Cuba: Human Rights Activists Are ‘Disappeared’

Washington

In response to the disappearance in Cuba of two Cuban human rights activists — Robert Jiménez Gutiérrez and Cesar Ivan Mendoza Regal — Freedom House issued the following statement:

“Cuban authorities should either confirm Robert Jiménez Gutiérrez and Cesar Ivan Mendoza Regal’s are in custody or investigate their otherwise unexplained disappearance, as family members have repeatedly asked,” said Carlos Ponce, director for Latin American programs at Freedom House. “Authorities should explain or investigate the fate of the men since the last known sighting of them, when they left their homes on October 23 for Havana’s airport for a flight to Miami but without ever boarding the aircraft. It would be a grave mistake for the Cuban government to return to era of ‘disappearing’ its critics.”

Cuba is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2017, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2017, and Not Free in Freedom on the Net 2016.