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Cuba: Whether individuals are required to make a monthly payment to their local Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR); enforcement provisions and penalties for non-compliance, if any (1991-1999)

According to the Miami-based Diario Las Américas, Cubans over the age of 14 years are "invited" to join their neighbourhood Committee for the Defence of the Revolution (CDR) (9 July 1998). Sources consulted by the Research Directorate estimate that over seven million individuals are members of such committees country-wide (ibid. 29 Sept. 1998; AFP 12 Jan. 2001; Cuba.ru n.d.).

In an undated report, a Russian-Cuban friendship society known as Cuba.ru claimed that CDRs have been self-financing since at least 1985, funding their activities through the use of monthly membership fees (ibid.). Maida Donate-Armada, formerly a researcher at the Cuban Institute of Research and Orientation of Internal Demand who is now living in the United States, indicated that an "average" CDR member pays, on a trimestrial basis, a membership fee of $0.25 [CDN$0.34] per month" (8-10 Aug. 1996). In correspondence dated 4 February 2002, a sociology professor who specializes in Cuban affairs at the University of New Mexico stated that CDRs collect fees from members; individuals who are not members do not pay such fees.

No information on the consequences of non-payment of CDR membership fees could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. However, in September 2000, Yolanda Ramos of the Free People Agency (Agencia Pueblo Libre) stated that while membership in a CDR now consists chiefly of paying one's membership dues and hanging a flag from one's balcony during official celebrations, "fear of reprisals" (temor a las represalias) is "probably" what is discouraging Cubans from withdrawing from CDRs in large numbers (Carta de Cuba Sept. 2000). Ramos did not indicate what form these alleged reprisals may take.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Agence France Presse (AFP). 12 January 2001. "Intensificarán los mecanismos de la represión." (CubaNet) <http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y01/jan01/12o1.htm> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

Carta de Cuba. September 2000. Yolanda Ramos. "Languidecen CDR en aniversario." <http://www.cartadecuba.org/comentarios_septiembre_2000.htm> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

Cuba.ru. n.d. " Los Comites de Defensa de la Revolucion (CDR)." <http://www.cuba.ru/view/docs/doc_read.php3?id_object=1112&id_rubr=1315> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

Diario Las Américas [Miami]. 29 September 1998. Ariel Remos. "Derrotada una moción que hubiera terminado con el embargo a Cuba." (CubaNet) <http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y98/sep98/30o4.htm> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

_____. 9 July 1998. " Arrecian la vigilancia casa por casa en Cuba." (CubaNet) <http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y98/jul98/10o3.htm> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

Donate-Armada, Maida. 8-10 August 1996. "Sociedad civil, control social y estructura del poder en Cuba." Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy (ASCE). Miami: University of Miami <http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/cb/cuba/asce/cuba6/37Donate.fm.pdf> [Accessed 5 Feb. 2002]

Professor, University of New Mexico, Department of Sociology, Albuquerque. 4 February 2002. Correspondence.

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB databases.

Unsuccessful attempts to contact five oral sources.

Internet sites including:

Amnesty International.

CubaNet. Apr. 1996-1999.

Human Rights Watch.

Sitio Oficial de los Comités de Defensa de la Revolución.

World News Connection (WNC).