinar titled "Why there are no George Floyds in Cuba" excused the killing of Hansel by Castro's Police as a "rare and unusual" event, claiming that it "was being exploited by Cuba's opponents to incite division on the island." 22/
Cuban diplomats from the Embassy in Washington DC also participated in the webinar. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 23/
If the United States had the same rules in place regarding policing then the killing of George Floyd may never have been known, and the young woman who recorded his death would be jailed or worse. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 24/
Professor Nimtz also mentions how The New York Times supported the Castro regime in 1959, but failed to mention that the same newspaper on January 25, 2020 published an article that recognized that systemic racism exists in the Castro regime. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 25/
Meanwhile Lizette Alvarez, a Miami based journalist, wrote an OpED in The @WashingtonPost on July 29th raising the question of hostility towards the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement by the Latino community in Miami, ... https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 26/
but failed to mention that BLM are self described Marxists that wrote upon Castro's death in 2016 a text titled: "Lessons from Fidel: Black Lives Matter and the Transition of El Comandante" that they tweeted, and ... https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 27/
... Opal Tometi, one of the founders of BLM, was photographed together with Nicolas Maduro a year earlier on September 29, 2015 after honoring the Venezuelan strong man at an event in Harlem. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 28/
The celebration of Maduro took place a little over a year from the international outrage generated by his ordering police and other security forces to fire on non-violent protesters, including many students. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 29/
Below are two cases that caught world attention at the time. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 30/
Bassil Alejandro Da Costa was shot in the head in Caracas on February 12, 2014 from shots fired by a group of police men and his killing was captured from different angles on three different cameras. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 31/
He was 24 years old. The day before he was killed Bassil posted over Facebook: "Gentlemen, he who is here will go out tomorrow to find a better future." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 32/
Another of these martyred students was Geraldine Moreno, who was shot in the head repeatedly with buckshot on February 19, 2014 by Maduro's national guard in Venezuela while taking part in a non-violent protest. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 33/
In one of her last tweets on February 17, 2014 Geraldine explained what motivated her to take part in the demonstrations: "No one sends me I go because I want to defend my Venezuela." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 34/
She died from her injuries on Saturday, February 22, 2014. She was just 23 years old. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 35/
If the BLM movement which has achieved an int'l dimension is about curtailing police killing black people then why would Opal Tometi honor the strongman overseeing the police force with the 2nd highest number of police killings in the world & also kills unarmed black people? 36/
Perhaps this is the reason for the "indifference" and "hostility" among some Latinos in Miami towards the BLM movement that Ms. Alvarez described in her OpEd. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 37/
No one can argue that black lives matter, and that society must do better to ensure equality before the law. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 38/
However at the same time, for some, that doesn't mean embracing a movement that while proclaiming opposition to police killings of black people, celebrates those regimes who's police do it in Cuba & Venezuela because they share an ideological affinity. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 39/
It is important to remember that the Civil Rights Movement in the US that counted among its leaders MLK Jr. & the recently passed John Lewis advocated non-violent change to enforce the provisions of equality found in the Declaration of Independence & the U.S. Constitution. 40/
They also rejected communism while at the same time reaching out to victims of repression from around the world, including Cuban dissidents. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 41/
Congressman @MarioDB on Jan 22, 2015 tweeted the image of American civil rights icon @RepJohnLewis seated at a table with Cuban dissidents, Jorge Luis García Pérez Antúnez & Yris Tamara Pérez Aguilera, remarking "What a historic moment: 3 civil & human rights heroes meeting." 42/
On June 8, 2020 @facecuba, a Cuban exile organization founded in 1982, had a statement published in @MiamiHerald in which they declared their "solidarity with the African-American community of Miami over the murder of George Floyd in MN while unarmed & not resisting arrest." 43/
"It is additionally important for us, freedom-loving members of the Miami community to join in denouncing the violations of Floyd’s civil rights by police, members of an institution that should protect life and liberty & not to deprive a citizen of them. We grieve with you." 44/
. @FaceCuba further underscored their declaration taking "sides 4-square with protesters that honor the tradition of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., who led the most consequential civil-rights movement in history based strictly on nonviolence. 45/ https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police
"The respect shown by demonstrators in Miami by not resorting to violence and destruction is to be commended. We want to assure those mostly young people that activism works in a democracy." 46/ https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police
"We applaud their civic awareness and sense of responsibility. We extend our hand in fellowship and offer a heartfelt abrazo, an embrace of understanding. FACE stands with you." 47/ https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police
Martyred Cuban dissident Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas in a December 2002 speech before the European Parliament explained that "rights have no political, racial or cultural hue. " ... https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 48/
Nor have dictatorships any political color: they are neither right-wing or left-wing, they are merely dictatorships." https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 49/
If we are to achieve positive change in this world on human rights, then activists of all political stripes will have to internalize these truths and apply them across the board. https://www.cubacenter.org/archives/2020/8/1/cubabrief-human-rights-watch-denounces-rights-violations-against-cubans-trying-to-protest-the-killing-of-a-young-black-man-in-cuba-in-june-2020-by-police 50/
