Human Trafficking in [Cuba Street Children in [Cuba] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Cuba] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the
early years of the 21st Century - 2000 to 2010 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Cuba.htm
Cuba is principally a source of women and children
trafficked within the country for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Some Cuban children are reportedly pushed into prostitution by
their families, exchanging sex for money, food, or gifts. Cuban nationals
voluntarily migrate illegally to the United States, and there have been
reports that some are subjected to forced labor or forced prostitution by
their smugglers. - U.S. State Dept
Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Book Review by Russell L. Blaylock, MD -- Source:
NewsMax.com, Jan. 11, 2002 www.haciendapub.com/cubarev.html [accessed 30 January 2011] The stories of immense human
courage, while bringing you to tears, also fills you with hope for the world,
knowing that there are still men left in the world of such a caliber.
Particularly touching was the story of the young Pedro Luis Boitel thrown in a prison where he was starved, beaten
daily and tortured beyond human endurance for the crime of disagreeing with
the supreme leader. During imprisonment his legs became infected secondary to
the torture wounds. At that point he weighed a mere eighty pounds. He was
denied medical attention and eventually both of his legs had to be amputated.
He still refused to yield to his torturers. Not satisfied, Castro ordered him
thrown in an even worse dungeon where he soon died. This story was to be
repeated thousands of times. As proclaimed by Hillary Clinton
in her book, It Takes a Village, Castro
also boldly stated that the children belong to the State. Forced labor and
indoctrination disguised as education was enforced with a gun. Children were
forcibly taken away from their parents at a tender age and made to do hard
labor in the cane and tobacco fields. The American media saw it as Cuban
patriotism, as did the useful idiot American students who travel to Cuba with
the Venceremos Brigades. ***
ARCHIVES *** Human Rights Reports » 2005
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61723.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – Trafficking victims came from
all over the country, and most worked in the major cities and tourist resort
areas. Anecdotal information indicated that victims came from poor families;
in many cases, families encouraged victims to enter into prostitution. There was no information available
regarding traffickers and their methods. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of
the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 6 June 1997 www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/cuba1997.html [accessed 30 January 2011] [23] With regard to the issues of
drug abuse and trafficking, child labor, child prostitution and suicide, the
Committee takes note of the information provided by the State party that
cases involving children are few and isolated. Nonetheless, it wishes to
express its concern that, in light of the considerable social and economic
problems facing the country, insufficient efforts are being taken by the
State party to devise preventive strategies to ensure that such problems do
not become more prevalent, thereby endangering future generations of
children. Rights & Wrongs: Nigerian Justice, Gender Violence,
UAE and Juliette Terzieff,
World Politics Review, 03 Mar 2008 [partially accessed 30 January 2011 - access restricted] Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 7 Civil Liberties: 6 Status: Not Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=363&year=2009&country=7592 [accessed 30 January 2011] Human Rights Overview Human Rights Watch [accessed 30 January 2011] Refugee Admissions Program for Latin America and the www.state.gov/g/prm/rls/117282.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] CUBAN PROGRAM - At
present, the bulk of
Cubans
outside Cuba may be considered for resettlement if referred by the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or a U.S. Embassy Human Rights www.hrw.org/reports/1999/cuba/Cuba996-02.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] ARBITRARY ARREST, DETENTION, AND
EXILE - Trafficking in Persons Report 2003: Country Narratives Office To Monitor And Combat Trafficking In Persons, June
11, 2003 At one time this article had been archived and may
possibly still be accessible [here]
[accessed 4 September 2011] Letter about R. Perez [accessed 30 January 2011] The Cuban government is one of the
most represive regimes in modern history. You are right
that Cubans are very friendly and social people, but their spirit today is
not the same. One of Fidel's first tasks when he came to power was to install
block leaders whose task it was to spy on their fellow citizens and report to
the government. I remember a small Cuban boy who came to my house after Mariel and we asked him about conditions on the Island.
Crying he told us that he could not say anything bad about the government
because the "walls had ears." Cubans on the island are afraid to
tell you what is truly going on. New threat of sanctions against Nancy San Martin, The www.cubanet.org/CNews/y03/sep03/12e6.htm [accessed 30 January 2011] A Bush administration announcement
that Cuba will face economic sanctions for failing to curtail the sexual
exploitation and forced labor of Cuban minors will have little impact beyond
public humiliation, several experts say.
''Leverage is minimal,'' said DamiᮠFernᮤez,
director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.
``This really is more symbolic than anything else.''. A Criticism of FIU’s
"Humanities in Laida A. Carro,
President of the Coalition of Cuban-American Women, 2004 www.neoliberalismo.com/criticsims-fiu.htm [accessed 31 January 2011] As thousands of Cuban artists have
paid a very high personal and professional price for choosing not to become
instruments of an official "political culture," other Cuban
artists, used as spokesmen of the regime, create their work in an atmosphere
of double standard and self-censorship, given that "privileges"
such as publishing a book or traveling abroad are granted only to those who
obey and applaud "the Revolution." Will the course discuss those
artists subjected to forced labor for their "anti-social" behavior
at the infamous UMAP Cuban prison camps?
