Photo: Cubalex Archive.
In recent days, a case in Santiago de Cuba has reignited a debate that concerns many people: why do law enforcement officers continue to use terms like “contempt” or “social dangerousness,” even though the latter has been eliminated from the Penal Code? This confusion is not accidental. Although the term pre-criminal dangerousness Although it was repealed with the entry into force of Law 151/2022, the authorities continue to apply their repressive logic through the so-called official warning records. Today, a person can end up in prison not for committing a crime, but for “disobeying” an arbitrary order or for “ignoring” a police warning.
An activist from Santiago de Cuba told Cubalex that he was threatened at the Fourth Unit of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR), known as the motorized. During the interrogation, Officer Mario forbade him from leaving his house with his cell phone and warned him that if he did, he would be arrested and have his belongings confiscated.
He was also informed that he had been registered in a file for “pre-criminal dangerousness” and that he could be sentenced to five to eight years in prison if he disobeyed future orders. Although this legal concept no longer exists, its invocation demonstrates how the repressive mindset remains intact and how officers use fear and misinformation to enforce obedience.
The crime of contempt remains one of the most frequently used tools to punish peaceful dissent and criminalize critics of the state. In the same province, former political prisoner Óscar Corría Sánchez, 25, was charged with contempt and arrested after refusing to work for the state.
His case illustrates a pattern that Cubalex has repeatedly documented: summonses or arrests without a warrant, the issuance of warning notices, and threats of sanctions for disobedience or contempt if the person “reoffends.” In practice, these notices replace the old concept of “pre-criminal dangerousness,” but with an even greater risk: failure to comply with a warning can lead directly to imprisonment.
Article 434 of the current Penal Code allows the Ministry of the Interior to “officially warn” anyone who, in its judgment, is likely to disrupt social order. Article 189, for its part, punishes with imprisonment anyone who disobeys these warnings, under the crime of disobedience. In theory, this is a preventative measure; in reality, it is a tool of social control. It is applied without due process, without the presence of a defense attorney, and without the person receiving a copy of the record. Furthermore, these warnings are often used as grounds to justify subsequent arrests.
This practice violates the principle of legality in criminal law, which establishes that no one can be punished for acts that do not constitute a crime, and transfers power from judges to the police, which international law considers a form of arbitrary justice. In Cuba, this type of measure reinforces impunity and consolidates the subordination of criminal law to the political interests of the State, rather than to the protection of the rights and freedoms of individuals.
It is important to remember that the pre-criminal dangerousness The law was removed from the Cuban Penal Code, and no person can be punished for the mere possibility of committing a crime. Official warnings are not court orders, but rather administrative acts without judicial oversight or supervision. If an officer threatens imprisonment for issuing a warning or for refusing to obey orders without legal basis, they are acting outside the law.
The problem, however, is not only legal, but also cultural. For decades, the population has associated police warnings with the outdated notion of “dangerousness,” and the authorities exploit this fear to perpetuate a system of social control based on intimidation and obedience.
Cubalex reiterates that no one can be punished for exercising their right to express their opinion, to refuse to work for the state, or to peacefully dissent. The use of contempt charges and official warnings demonstrates that the repressive structure in Cuba has not disappeared: it has simply adopted new forms to maintain the same logic of control.
Defending human rights begins with knowing the law and denouncing its arbitrary use. That is why Cubalex will continue to document every case, supporting victims and clearly explaining how the State uses criminal law as an instrument of fear and silence.