Acto de Repudio

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Acto de Repudio (Spanish, literal meaning: "Reject Action", scarce Mitin de Repudio ) is in Cuba coordinated by the government form of political demonstration called, which is directed against government critics.

These are staged measures of intimidation and humiliation, in which a large number of supporters and representatives of the government in civilian clothing gather in a public place to loudly verbally abuse individual citizens, prevent them from entering or leaving a beleaguered apartment, or sometimes even physically to attack.

history

The Cuban government led by the revolutionary leader and President Fidel Castro first used Actos de Repudio in large numbers in 1980 in connection with the mass emigration of 125,000 Cubans via the port of Mariel to the United States , initially with the significant involvement of those under government control (neighborhood ) Committees for Defense of the Revolution . At that time, the actions were directed against the numerous fellow citizens who had expressed their wish to leave the country and who had been publicly insulted by Fidel Castro as work-shy “scum” and “ lumpen proletariat ”. Since then, hate protests of this kind, which the state media describe as spontaneous expressions of popular anger, but which never take place without the direct involvement of state security organs, have become a frequently repeated phenomenon, which has also been used against opposition members since Raúl Castro took over the presidency in 2008 comes.

Actors and process

The actors are now usually no longer immediate neighbors, but members of special rapid intervention brigades ("Brigadas de Respuesta Rápida", since 1991), led by members of the security forces in plain clothes. Special delegations from the women's association or student members of the communist youth association have also appeared at Actos de repudio . As a rule, the addressees of the Actos de Repudio encounter an anonymous crowd, which is usually composed of members of relatively poorly educated social classes. In recent years there have been attempts by Cubans in exile to identify individual secret service employees and other participants by name using photos published on the Internet by Actos de Repudio , in order to deprive them of their anonymity and, if necessary, to justify their actions to friends or family members .

In a typical Acto de Repudio , the target person (s) 's apartment is besieged and the residents (and visitors) of the apartment are loudly threatened and verbally abused and prevented from entering or leaving for the duration of the demonstration - sometimes with active bodily harm. Stone and paint bags are also documented by several Actos de Repudio , as well as forced entry into apartments. Until recently, excrement and eggs have also been used as projectiles against apartments, a type of bitumen is often filled into condoms and injected into the house entrance, or the condoms are made to burst when they hit the wall. At Actos de Repudio you can regularly hear chants that have been known for decades, either insulting the opposition and sometimes dehumanizing them (e.g. “Pin, pon, ¡fuera! ¡Abajo la gusanera!” - “Out with them! Down with that Gewürm! ”), Or the revolution and the Castro brothers celebrate (e.g.“ ¡Esta calle es de Fidel! ”-“ This street belongs to Fidel! ”,“ Para lo que sea, Fidel ”-“ Fidel, no matter what "And" ¡Viva la revolución! "-" Long live the revolution! ").

Especially to hinder demonstrations or public gatherings of regime critics - e.g. B. the prominent group Damas de Blanco ("Women in White") - Actos de Repudio is also available apart from private apartments. Since the Catholic Church in Cuba intervened against the government in May 2010, the Damas de Blanco have been able to carry out their traditional Sunday silent marches in a suburb of Havana, from which they had previously been prevented by Actos de Repudio several times . At events announced in advance, prominent regime critics are often prevented by Actos de Repudio from leaving their homes and thereby preventing them from participating.

In the case of Actos de Repudio on a larger scale, the protesters are driven to the place of the protest in buses provided by government agencies, and the authorities ensure that snacks and refreshments are provided. In September 2011, an Acto de Repudio was announced in advance in a prominent government blog. The corresponding street around the place of the staged protest in downtown Havana was then cordoned off by uniformed police officers who, in addition to official domestic and foreign press representatives, only allowed state-authorized demonstrators to pass. Immediately in front of the beleaguered residential building, secret service employees, some of which had radiotelephony, formed the first row of the crowd and were responsible for the direct use of force with which the government critics were forced back in when they tried to leave the house. In March 2011 , for example, the Spanish news agency EFE reported on a similar intimidation action, also directed against a Damas de Blanco gathering , of loudspeakers installed on the street through which pro-government political songs were played, megaphones to amplify the choruses and a clearly visible one A list of uniformed police officers and civilian employees of the State Security.

There are only a few documented examples of prominent participants in Actos de Repudio : In 1980, several musicians of the Nueva Trova movement , including its best-known representatives Pablo Milanés and Silvio Rodríguez , took part in a week-long Acto de Repudio against the family of the singer Mike Porcel , who had (unsuccessfully) submitted an exit application and was expelled from the movement for this. In March 1990, the then President of the Communist Youth Union , Roberto Robaina , and the President of the National Student Union , Felipe Pérez Roque took part in an Acto de Repudio against Gustavo Arcos , who had turned from a historical participant in the revolution to a prominent dissident - Robaina (1993-1999) and Pérez Roque (1999–2009) later served as foreign ministers in the Cuban government.

