Capital punishment in Cuba

Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Cuba, however it is seldom used. The last executions were in 2003. National legislation provides for death penalty for murder, threatening to commit murder, aggravated rape, terrorism, hijacking, piracy, drug trafficking and manufacturing, espionage, and treason. The typical method is execution by firing squad.[1]

Overview

The 1940 Constitution of Cuba banned capital punishment for peacetime offenses, but the penalty was officially reinstated by law as well as in practice following the Cuban Revolution, in 1959. Some sources suggest that as many as 49,000 individuals were shot by firing squad in Cuba after 1959.[2] Other sources report that these numbers may be considerably higher, incorporating a very large number of extra-judicial executions. The last death sentences were officially commuted in December 2010.[3][4][5]

The last recorded executions were on April 11, 2003,[6] The case concerned three men who were found guilty of having hijacked a Regla ferry. The hijack occurred on April 4, 2003; during the incident, the plaintiffs were alleged to have threatened to kill passengers, demanding sufficient fuel to travel to the United States.[7][8][9]

In 2010, the sentences of all remaining death row inmates in Cuba were commuted. The last person to have their death sentence commuted was Humberto Eladio Real, who killed a man during an attempted insurgency raid in 1994. His sentence was reduced to 30 years in prison in December 2010.[10] To date, no further death sentences have been handed out.

See also

References
  1. "Death Penalty Worldwide". The Death Penalty Worldwide database. World Coalition Against the Death Penalty. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  2. O'Grady, Mary Anastasia (30 December 2005). "Counting Castro's Victims". Wall Street Journal.
  3. http://www.cubaverdad.net/genocide.htm#Other Sources:
  4. "Dödsstraffet i världen Dödsstraffet Mänskliga rättigheter Amnesty". Archived from the original on 2011-12-02. Retrieved 2011-11-29.
  5. United States Department of State
  6. when three men were executed by firing squad for ferry hijacking - Americas, Worls - The Independent
  7. Cuba, Hijack Timeline, 21st Century
  8. BBC NEWS | Americas | Cuba ferry hostages released
  9. "Cuba ferry hijackers executed". 2003-04-11. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  10. "Cuba commutes sentence of last death row inmate". BBC News. 2010-12-29. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
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