The recent death of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has raised questions about the future direction of the country and whether or not the seeds of democracy will be planted by the influx of American visitors and dollars.
In the view of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, it's a "not-so-fast" situation.
As Cruz puts it, Cuba is still a dangerous country, especially when it comes to people who publicly don't agree with the government. Cruz made this statement about political prisoners in Cuba:
"In 2015, roughly 10,000 political arrests occurred in Cuba. That is five times as many as occurred in 2010, when there were only about 2,000."
Our partners at PolitiFact Florida took a look at this claim to see whether it was accurate.
PolitiFact reporter Allison Graves says that Cruz's claim rates MOSTLY TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter. Graves says that Cruz, for the most part, gets the numbers and the gist of the claim correct.
"Sen. Cruz's numbers are mainly accurate, but he would have been more accurate to cite numbers from 2016, which show more than 10,000 arrests," Graves said. "The data comes from the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, which is a widely respected organization based in Havana."
Despite being widely respected, Graves says that there are some caveats with the data.
"One of the issues we had with the data is defining the length of time the government detains you to type you as a political prisoner," Graves said. "Cuba has a sort of revolving door system, where they can hold people for months, days, or even hours, and they could still be considered political prisoners. It raises the question as to how many of the arrests led to significant time being held as a political prisoner."
Graves notes, though, that in the broader scheme of things, political arrests have risen since 2010, and it's not a stretch to make that claim. PolitiFact rates Cruz's claim MOSTLY TRUE on the Truth-O-Meter.
SOURCES: Cuban political arrests on the rise?
- PolitiFact ruling
- ABC This Week, Transcript, Nov. 27, 2016
- YouTube, Sen. Ted Cruz on This Week, Nov. 27, 2016
- Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, Data on political prisoners, 2010-Oct. 2016
- Cuban American National Foundation, "List of the Current Cuban Political Prisoners," March 21, 2016
- Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, "List of Political Prisoners Still Serving Unjust Time in Cuban Jails Whose Families Receive Monthly Humanitarian Support from CANF & FHRC," Feb. 19, 2016
- Associated Press, "Number of political prisoners in Cuba still murky," July 23, 2010
- Human Rights Watch, "Cuba: Events of 2015," January 27, 2016
- Amnesty International, "CUBA 2015/2016," Feb. 23, 2016
- Associated Press, "Number of political prisoners in Cuba still murky," July 23, 2010
- Miami Herald, "Cuba’s human rights abuses worse despite U.S. ties," July 19, 2016
- PolitiFact, "Donald Trump's Pants on Fire claim linking Ted Cruz's father and JFK assassination," May 3, 2016
- PolitiFact, "Are there political prisoners in Cuba?" March 22, 2016
- Interview, Phil Novack, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz spokesman, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Carlos Ponce, director of Latin America programs at Freedom House, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Marselha Gonçalves Margerin, advocacy director for the Americas at Amnesty International, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Sebastian A. Arcos, Associate Director, Cuban Research Institute, Florida International University, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Omar Lopez, Human Rights Director, The Cuban American National Foundation, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Pedro Alcántara, spokesman for the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, Nov. 28, 2016
- Interview, Eduardo A. Gamarra, Florida International University political science professor, Nov. 29, 2016