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Nov 11, 2012 · Protesters in Palm Beach rallied and held signs demanding the release of Baltimore native Alan Gross--who's been locked in a Cuban prison for nearly three years.
Jul 11, 2022 · The 36-page report, “Prison or Exile: Cuba’s Systematic Repression of July 2021 Demonstrators,” documents a wide range of human rights violations committed in the context of the protests ...
- Overview
- He s just a kid
- Restrictions still in place
MIAMI — Brandon David Becerra Curbelo turned 18 in November in a Cuban prison.
The Havana resident was recently sentenced to 13 years for public disorder, sedition and other charges after he took part in unprecedented, historic protests that rocked the island in July.
"He doesn’t even know why he is in prison," his mother, Yanaisy Curbelo, said by phone from Cuba. "He tells me: ‘Mamá, I don’t understand. I yelled ‘Patria y Vida’ and ‘Cuba is hungry,’ but I didn’t do anything else.’”
In the U.S., the trials have left many people with little appetite to push to open better relations with Cuba, long-standing advocates of engagement say.
“The Cuban government’s response to the July 11 protests and now these three months’ drip drip of exorbitant sentences against those protestors dumps a whole bucket of cold water over any push for improving relations in the United States,” said Ric Herrero, the executive director of the Cuba Study Group, a non-partisan organization that supports civil society in Cuba and engagement between the two countries.
Herrero said members of Congress have privately expressed to him that they are hesitant about traveling to the island or about calling for re-engagement because the “stream of sentences being handed down would undercut their efforts.”
For Kendry Miranda Cárdenas’ mother, life has turned upside down since her son was arrested days after the protests.
He turned 18 in prison in October and was recently sentenced to 19 years on charges of sedition and other counts. His family is devastated.
“I feel awful. All these problems gave me a brain aneurysm. Now I can’t work, so I don’t have money to take food to my son on visitation day,” his mother, Kenya Miranda Cárdenas, said by phone from Havana. “My son is desperate. He’s just a kid, and they piled on all those years. When I visit him, I try to give him hope, but it’s all a lie. It’s a lot of years, not two days.”
Former Rep. Joe García of Florida, a Democrat, condemned the protesters’ prison terms. He said U.S. policy toward Cuba is "a hard policy because it is laced with anger, resentment, victims, brutal persecution and tenacity."
García, who has traveled to Cuba to create more engagement between the two countries, said the lengthy prison sentences become "fodder for clever politicians on both sides of the straits" — referring to the U.S. and Cuba — to have entrenched positions and ultimately to "do nothing."
U.S. farmers who visited Cuba recently on a trade tour said at a news conference that they would like to sell more products to the island but that the decades-old embargo complicates their efforts.
Trump banned U.S. companies from sending remittances via Cuban military-controlled companies, which included Western Union’s main partner. Cuban Americans still send remittances, but they use agencies that might charge more. The U.S. also suspended flights to all airports except Havana’s, making travel to faraway provinces difficult.
Miami resident Eloina Ramos, 77, hasn’t visited her 98-year-old mother in Ciego de Ávila since 2018. With flights restricted to Havana, she would have to travel seven hours by car from the main airport to get to her family — or go through a third country.
"They need to remove those restrictions, because they affect those who travel to other provinces," Ramos said.
Despite the impact of the restrictions, there haven’t been significant opposition or protests from Cuban Americans to change them.
Pressure to re-staff the U.S. Embassy is mounting as the number of Cuban migrants arriving at the U.S. has risen sharply — the number crossing the border at the end of March was up by 460 percent over the same time last year, according to internal Customs and Border Protection data obtained by NBC News. That outpaced the number of people arriving from Central America.
Fully re-staffing the embassy and restarting the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program would help some Cubans arrive through less risky means. The U.S. recently announced that it would increase the staff at the embassy in Havana and begin a limited amount of some immigrant visa services, but most Cubans still have to travel to Guyana for visa processing. With ticket prices hovering around $3,000, the trips are inaccessible for many.
Oct 19, 2021 · In most cases, peaceful protesters were sentenced to between 10 months and a year in prison, though a few were sent to house arrest after their appeal or were released after paying a fine, Human ...
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Jul 28, 2021 · State-run media outlets denounce demonstrators as vandals and looters. Police officers have gone door-to-door making detentions, human rights activists and protesters said. The July 11 ...
Jul 13, 2021 · 13 July 2021. Thousands took to the streets in protest over the government's handling of coronavirus and the economy. Dozens of people have been arrested in Cuba after thousands joined the...
Jun 13, 2022 · Cuba has sentenced 381 people for taking part in rare anti-government protests last summer - with some jailed for up to 25 years. The attorney general's office said 297 had received prison...
