Cuban lawmakers on Sunday approved a new penal code for the country that is being critiqued by some rights groups who say its clause on foreign funding may be used to unjustly stifle dissent and independent journalism in the wake of widespread anti-government protests last July.
The government said the new code, which replaces a more than 30-year old penal law drafted under former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, is in line with the country's new constitution approved by referendum in 2019, as well as international treaties.
But some international media groups have warned that one key amendment could have a chilling effect on journalists. The Cuban government has alleged that protests last July, widely considered to be the largest since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, were financed and fomented by the United States - a crime that could now face stiffer penalties.The law also sets the age of criminal responsibility at 16, though for those under 18 it limits jail time to "serious crimes due to their social or economic connotation, or [those] that threaten the security of the State.
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