Derechos Humanos / Human Rights

According to the new Cuban laws police officers can address directly any infringement of the Penal Law, with penalties of up to 1 year's imprisonment and/or fines not higher than 15 thousand pesos, without being required to report the case to the courts. In October, they will be granted authority over offenses of up to 3 years' imprisonment and/or fines no higher than 50 thousand pesos, with the approval of a prosecutor

July 22.─ The reforms of the Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Act adopted by the State Council to "ensure greater effectiveness and efficiency in the prevention and the fight against crime" raises a red flag about the situation of human rights in Cuba.

The amendments will come into force on October 1st. Their main objective is to expand the power of the police forces and lighten the burden of the courts, a solution that results in more than one problem. The main one is: Are the police officers trained to legally evaluate and judge a case?

"We Will Take Practical Measures to Physically Eliminate This Human Scum".- Ministry of People's Secutiry

Seoul, June 27.─ The North Korean government has declared their intention to kill a delegation from the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) this Saturday during a South Korea-based balloon launch aimed at distributing information and equipment into North Korea.

HRF, in cooperation with the civil society organization Fighters for Free North Korea, intends to travel to the border with North Korea and launch 5,000 helium balloons each containing a small package that includes USB drives, a transistor radio, chocolates, CDs and leaflets denouncing the North Korean dictatorship and offering an alternative view of life beyond the border.

"The Kim dictatorship perfectly illustrates their inhumanity and weakness by reacting to a non-violent educational effort aimed at breaking the monopoly of information over their people by threatening retaliation with deadly force. We plan to send accurate information and in return they menace with 'slitting our throats,'" said HRF president Thor Halvorssen who is in Seoul accompanying Park Sang Hak, a defector from North Korea whose organization has spent the last ten years providing his people with opinions that differ from the regime's official propaganda machinery.

May 23 (DP.net).─ Following the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy's (RedLad) Third Regional Assembly in Honduras last week (May 15-18), prominent members of the network have been publicly attacked online and in the media. The Assembly gathered more than 400 participants in workshops and discussions under the theme "Inclusive Democracy".

The World Movement for Democracy and the Participatory Democracy Cultural Initiative are concerned about the slanderous attacks against the participants and the threats and attempts of intimidation against them.

 Washington, DC, Mayo 14 (EFE).─ La agencia de noticias estadounidense Associated Press (AP) ha denunciado este martes en una carta al Departamento de Justicia el "intrusismo sin precedentes" de las autoridades federales por almacenar de manera secreta dos meses de registros telefónicos de sus reporteros y oficinas. China rechaza las acusaciones del Pentágono de espionaje militar

"Estos registros revelan potenciales comunicaciones con fuentes confidenciales a lo largo de un periodo de dos meses en todas las actividades de recopilación de información llevadas a cabo por AP", indicó Gary Pruitt, consejero delegado de la agencia, en una misiva dirigida al secretario de Justicia, Eric Holder.
 

Pruitt consideró esa información almacenada como "una intrusión masiva y sin precedentes" en las actividades de la primera agencia de noticias estadounidense.

De acuerdo con AP, los investigadores federales recopilaron información de al menos 20 de sus líneas telefónicas en abril y mayo de 2012 sobre las llamadas salientes desde sus oficinas en Nueva York, Washington y Hartford (Connecticut).