In May 2012, 94-year-old Antonia Rodríguez Mirabal, whose home in Santa Clara had been the target of a violent Acto de Repudio she suffered directly , died of a stroke on the previous two days . The students and young people who carried out the intimidation against the niece of the woman together with members of the state security as well as uniformed representatives of the police and the interior ministry had, according to the family and members of the opposition, besieged the house for two days and pelted the family with stones prevented from buying groceries and shouted slogans. A week later, in the city of Guantánamo, the 74-year-old neighbor of an incarcerated dissident died of a heart attack during an officially coordinated mob attack on his family's home.

criticism

Amnesty International and other domestic and foreign observers have repeatedly pointed out the responsibility of the Cuban government for the Actos de Repudio as well as their incompatibility with human rights. In its public assessment of the current human rights situation, the Federal Foreign Office describes the Actos de Repudio as "worrying". As the only celebrities living in Cuba who feel connected to the political system, the popular musicians Carlos Varela and Pablo Milanés (independently of one another) expressly rejected the practice of Actos de Repudio in 2010 and 2011 , which, however, was not reported in the Cuban media.

The leadership of the Catholic Church of Cuba, which refrains from any criticism of the Cuban government, left in September 2011 in response to several requests from the Ladies in White and inquiries from international press representatives about the position of the Church on the increasing number of Actos de Repudio against the women's group Tell a high-profile press release that "it is not necessary to explain the Church's position on abuses directed against human beings in word or deed," it is "well known, and we have repeated on several occasions that it cannot give any justification for acts of violence of any kind. ” In the same statement, however, the church leadership also stated that the government had informed it that “ no national decision-making center has issued an order to attack these people ”.

Position of the Cuban government

The government does nothing against the phenomenon of the Actos de Repudio, but occasionally reports positively in the state media about individual actions and lets participants have their say. According to Cuban law, however, numerous elements of an Acto de Repudio that can be regularly observed fulfill objective criminal offenses. This includes not only insulting , coercion , damage to property and bodily harm , but also the criminal offenses of organizing (or participating in) unauthorized demonstrations, conspiracy to commit a crime and disrupting public order - the latter are often used against dissidents who publicly and nonviolently express their opposition to the government. The police and other representatives of the law enforcement officers present at Actos de Repudio would therefore be obliged to stop such crimes immediately and to hold the perpetrators accountable, which, however, never happens.

In his speech to the VI. At the congress of the Communist Party of Cuba in April 2011, President Raúl Castro said - just a few weeks after the street demonstrations of the Arab Spring , which received worldwide attention - on criticism of the human rights situation in Cuba: "In this regard, it is important to declare that what we will never do, is to deny the people their right to defend the revolution, for the defense of independence, the achievements of socialism and our squares and streets will continue to be the first duty of all Cuban patriots. " Many observers saw in the conjured" defense of the squares and streets. " Streets “a call to violence or at least a reaffirmation of the practice of the Actos de Repudio against any attempt at public demonstrations by the opposition.

In the Cuban online encyclopedia EcuRed , which reproduces the official standpoint of the government , it says that the people who gather to protest against government opponents were by no means ordered by the government, which is a false claim of the western press that it is in truth ( using the example of the Actos de Repudio against the ladies in white) to “young people and women from the people who spontaneously come together to reject their provocative actions”.

