Castrochavism’s “atrocious sentences” are state terrorism and a crime against humanity

(Interamerican Institute for Democracy) Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua’s dictatorships, who are in total control of their justice systems, hand-down “atrocious sentences” based on narratives and facts that have been counterfeited against innocent people in order to instill fear and terror on the civilian population and subject it. The sentences handed-down for the cases fabricated as a result of the 11 July 2021 protests in Cuba, against presidential candidates and civic leaders in Nicaragua, against members of the interim government and civic resistance in Bolivia, and against political prisoners in Venezuela, are State terrorism and crimes against humanity.

State terrorism is “the use of illegitimate methods by a government, which are intended to produce fear or terror amongst the civilian population, to reach its objectives and promote behaviors which would not normally occur by themselves”. It is a criminal activity that is carried out by committing directed, authorized, executed and institutionalized crime ordered and executed by the regime that ranges from; threats, intimidation, extortion, suppression of rights and freedom, violence, torture, assassination; all the way down to crimes against humanity. This is about instilling terror, “very intense fear” in the population in order to indefinitely continue holding power with impunity.

The International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute, in its Article 7, establishes the “Crimes against humanity” indicating that “for the purposes of the current statute, it shall be understood to be a crime against humanity any of the following acts; … e) Imprisonment or other serious deprivation of physical liberty in violation of the fundamental standards of international law … f) Torture … h) Persecution of a group or community with its own identity founded on the basis of race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, religious, gender, or other criteria universally recognized as acceptable…” k) Other inhumane acts of similar character that intentionally cause grave suffering, or which may seriously attempt against the physical or mental health or wellbeing”.

I call “atrocious sentences” these “rulings by judges or tribunals that violate the legal due-process and who hand-down cruel, inhumane, or disproportionate sentences violating human rights”. These are horrendous, appalling and inhumane acts of perverting the course of justice, “prevarication”, because “the crime consists in the fact that who is committing it is an authority; a judge or a government official, who knowing to be an unfair ruling, still hands-down such unfair ruling. It is about the criminal activities of individuals that have been empowered and bestowed with the title of judges when in reality they are executioners, obedient operators, charged with the institutionalized violation of human rights.

In the aftermath of the peaceful demonstrations of 11 July 2021, Cuba’s dictatorship has shown to the world its violent and criminal repression against the civilian unarmed population who were detained and were sentenced by despicable judges “to restore the fear”. The dictatorship ordered over one-thousand arrests and in January of 2022 acknowledged it was conducting 790 prosecutions including 82 minors, and on 16 March of 2022, the “Republic’s Supreme Tribunal” issued a press release informing on the ruling of the Popular Provincial Tribunal of Havana” condemning 127 protesters to sentences ranging from 6 to 30 years in jail” and declaring them to be “guilty of sedition and larceny”. Of the 129 people accused, they absolved one and gave one other a sentence of “4 years of correctional work without incarceration”.

Nicaragua’s dictatorship committed crimes of arbitrary arrests, false accusations, illegal imprisonment and torture against all candidates at the 2021 presidential elections who were disqualified in order to commit the crime of electoral fraud through which Daniel Ortega reelected himself for a fourth period. Up to February of 2022, in two weeks of trials, 17 imprisoned members of the opposition were found “guilty of conspiracy” and were sentenced up to 13 years in jail and the number kept increasing, including the sentencing of 7 presidential candidates who attempted to challenge Ortega “any of the ones who would have won the election”.

Bolivia’s dictatorship counterfeits Evo Morales’ resignation and flight in November of 2019 due to his electoral fraud and crimes he publicly committed, with the narrative of having been ousted by a “coup d’ etat”. The crime of “attributing the crimes committed by Castrochavists to their victims” in order to have impunity and counterfeit the story, was used regarding; the October of 2003 coup d’ etat, crimes involving massacres committed by Evo Morales in 2008/2009 and the massacres of 2010 and/or 2020 are repeated with trials against former president Jeanine Añez and an additional 78 political prisoners. Those being prosecuted are tortured to extract an admission of crimes they did not commit and subject themselves to “abbreviated prosecutions” through which two Generals have already been condemned to three years in jail. The regime now asks for a sentence of 10 years in jail against Añez who has been imprisoned for over one year.

Venezuela’s dictatorship has had its “atrocious sentences” with the 2015 “sentencing of opposition member Leopoldo Lopez to 13 years, 9 months, 7 days and 12 hours of incarceration” under the charges of allegedly committing crimes that the dictatorship committed at the protest marches of 2014. This type of crime continues to be committed in the dictatorship’s justice system under the direction of Chief Justice Maikel Moreno, President of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, who now has a bounty of five million dollars ($5M) for his capture and prosecution in the U.S. as part of the Nicolas Maduro’s Los Soles Cartel and for accepting bribery”

*Attorney & Political Scientist. Director of the Interamerican Institute for Democracy.

Translation from Spanish by Edgar L. Terrazas