US awards Cuban dissident with ‘Woman of Courage’ honour

Havana — The US has honoured a Cuban dissident who for decades has defied the communist-run government with her on-island advocacy of human rights, a move criticised as hypocritical by Havana.

Marta Beatriz Roque, 78, a former economics professor and outspoken critic of the Cuban government, was one of 12 recipients globally of the US International Woman of Courage award, according to a US state department statement.

Roque was the only woman among 75 dissidents imprisoned in a 2003 crackdown on the opposition that drew international condemnation.

“Ms Roque is one of the longest-standing members of the historic opposition fighting for greater freedoms in Cuba,” the US statement on the award winners.

Roque has often been detained during her 35 years advocating for human rights and political reform on the island, she told Reuters in an interview in Havana before the award was announced. She said she served nearly five years in prison in two separate sentences.

Roque called her time in prison “horrible”, but said her work had been necessary to raise awareness of a growing antigovernment movement inside Cuba.

“We let the world know that we existed and that we were being repressed,” she said, recalling a time when few people — even those inside Cuba — knew of her campaigning.

The US decision to honour a Cuban dissident will do little to thaw the still frosty relationship between Cuba and the US, which has seen scarce improvement since Democratic US President Joe Biden took over from Republican Donald Trump in 2021.

Biden has criticised Cuba’s heavy-handed response to widespread protests in July 2021, which led to hundreds jailed on crimes ranging from disorderly contact to sedition.

Cuba and the US have long exchanged barbs around human rights, with Cuba accusing the US of systemic racism in policing and criticising it for its treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and support of Israel in Gaza.

“The US state department releases awards for supposedly brave women, while arming and financing Israel’s genocidal aggression against Palestinians, including women and children,” Cuba foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez said on social media on Wednesday.

Recipients were invited to a reception hosted by US first lady Jill Biden and US secretary of state Antony Blinken at the White House in Washington on March 4, but Roque did not attend, saying the Cuban government had forbidden her to travel to the US.

“They won't let me leave,” she said in the interview ahead of the awards ceremony. “The government of the US knows I won't participate. “Sadly, I won’t be with the other women there to represent Cuba.”

Cuba has long accused Roque of receiving funding from the US government, which she denies.

Since March 2007, the US state department has recognised dozens of women with the “Woman of Courage” award. Previous recipients include Brazilian prosecutor Simone Sibilio, who led the fight against organised crime in Rio de Janeiro, Bolor Ganbold, the first female general to serve in the Mongolian armed forces, and Alba Rueda, a transgender activist and politician from Argentina.

US diplomats nominate candidates and the winners are chosen by the secretary of state.

Roque said she was grateful for the recognition but said that change would only come from inside Cuba. “We in Cuba must find liberty from within, without depending on the US or another country to help us,” she said.

Reuters