See also

documentary

  • Ailer González and Antonio G. Rodiles: Gusano. Cuba 2013, 48 minutes, available on YouTube (Spanish)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Fidel Castro: Discurso pronunciado por el Comandante en Jefe Fidel Castro Ruz (…) el 1 ° de marzo 1980 on the website of the Cuban State Council, accessed on October 17, 2011 (Spanish)
  2. ^ Amnesty International: Document - Cuba: Three brothers detained for dissent. Message on the AI ​​website of August 2, 2013, accessed on October 24, 2013 (English)
  3. ↑ Amnesty International: Cuba: prisoners of conscience / legal concern of November 27, 1991, accessed on October 17, 2011 (English)
  4. ↑ Juan Carlos Chavez: Proyecto busca identificar los rostros de lareprión en Cuba in: El Nuevo Herald of February 24, 2010, accessed on November 27, 2011 (Spanish)
  5. ↑ Pascal Fletcher: Miami project spotlights Cuba dissidents' attackers Reuters report of April 24, 2010, accessed on November 27, 2011 (English)
  6. ↑ Human Rights First: Human Rights Defenders in Cuba ( Memento of February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), undated, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English)
  7. ↑ Mientras Wilman Villar agonizaba, los esbirros acosaban a los opositores Video on YouTube with traces of an Acto de Repudio against the opposition Jorge Cervantes García, uploaded on January 23, 2012, accessed on January 29, 2012 (Spanish)
  8. ↑ a b Cubanos repudian manifestación de grupúsculo contrarrevolucionario (“Cubans reject demonstration of a counter-revolutionary group”). Cuban state television broadcast uploaded to YouTube in March 2010, accessed October 24, 2013 (Spanish)
  9. ↑ acto de repudio, 14 de octubre de 2013 filmado por Luz Escobar. Video on YouTube with pictures of a campaign from October 2013, accessed on October 24, 2013 (Spanish)
  10. ↑ Brutal Atropello contra las Damas de Blanco in Nuevo Herald of 18 March 2010, accessed on 25 September 2011 (Spanish)
  11. ↑ Acoso a las Damas de Blanco en su tercera jornada de protestas en Cuba in: El País of March 17, 2010, accessed on September 26, 2011 (Spanish)
  12. ↑ Cuba: detenidos en protesta in: BBC Mundo of September 28, 2007, accessed on September 25, 2011 (Spanish)
  13. ↑ Agence France Presse : Seguidores del Gobierno cubano acosan e impiden a Damas de Blanco ir a misa ( Memento of February 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) News of September 25, 2011, accessed via Google News on October 24, 2013 (Spanish)
  14. ↑ Damas de Blanco intentan nueva provocación imperial en La Habana in the blog Cambios en Cuba from September 21, 2011, accessed on October 17, 2011 (Spanish)
  15. ↑ Cuba: Diseccionando un acto de repudio a las Damas de Blanco in the blog Un Cubano en Canarias from September 25, 2011, accessed on September 26, 2011 (Spanish)
  16. ↑ Unos 200 paramilitares impiden ir a misa a las Damas de Blanco in: Diario de Cuba of September 25, 2011, accessed on September 26, 2011 (Spanish)
  17. ↑ EFE: Al ritmo de “pin, pon fuera, abajo la gusanera”, partidarios del gobierno repudiaron a las Damas de Blanco ( Memento of October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) message of March 18, 2011, accessed via Noticias24.com on October 24, 2013 (Spanish)
  18. ↑ Mike Porcel recuerda el acto de repudio que le hiciera Pablo Milanés y otros miembros de la Nueva Trova en 1980 in the blog El Imparcial Digital from August 31, 2011, accessed on October 17, 2011 (Spanish)
  19. ↑ Oscar Peña: Una apertura nacional in: El Nuevo Herald of February 26, 2011, accessed on August 7, 2012 (Spanish)
  20. ↑ Jorge Luis García: imagen del acto de repudio frente a la CCO Photo via Twitter from May 17, 2012, accessed on May 21, 2012
  21. ↑ Villa Clara: Muere una anciana tras dos días de actos de repudio in: Diario de Cuba of May 20, 2012, accessed on May 21, 2012 (Spanish)
  22. ↑ The Killing of a Grandmother in the Capitol Hill Cubans blog from May 20, 2012, accessed on May 21, 2012 (English)
  23. ↑ Muere una mujer tras sufrir un infarto durante un acto de repudio en Guantánamo in: Diario de Cuba from 23 May 2012, accessed on 24 May 2012 (Spanish)
  24. ↑ Amnesty International: Cuba: Fundamental freedoms still under attack Document AMR 25/001/2006 of March 17, 2006, accessed on September 25, 2011 (English)
  25. ↑ Federal Foreign Office: Cuba: Domestic Policy in: Travel and Security Advice (as of January 2013), accessed on May 18, 2013
  26. ↑ Carlos Varela Opposes Hate Rallies in: Havana Times of May 5, 2010, accessed on September 26, 2011 (English)
  27. ↑ Carta abierto de Pablo Milanés a Edmundo García in: Café Fuerte from August 30, 2011, accessed on August 7, 2012 (Spanish)
  28. ↑ Archdiocese of Havana: Nota de Prensa from September 5, 2011, quoted from Diario de Cuba from September 5, 2011, accessed on October 18, 2011 (Spanish)
  29. ↑ a b Human Rights Watch: New Castro, same Cuba (PDF; 1.7 MB), detailed country report on Cuba from November 2009, here section Public Acts of Repudiation (page 92f.), Accessed on May 18, 2013 (English)
  30. ↑ Amnesty International: Routine repression: Political short-term detentions and harassment in Cuba , section "Background", March 22, 2012, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English)
  31. ↑ Amnesty International: Restrictions on Freedom of Expression in Cuba (PDF; 594 kB), section "Harassment and Intimidation of Individuals", June 30, 2010, accessed on October 18, 2011 (English)
  32. ↑ Human Rights Watch: Cuba: Stop Imprisoning Peaceful Dissidents , news from June 1, 2011, accessed May 20, 2013
  33. ↑ Amnesty International: Routine repression: Political short-term detentions and harassment in Cuba , Section "Acts of Repudiation", March 22, 2012, accessed on May 18, 2013 (English)
  34. ↑ Raúl Castro: Report to the 6th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba from April 14, 2011, quoted from the FRG-Cuba friendship society , accessed on October 18, 2011
  35. ↑ Statement of the Steering Committee on the death of Cuban Activist Juan Wilfredo Soto García ( Memento from January 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) of May 12, 2011, accessed on October 18, 2011 (English)
  36. ↑ Propuesta de Castro, “una amenaza para los cubanos” in: El Universal from April 18, 2011, accessed on October 18, 2011 (Spanish)
  37. ↑ Damas de Blanco in: EcuRed, accessed on July 13, 2012 (Spanish)