Press Advisory
Center for a Free Cuba meets with UN Thematic Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly and Association and submits report and testimonies
Contacts: John Suarez (612) 367-6845 / Janisset Rivero (786) 208-6056
From left to right: Francisco Alvarez, Carolina Barrero, Jose A Gutierrez-Solana, Gina Romero, Carlos Galan, Janisset Rivero, Eduardo Ochoa and Evaristo Sotolongo.
Center for a Free Cuba, October 16, 2025, Washington, DC – The Center for a Free Cuba, together with the New York-based Human Rights Foundation and the Justicia Consortium, coordinated a consultative meeting with Gina Romero, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, to present an analysis of the violation of these rights in Cuba, along with testimonies from human rights activists on the Island. The meeting took place this Wednesday, October 15, in New York City and also included the participation of numerous former Cuban political prisoners who reside in the northern United States.
“The right to association and assembly in Cuba has been violated since the beginning of the communist regime on the Island and lies at the core of Cuba’s repressive system. It denies citizens the right to participate and punishes people for gathering or organizing around ideas that differ from the ruling ideology. The exercise of this right has not only led to imprisonment and repression, but also to the deaths of opposition leaders such as Oswaldo Payá, Harold Cepero, and Laura Pollán Toledo, among many others,” stated Janisset Rivero, Programs Director at the Center for a Free Cuba, who participated in the meeting.
The report presented by the Center includes testimonies from activists currently in Cuba, who describe the repression they have faced for trying to associate freely—testimonies that sharply contrast with recent claims by Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, regarding the right to run as an independent candidate in Cuba.
“In Cuba, the dictatorship violates the right to association, violating Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which grants every human being the right to assemble. In Cuba, that’s a crime. You can be jailed simply for gathering and talking about the situation in this country,” explains Julio César Álvarez Moreno, of the Cuban Alliance for Freedom Action, from Holguín in a video message.
(Video: https://youtu.be/Wvuo7CCeuK4?si=0kam7fa1jX1eDI_x)
From Guantánamo, Rolando Rodríguez Lobaina, director of the independent news agency Palenque Vision, shared his experience:
“I remember when I was active in Youth for Democracy, how many times we went to the Ministry of Justice to register our youth organization. There was never a response—because they simply don’t allow it. They say it’s illegal because we’re not registered or recognized, but they refuse to accept you as an independent organization. So, what are the ‘independent’ organizations they recognize? They’re the CDRs (Committees for the Defense of the Revolution), the militias, the FMC (Federation of Cuban Women)—the same groups they fill with propaganda, for example, in reports on children’s rights. These are the same people from the CENESEX, directed by Mariela Castro, who attend events and go to the UN to claim that civil society in Cuba supports certain proposals. But these groups are aligned with the communist process in Cuba. In reality, these are paramilitary-type entities used to repress citizens like me, or anyone else who thinks differently.”
(Video: https://youtu.be/YPhlljwjFaQ?si=SXyxwr2vkvm1wV4F)
From Havana, Mario Humberto Hernandez Leiva of the Opposition Movement for a New Republic, said:
“Regarding the legalization of opposition parties in Cuba—there’s no such thing. Our movement’s president has tried to legalize our group and has never received a response. Just like with the beatings we’ve received. I remember one day fifteen police officers beat me and left me on a highway, nearly dead. We tried to file a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office and never got a response.”
(Video: https://youtu.be/ymhqkU3fQbE?si=ldxSvCCVukzKXA5R)
The Center for a Free Cuba will continue to denounce the systematic violation of human rights in Cuba and support the Cuban people’s right to seek their freedom.
###