For updated information on Cuba Independiente y Democrática (CID), its mandate and membership, please consult Response to Information Request ZZZ27981.E of 20 October 1997 available at Regional Documentation Centres.

The following information was provided during a 9 March 1998 telephone interview with the president of the Miami office of the Cuban Committee for Human Rights, who emigrated to the United States in 1988 after serving 14 years as a prisoner of conscience. The Committee was created in 1976 to promote respect for human rights in Cuba. While its members include former activists of the Communist Party of Cuba, the Committee is apolitical and founded on respect for the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Committee has about 400 members throughout Cuba, 117 of whom are prisoners of conscience.

The president stated that CID was founded in 1980 and that its current Secretary General is Hubert Matos.

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.

Cuban Comittee for Human Rights (CCHR), Miami. 9 March 1998. Telephone interview with the president.

Cuba: Dissidents Imprisoned or Forced Into Exile. 1996. Amnesty International. London: Amnesty International.

Cuba: Government Crackdown on Dissent. 1996. Amnesty International. London: Amnesty International.

Cuba: Improvements Without Reform.1995. Mariner, Joanne; Tovar Siebentritt, Gretta. Human Rights Watch. NY: HRW.

Cuba: Renewed Crackdown on Peaceful Government Critics. 1997. Amnesty International.

London: Amnesty International.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA). Yearly. Annual Reports: General Concerns and Brief Country Reports.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. Weekly.

Latin American Regional Reports: Central America and Caribbean Report [London].

News From Americas Watch [New York]. Monthly.

On-line searches of news articles.