Originally posted by
[email protected] 13 2005, 07:26 PM
heres the evidence Comrade , for the death penalty in Cuba..
"The increase in the use of the death penalty appears to have begun just after the introduction in March 1999 of new legislation imposing the death penalty for serious cases of drug-trafficking, corruption of minors and armed robbery. According to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Comisión Cubana de Derechos Humanos y Reconciliación Nacional, the death penalty is now possible for 112 crimes, 79 of which involve state security violations and 33 involve common crimes."
Whats Corruption of minors?
Full article on Cuban Death penalty (http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR250291999?open&of=ENG-CUB)
stop making quotes out of context, I think you didn't read the whole article or you are just ignoring facts that can bring a better understanding of cuban reality. Your previous posts on Cuba, Colombia and Latin-America shows your abstraction from historical reality and class struggle development in each country, and I sincerely think you should abstain from making absolutist statements if you don't know them.
let's see the 8 executions that took place in Cuba, in 1999:
CASES
Most of the death penalty cases mentioned are believed to have been convicted for murder with extreme or brutal violence and at least one case of rape. However, detailed information, such as the charges and dates of execution, is difficult to obtain since the government does not normally publish this kind of information and there are severe restrictions on human rights monitoring and freedom of speech.
Those reportedly executed during 1999 were:
CHÁVEZ PALACIO, Francisco Javier
Sentenced to death on 4 April 1997 for the murder of a communist party official during a fight in Bayamo, Granma province. Date of execution not known.
GARCÍA BERMÚDEZ, Carlos
GARCÍA GONZÁLEZ, Félix
Both executed on 10 March 1999 for murdering a 61-year-old peasant in his home during a 1997 robbery attempt in Sancti Spiritus, Sancti Spiritus province.
HERNÁNDEZ INDA, Irovelio
RAMOS RAMÍREZ, Reinaldo Daniel
Both were executed on 26 March 1999, charged with murder and the possession of illegal weapons. Irovelio Hernández Inda was from Camagüey province and Reinaldo Daniel Ramos Ramírez was from Ciego de Avila province. They were charged with a series of murders and the possession of illegal weapons.
MARTÍNEZ DÍAZ, Carlos Mario
Executed in March 1999 for murdering a 56-year-old acquaintance in 1997 in Santiago de Cuba province.
OSORIO ZAMORA, José Luis
Sentenced to death for murdering a child in Manzanillo, Granma province. Date of execution not known.
RODRÍGUEZ GALANO, Roberto
Executed in March 1999 for murdering a 56-year-old acquaintance in 1997 in Santiago de Cuba province.
SÁNCHEZ RAMOS, Félix Joaquín
Executed on 5 March 1999. He was tried in 1998 and found guilty of raping a 13-year-old girl in Las Tunas province in May 1997.
VELÁZQUEZ CABRERA, Luis Carlos
Executed on 5 March 1999. He was tried in 1998 and found guilty of murder, attempted rape and the abduction of a child in Las Tunas province in May 1997.
Reported people under death sentence:
CASTRO PÉREZ, Hermes
He was found guilty of murdering the guard of a nursery school on 18 September 1997 in Las Tunas province. In February 1999 his death sentence was ratified by the People’s Supreme Court.
CRUZ LEÓN, Ernesto Raúl
Salvadorean national Raúl Ernesto Cruz León was detained in September 1997 and subsequently sentenced to death on 23 March 1999. At the trial, which took place on 8 March 1999, he pleaded guilty to the charges. He was charged with "sustained terrorism", "terrorismo con carácter continuado", for carrying out bomb attacks against five hotels and one restaurant in Havana between July and September 1997. An Italian tourist was killed and eleven people were injured as a result of the explosions. He is still awaiting appeal.
DUARTE SCULL, Sergio Antonio
PELÁEZ PRIETO, Carlos Rafael
Sergio Antonio Duarte Scull and Carlos Rafael Peláez Prieto, who were sentenced to death on 22 January 1999, were convicted of killing four foreigners in Cuba. The two men reportedly confessed to murdering two Italian citizens in September 1998, a German citizen in November 1997 and a Canadian citizen in August 1998. They were the first to receive the death sentence following Fidel Castro’s speech on 7 January 1999, in which he stated that drug traffickers should face the death penalty.
Their appeal reportedly took place in late January/early February 1999 before the People’s Supreme Court. It is believed that the death sentences were ratified.
ESPINOSA, Rámiro G.
