Cuban envoy in Turkey rules out missing persons in Cuba

ANKARA

Cuba's ambassador to Turkey said on Saturday there were no missing persons in Cuba after recent protests in the country.

In a statement, Luis Alberto Amoros Nunez denied the existence of secret locations in Cuba to hold people who have been arrested for any reason, adding: "Cuba is a party to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the convention against torture."

Thousands of Cubans staged huge anti-government rallies a week ago to protest against an economic crisis, frequent power outages and the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of protesters were arrested during the demonstrations.

Nunez said: "Article 51 of our Magna Carta sets forth that people in Cuba may not be subject to forced disappearance, torture, or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment."

He said the personal data of any person taken to a police station were recorded manually in a logbook and entered into an automated registry connecting all police stations, adding that these registries show the location of all detained people, anywhere in the country.

"The families of all those detained in connection with the recent disturbances are in knowledge of the place where their family members are being held. They have gone to the location with personal hygiene items or specific medicines for the detainees," he said.

The ambassador noted that a number of detainees have already been released as they did not have any criminal involvement. However, he added that others were under a non-custodial precautionary measure to remain at home and that some accused are remanded in custody as their case was in the preparatory phase.

He stressed that torture and enforced disappearances are prohibited in Cuba and that the current legal framework, including the statue governing procedures in detention centers, includes universally accepted fundamental guarantees from torture and other cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment or punishment.

"There has never been a proof of a single case of a tortured person in our country," he added.