"Long Live Socialism" CDR billboard in countryside on the way from Havana to Pinar del Rio.

Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (Spanish: Comités de Defensa de la Revolución), or CDR, is a network of committees across Cuba. The organizations are designed to put medical, educational or other campaigns into national effect, and to report "counter-revolutionary" activity.^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (705x768, 102 KB) Modification of Image:CubaSocialismo. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (705x768, 102 KB) Modification of Image:CubaSocialismo. ... Havana (Spanish in full: La Habana, formerly named San Cristóbal de La Habana; UN/LOCODE: CU HAV) is the capital of Cuba and of one of the 14 provinces of Cuba, the one named Ciudad de La Habana), with a population of more than 2. ... Pinar del Río is a city in Cuba. ... A committee is a (relatively) small group that can serve one of several functions: Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. ...

Local CDR members elect the president and vice-president of their chapter and discussion in CDR meetings are generally free, and debates are lively. They are considered by some, the basis of grassroots Cuban democracy, and by others a spy network.

The CDR system was formed on September 28, 1960, following the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista during the Cuban Revolution. The slogan of the CDR is, "¡En cada barrio, Revolución!" ("In every neighborhood, Revolution!") It claims a membership of 7.6 million. September 28 is the 271st day of the year (272nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... General Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar (pronounced ) (January 16, 1901 – August 6, 1973) was the de facto military leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1940 and the de jure President of Cuba from 1940 to 1944. ... The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista’s regime by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new Cuban government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s. ... Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district. ...

The CDR officials have the duty to know the activities of each person in their respective blocks. There is an individual file kept on each block resident, some of which reveal the internal dynamics of households. [1]

Other responsibilities include arranging festivals, administrating voluntary community projects and organizing mass rallies. The CDRs are organized on a geographical basis and act as a center for many who do not work in farms or factories, hence the commitees have a large proportion of female membership.^[1] The commitees have been cited by certain Human rights groups as being involved in activity described in Cuba as "acts of repudiation". These acts are alleged to include abuse, intimidation and sometimes physical assault against those deemed "counter-revolutionary".^[2] Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... According to Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government has broad authority to restrict freedom of speech, association, assembly, press, and movement. ...

External links

• Official CDR site, in Spanish
• CDR site in the Communist Party page, in Spanish
• Photo of a CDR meeting point in Havana
• Role and structure of the CDR in Cuba

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Hugh Thomas : Cuba, the pursuit of freedom p.996
2. ^ Amnesty International report 2006