The impact of the Cubalex organization on the recent exam of Cuba before the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) It had a direct and verifiable impact on the development of the dialogue with the State. An analysis of the interventions confirms that the rapporteurs They systematically incorporated the concerns and questions suggested by civil society—including those presented by Cubalex., Museum V, Museum of Dissidence in Cuba, Race & Equality, OGAT and the Cuban Youth Dialogue Table—, turning them into official questions directed at the Cuban delegation.
One of the central areas where this issue was most evident was the justice system and its potential racial bias. The rapporteurs quoted almost verbatim the warnings about the lack of data disaggregated by race and the overrepresentation of Afro-descendant people in prisons. In their interventions, they cited key figures—such as the 581% of Afro-descendants in prison compared to 33.71% in the general population—to question the State about this disparity. They also asked whether the State plans to include ancestry as a variable in detention records and requested updated data on the ethnic origin of incarcerated individuals.
Regarding access to justice, the rapporteurs conveyed doubts about the effectiveness of Article 388 of the Penal Code and the administrative mechanisms. They requested information on the number of complaints of racial discrimination in recent years, the results of the investigations, and how many cases were resolved through fines or administrative sanctions without judicial intervention. They also questioned the absence of an independent National Human Rights Institution and the oversight mechanisms in detention centers.
Concerns about racial profiling and law enforcement conduct were also central. The rapporteurs noted the lack of laws explicitly prohibiting these practices and asked what operational protocols exist to address them. to prevent arrests from being based on racial stereotypes or physical appearance, as well as on its publication and application by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of the Interior.
Similarly, questions were raised about dStructural inequalities that affect Afro-descendant women, especially in contexts of poverty, precarious housing and access to employment. Although the specific term “cholera” was not used, the substance of these concerns was addressed, highlighting the influence of contributions from civil society.
Taken together, the rapporteurs used reports from organizations such as Cubalex as a technical roadmap, successfully conveying their main concerns to the Cuban regime's delegation and forcing it to respond on issues that have historically lacked transparency.
Responses from the Cuban State: figures, omissions and confirmation of concerns
In its responses to the CERD, the Cuban delegation offered information that, in several key aspects, confirms the concerns raised by Cubalex, especially regarding the racial composition of the prison population and the lack of effective mechanisms to address discrimination.
Within the justice system, the State rejected the existence of racial bias and attributed the disparities to historical and economic factors. However, it provided Data on the composition of the prison population: 42% white people, 33.3% mixed-race or mulatto people, and 24.7% black people. These figures, in contrast to the data cited by the rapporteurs on the overrepresentation of Afro-descendants in prison, reinforce the concern that there is a pattern that could indicate racial profiling, as Cubalex has been pointing out.
The delegation also acknowledged that between 2019 and 2025 only seven complaints of discrimination were registered—three of them based on race—and that none were substantiated. It also admitted that no law enforcement officer was sanctioned for racial discrimination during that period. This data highlights the lack of access to effective legal remedies and the ineffectiveness of existing mechanisms.
Regarding the oversight of the prison system, it was reported that the Prosecutor's Office conducted 43,957 inspections between 2019 and 2025, without any resulting sanctions for discrimination. Regarding institutional representation, figures from the Attorney General's Office were provided: 611 white prosecutors, 251 mixed-race or mulatto prosecutors, and 141 Black prosecutors, also highlighting the racial composition in management positions.
Regarding gender-based violence, the State noted that the majority of victims are white, although it acknowledged an increase of between 5% and 10% in mixed-race and black victims. He also reported on the creation of an administrative registry with data broken down by skin color and geographic area.
In matters of civil rights, the The regime's delegation disqualified human rights defenders., He argued that they operate with foreign funding and used the support for the 2019 referendum as justification for their political model. He also denied the existence of religious discrimination against Afro-Cuban groups.
Despite these responses, The government delegation only partially addressed several of the key questions. He admitted that the lack of disaggregated data is his “main challenge” and did not provide sufficient information on intersectional statistics. Regarding racial profiling, he merely denied its widespread existence and did not detail any concrete measures to prevent it. He also failed to provide a substantive response regarding the protection of human rights defenders from reprisals.
Overall, although the responses were selective, the process yielded relevant official figures that reinforce Cubalex's concerns. The acknowledgment of data scarcity, the lack of sanctions for racial discrimination, and the composition of the prison population are key elements pointing to a possible overrepresentation of Afro-descendants in the criminal justice system, which could be linked to racial profiling practices.
Key points on access to justice for Afro-descendant people in Cuba: