USA Needs to Work on its Human Rights? Cuba Thinks So..

On Wednesday the United States and Cuba began talks to try and rebuild their diplomatic relationship after more than 50 years of embargos. However the next day Cuban officials bashed the U.S. A.’s human rights record. They refereed to  “Guantanamo Bay, to "police abuse" in Ferguson and New York to racial and gender inequalities,” as some of the ways that the United States has poor human rights. Cuba suggested "building up on the positive experience achieved in Cuba with regard to the enjoyment of human rights.” This is sad coming from one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Cuba is known to “repress individuals and groups who criticize the government or call for basic human rights.” And according to the Human Rights Watch, which published an article just last year, saying officials “punish dissent and instill fear in the public, including beatings, public acts of shaming, termination of employment, and threats of long-term imprisonment,"

So the question is, is the United States human rights situation really that bad? I think while we can improve in some areas, such as lack of equal pay for men and women in the same job position and racial discrimination, we are still leaders compared to a lot of other countries. To name a few Cuba, China, and North Korea, all tend to repress and punish their citizens if they speak out against their government.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/23/politics/cuba-us-human-rights/index.html

Ashley Rot