The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba (FHRC) denounces the growing use of digital tools of cyber warfare against the peaceful opposition and dissidence in Cuba and exile. As a sample button we may mention that, among many others, UNPACU and FANTU (https://www.martinoticias.com/a/denuncian-cat-cibernetico-positores-cubanos/146670.html) have seen their email and Facebook accounts hacked on the island while the websites of our own Foundation have received more than 14,000 viral attacks that were effectively thwarted by our electronic security.
The techniques of cyberwarfare – which Alejandro Castro Espín seeks to expand in collaboration with Putin’s FSB – are now being crossed with the methodologies of “active measures” learned from the old KGB: to generate or exacerbate conflicts among various organizations and to discredit them all. They are resorting to the techniques of modern black propaganda. They falsify statements, edit video and audio tapes, and make photo montages that are then disseminated from the computers, phones, sites, emails and Facebook hijacked accounts of the opposition activists that they want to discredit.
In addition, sites dedicated to “black propaganda” and psychological warfare have multiplied. These blogs, often under the facade of fictitious names, provide a platform for state security agents in charged with spreading rumors, attacking the credibility of those who they find “uncomfortable”, and sowing disinformation lines that justify the repressive operations of their institution.
The Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba, that for decades has promoted universal access and constructive use of the Internet, considers that these are a serious transgressions that should not be overlooked.
The Cuban government shall not insist on transforming the digital space for the free exchange of ideas in a war field against the Cuban opposition. If they persist in this direction, they will be confronted with the efficient digital resistance of those who – from anywhere in the world – are ready to support democratic ideas.
Those who like to play cyberwars are warned: the people you intend to divide, discredit and crush are not alone.