Jalaj Sood 2a Cuba Essay A governments duty is to protect its citizens as without the citizens there would be no government.

Human Right Violations have been going in Cuba ever since communism took the reins. It is the biggest problem in Cuba at the moment as in every other aspect Cuba is a very developed country. One main human right that is violated is the right to freedom. Therefore, the Human right violations in Cuba impact the freedom of the people of Cuba and have worsened Cubas population, economy, political stability, and cultural influence. Communism took over in 1940, when Batista won the election in Cuba. At first, Batista had not seemed like a person who had a chance to become the leader of Cuba, but he slowly rose to power by labeling his opponents as Fascists and Reactionaries. After taking power, Batista became brutal keeping up the reputation of all Communist leaders that had preceded him in other countries such as Joseph Stalin. All of his opposition was quickly silenced and sent to jail. No freedom of any sort was allowed. Every single thing in Cuba was owned by the government which meant the government had control in almost every aspect of Cuba. This full control has really harmed the cultural influence throughout Cuba. After Fidel Castro rebelled against the Batista regime and took over power he became even worse than Batista. He allowed to religious practice what so ever, and made sure no one could meet in any religious gatherings. He labeled the country as atheist and religion was almost completely washed out, or so it seemed. Pope John visited Cuba in 1995 and delivered many speeches. His teaching allowed Cuba to open up a little bit more to religion and culture. Cubans were allowed to practice religion but still were not allowed to gather in high numbers. Therefore, despite allowing religion to be practiced Cuba still interferes in peoples practices and restricts what they can and cannot do. This interference of the government has significantly reduced the spreading of culture throughout Cuba as people are scared of practicing their religion fully. The Roman Catholic Church estimates that 60% of the Cuban population is

Catholic but only 5% regularly go to church. These statistics show the major impact the human freedom restriction is having on cultural influence throughout Cuba. Another major area these human freedom restrictions impact is the Cuban population itself. Cubas population growth rate shows that from 2000 to 2011, Cubas percentage of growth in its population has fallen from 39% to -.1%. The drop in percentage can only mean that the population has started to drop because of Human right violations. When people start to live in harsher environments they start to believe there is no sense in having children as they will have to live in the exact same harsh environment. This thought process significantly reduces the amount of children born in Cuba. Also, people who speak out against the government are either put in jail or executed depending on how badly they spoke. These harsh environments and executions leads to the death of many Cubans who tried to retaliate. This sort of mindset by the Cuban government also lowers the amount of people in Cuba. Therefore, these human right violations significantly harm the population of Cuba. Not only do these right violations affect the people of Cuba, but they also effect the government of Cuba itself. High political instability has rooted itself in Cuba because of corruption that causes these human right violations. Official corruption has crippled Cuba since colonial times, but Castros State run monopolies, cronyism, and lack of accountability have made Cuba one of the most corrupt States in the world. The Cuban government makes no arrest of people who speak out against them out in the public; instead they do it in the dark showing how much corruption they rely on. There is no way o ever find out which person in the Cuban government is reliable and which isnt because Cuba is just so corrupt. A corrupt government is an even bigger threat to human rights as they completely violate the human right to freedom, and there is absolutely no way to stop it. This corruption is increased as these right violations increase because more and more corruption is required to subdue more and more people. Thus, the Cuban government harming its own people is having an adverse effect on itself.

Lastly, human right violations have a major effect on the economy of Cuba. Communism looks good on paper, but reality it kills incentive. For example, Imagine there are 2 sets of people; one that work their tails off and another that slacks off completely. No matter how hard the hard workers work they will always receive the same amount of money as the slackers. This makes the hard workers believe that there is no reason to work because they will receive the same amount of money, so even they stop working. This ultimately leads to the salary of both groups decreasing. Now since peoples rights are being violated they have an even less of an incentive to work. The per capita of Cuba is only 9,900$, in comparison the US has a per capita income of 43, 387$. This shows how low the salaries of the people of Cuba there is. The human right violations significantly reduce the incentive of people which in turn creates nothing for the government to export. If I dont have the right to get money based on my level of work there is no way I am going to work at all. Thus, the right violations are detrimental to the economy of Cuba. Human right violations are the biggest problem for Cuba because they create so many other problems. When a government doesnt uphold its duty there will always be a numerous amount of problems. Human right violations restrict human freedom which decreases political stability, the economy, cultural influence, and the population of Cuba.

Work Cited Sergio Daz-Briquets. "Corruption in Cuba, University of Texas Press." , Corruption in Cuba, University of Texas Press. University of Texas. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/diacor.html>. "Cuba - Population - Historical Data Graphs per Year." Index Mundi. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=cu>. 19, November. "Human Rights Group Slams Cuba." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/19/world/fg-cuba-rights19>