On 2 October 1996 Rámiro G. Espinosa was sentenced to death following a trial at the Tribunal Provincial Popular, People’s Provincial Court, in Havana. He was accused of assault, robbery and murder. According to reports, on two occasions he entered private homes and robbed and killed the residents. His accomplice, Raúl Calvet Díaz, who was also sentenced to death, had his death sentence commuted to 30 years’ imprisonment. It is believed that Rámiro Espinosa remains under sentence of death but this information is not confirmed.
PORTUONDO MEDINA, Francisco
Francisco Portuondo Medina was convicted of murder for killing a policeman on 31 May 1998 in Santiago de Cuba. He was sentenced to death on 3 March 1999 and is awaiting appeal.
PROENZA TORNES, Jorge L
Sentenced to death in 1998. No further information is available.
REAL SUÁREZ, Humberto Eladio
Humberto Eladio Real Suárez was arrested in October 1994. He was tried and sentenced to death in April 1996, charged with "other acts against state security", "otros actos contra la seguridad del estado", "firing an arm", "disparo de arma de fuego", and "murder", "asesinato". The charges were brought against him for infiltrating the country and the killing of a guard, Arcelio Rodríguez García. Six others involved in the incident were sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment. Humberto Real has still not had his appeal heard by the People’s Supreme Court.
RODRÍGUEZ HERNÁNDEZ, Jorge
Currently held in the Cienfuegos Provincial Prison, Prisión Provincial de Cienfuegos, Ariza, Cienfuegos province. His death sentence was reportedly ratified by the People’s Supreme Court.
RODRÍGUEZ LLERENA, Otto René
Salvadorean national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was sentenced to death on 30 March 1999, following a trial on 15-16 March 1999. He had been detained in July 1998 and charged with terrorism, after trying to bring explosives into the country. He pleaded guilty to the charge of terrorism for that act and for planting a bomb in a Cuban hotel in August 1997. He is still awaiting appeal.
SARRIA RICHE, Alberto Gregorio
Currently held in the Cienfuegos Provincial Prison, Prisión Provincial de Cienfuegos, Ariza, Cienfuegos province. His death sentence was reportedly ratified by the People’s Supreme Court.
SERRANO CAÑIZAREZ, Boris
He was found guilty of murdering four people, including a five-year-old child in Las Tunas province in February 1998. His death sentence was ratified by the People’s Supreme Court in February 1999.
Name not known
A resident of Holguín
All of these people faced a trial with the due process of law, as is it's said by the own amnesty intl. the some cases are pending on court of appeal ratifying.
Now, this year in US there were more than 50 executions, reaching a number of more than 1000 executed since 1976, including children and mentally disordered people.
"On 1 November 1979 the Cuban Penal Code, Código Penal, (Law 21) became effective which replaced the 1936 Code of Social Defence, Código de Seguridad Social and the Code of Military Justice, Ley de Delitos Militares. According to Article 29 of the Penal Code:
1. Sentence of death is of an exceptional nature and is only to be applied by the courts in the case of offences of a serious nature for which it is an established penalty.
2. Sentence of death cannot be imposed on those who are under 20 years of age or on women who committed the offence while pregnant or who are pregnant at the time the sentence is passed.
3. The death sentence is carried out by firing squad
A new Penal Code came into force in April 1988 (Law 62) , which reduced the number of capital offences.
On 25 August 1997 a new Penal Code was introduced under Decree 175, making stricter rules for crimes, such as corruption, prostitution and drug trafficking. No change was made to the death penalty which was maintained for exceptional cases.
However, on 15 February 1999 Cuba’s National Assembly, Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular, passed new legislation (Law 87), imposing the death penalty for serious cases of drug-trafficking, corruption of minors and armed robbery"
have you ever asked yourself what happened in 1999 so Cuba took such a strict stance on criminal law? Drug-traffick that linked some cuban bureocrats (not minor offences), child prostitution and provocations by US paid mercenaries ring any bell?
by the way, look at the report on other american countries:
Colombia:
In the first half of 2004, at least 1,400 civilians were killed or “disappeared”. During the year, around 1,250 people were kidnapped and 287,000 were forced to flee their homes
http://web.amnesty.org/report2005/col-summary-eng
USA
Hundreds of detainees continued to be held without charge or trial at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Thousands of people were detained during US military and security operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and routinely denied access to their families and lawyers.
In the USA, more than 40 people died after being struck by police tasers, raising concern about the safety of such weapons. The death penalty continued to be imposed and carried out.
In 2004, 59 people were executed, bringing to 944 the total number of prisoners put to death since the US Supreme Court lifted a moratorium on executions in 1976. Texas accounted for 23 of the year’s executions, and 336 of all the executions in the USA since 1976. Five people were released from death row in 2004 on grounds of innocence, bringing to 117 the total number of such cases since 1973