Cuba, the country in the western hemisphere with the longest dictatorship, is for most Canadians a Caribbean paradise of sun and beaches. Before the pandemic, more than one million Canadian tourists visited the island in 2019. The reality is quite different for the vast majority of Cubans. They are victims of violations of their human rights, they live in poverty and, when they go out to demonstrate demanding freedom, they are severely repressed. According to Amnesty International, Cuban authorities arrested hundreds of people during protests in July 2021. The dictatorship continues to place independent journalists and human rights activists under house arrest and continues to persecute dissidents for speaking out against the government. regard to the government.

The Cuban regime has played and still plays a disruptive role in the geopolitics of the Americas since Fidel Castro took power at the end of 1958. First, in the context of the Cold War as an ally of the Soviets to propagate the revolution in Latin America. , as shown by the tragic interventions in the Venezuelan guerrillas in the 1960s, the failure of Che Guevara in Bolivia and the influence on the socialist Salvador Allende in Chile.

Second, more recently, in the Cuban government’s support for authoritarian regimes in Venezuela and Nicaragua. A recent report by the United Nations Independent Mission to Verify Human Rights Violations by the Government of Nicolás Maduro determined that agents of the Cuban state gave instructions, offered advice and even participated in intelligence and counterintelligence activities in Venezuela, activities that included the persecution, arrest, and torture of civilian and military opponents by the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (Dgcim).

The UN Mission indicated in the same report that there is evidence of crimes and violations that could qualify as crimes against humanity, which includes serious acts of torture committed by people from various hierarchical levels. in the same Dgcim and the “political police” known as Sébin.

Third, the Cuban regime is a close ally of Iran, Russia and China in the hemisphere, repeating on various platforms the propaganda and disinformation of these authoritarian governments of the Americas through its television channel Cubavisión Internacional, its news agency Prensa Latina, and a network of indoctrinated journalists, scholars, and commentators blind to the evidence of Caribbean communist abuses and lies. Political analyst Armando Chaguaceda described this disproportionate influence of the Cuban dictatorship in the world as the result of the complicity of a “progressive hegemony”.

Canadian ambiguity. Canadian governments (both liberal and conservative) have maintained a policy that can be described as ambiguous, and on several occasions contradictory, towards the Cuban regime. Motivated to do things differently from the United States, Canada has maintained diplomatic and commercial relations with Cuba, promoting tourism and business, with a few statements here and there denouncing human rights abuses on the island.

One could ask the Canadian government: how does a country that claims to defend human rights and freedoms around the world do so little or nothing to help Cubans make a successful transition to democracy? The issue takes on particular importance when Cubans themselves have gone out to demonstrate in several Cuban cities under the slogan “Homeland and life” and have suffered persecution and abuse for demanding freedom and democracy.

Canadian lawyer and Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) fellow Sarah Teich recently filed a petition with Global Affairs Canada (the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs) on behalf of the pro-democracy organizations Democratic Spaces and Cuba Decide, asking for sanctions to be applied to Cubans. officials implicated in recent human rights violations. These specific measures, very different from the United States trade embargo, will serve to freeze the assets and accounts of officials who have committed abuses of the rights of Cubans, and these resources could be used to compensate the victims.

During a recent visit to the Canadian capital Ottawa, Rosa María Payá, founder of the Cuba Decide initiative and daughter of pro-democracy activist Oswaldo Payá, apparently murdered by the Castro regime in opaque circumstances in 2012, expressed her hope that the Government of Canada change its position vis-à-vis the Cuban dictatorship. During a panel held at the MLI, a former Canadian government security adviser told Payá that it was better to change the “hook” and talk about reforms within the Cuban regime itself and not about “changing the diet”. The young Cuban activist replied, “Why should we Cubans have less right to choose our government freely in multiparty elections and with democratic guarantees than Canadians? We are also human and we have the same rights as all human beings”.

Last year, amid protests in Cuba, a group of Cuban-Canadians tabled a petition in the Parliament of Canada asking it to call on the Cuban regime for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained and imprisoned solely for exercised their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The Canadian Foreign Minister’s response, in addition to repeating statements by the Trudeau government about abuses committed by the Cuban government, emphasized the Castro narrative: “Canada also understands that the US embargo has an impact negative impact on the living conditions of the Cuban people and Canadians. who engage in legitimate trade and investment in Cuba… In addition, Canada has consistently voted in favor of Cuba’s annual resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for an end to the embargo on the United States.

This is a shameful statement by a democratic government that claims to respect people’s freedoms and rights. Cuba deserves better from the Canadian government.

*Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Ottawa. PhD from the University of Montreal. www.latinoamerica21.com; Plural media committed to disseminating critical opinions and truthful information about Latin America.