Will the FIU course mention the book "Out of the Game" by
the Cuban poet Heberto Padilla, imprisoned and
subjected to a "Stalinist" trial in 1970 for questioning Cuban
society through his verse? Just last
March and April, seventy-five peaceful Cuban citizens, among them writers and
poets, were arrested, tried summarily, and condemned to prison sentences of
up to 28 years. Will this FIU course mention two of these poets, Raul Rivero and Manuel Vazquez Portal, serving prison
sentences of twenty and eighteen years, respectively, for publishing
dissenting views of the government? Book Review by Russell L. Blaylock, MD -- Source:
NewsMax.com, Jan. 11, 2002 www.haciendapub.com/cubarev.html [accessed 30 January 2011] The stories of immense human
courage, while bringing you to tears, also fills you with hope for the world,
knowing that there are still men left in the world of such a caliber.
Particularly touching was the story of the young Pedro Luis Boitel thrown in a prison where he was starved, beaten
daily and tortured beyond human endurance for the crime of disagreeing with
the supreme leader. During imprisonment his legs became infected secondary to
the torture wounds. At that point he weighed a mere eighty pounds. He was
denied medical attention and eventually both of his legs had to be amputated.
He still refused to yield to his torturers. Not satisfied, Castro ordered him
thrown in an even worse dungeon where he soon died. This story was to be
repeated thousands of times. As proclaimed by Hillary Clinton
in her book, It Takes a Village,
Castro also boldly stated that the children belong to the State. Forced labor
and indoctrination disguised as education was enforced with a gun. Children
were forcibly taken away from their parents at a tender age and made to do
hard labor in the cane and tobacco fields. The American media saw it as Cuban
patriotism, as did the useful idiot American students who travel to Cuba with
the Venceremos Brigades. Fidel’s The One Who Owes Reparations Jamie Glazov -
FrontPageMagazine.com - September 6, 2001 www.davidstuff.com/political/reparationsfidel.htm [accessed 31 January 2011] Ever since Castro came to power in
1959, Cubans have been denied the right to travel freely in and out of their
country. They have not had the right of free association, nor of forming
political parties, independent unions, or any religious and cultural
organizations. Freedom of expression has been non-existent,
and the regime has consistently controlled and censored the means of
publications, radio, television, and film. Since 1959, more than 100,000
Cubans have experienced life in Cuba’s prisons or forced labor camps for
their political beliefs. More than 15,000 have been executed for the same
reason. Torture has been institutionalized. This reality is best epitomized
by the Camilo-Cienfuegos plan, a forced labor camp
program that was founded in 1964 on the Isle of Pines. Working conditions
there were barbaric. Prisoners had to work almost naked. They were forced to
cut grass with their teeth or to sit in latrine trenches for long periods of
time. Torture was routine. Forced Labor Continues To Make History With Cuban Tobacco Orestes Martín Pérez, www.cubafreepress.org/art2/cubap000317g.html [accessed 31 January 2011] So that the injustice is made
feasible, a legal mechanism exists that can be deemed diabolical. There is
only one buyer inside Cuba: the government, with the prerogative, moreover,
of establishing an absolute price for the farmers. Other regulations exist which
place today's harvesters in a condition not far removed from that of
forced-labor slaves. One example is the fines that can be levied if the
planting schemes imposed by the government are not fulfilled. Another is that
if a farmer does not fulfill his duties as prescribed by government, it will
take back land that had been "loaned" for his use. Sending Boy Back To John C. Eastman, Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence,
The Claremont Institute, May 1, 2000 www.claremont.org/projects/pageID.1806/default.asp [accessed 31 January 2011] The argument for not returning
Elian to Political Prisoners' Forced Labor Seven Days a Week Héctor Trujillo Pis,
www.cubafreepress.org/art/cubap981109f.html [accessed 31 January 2011] The forced labor plantation
managed by the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) along the highway to Maleza is obliging the political prisoners to work
without hourly limits seven days a week, according to Danilo
Santos Méndez, member of the Pro Human Rights Party
of Cuba. This group is affiliated with the Andrei Sakharov
Foundation. Legal Changes in the Area of Labor Relations Efrén Córdova,
Florida International University, Miami, Florida -- "Legal Changes in
the Area of Labor Relations", CUBA IN TRANSITION: Volume 3 - Proceedings
of the Third Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban
Economy (ASCE), held at Florida International University Miami, FL. on August
12-14, 1993 info.lanic.utexas.edu/project/asce/publications/proceedings/volume3/salas.html [accessed 31 August 2011] [scroll down] I. THE PRESENT SYSTEM - Any discussions of the labor law
and labor relations problems that may arise in Castro's According to the Stalinist model,
the actors of industrial relations, i.e. the employers and the workers
organizations, lose their autonomy and become entirely subordinated to the
State and the communist party. Employers are nothing more than subservient
bureaucrats who adhere to government policies and follow the instructions of
the planning agency. Labor unions are deprived of the right to draw up their
by laws and programs of action and become organs of the state and
transmission belts of the communist party. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Human Trafficking
& Modern-day Slavery - |
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Human Trafficking in [Cuba Street Children in [Cuba] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Cuba] [other countries]