| National Revolutionary Police Force Policía Nacional Revolucionaria | |
|---|---|
 | |
 PNR car, aPeugeot 106, being cleaned. | |
| Abbreviation | PNR |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 1959 |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
| Operations jurisdiction | Cuba |
| Governing body | Constitution of Cuba |
| General nature | |
| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | Havana |
| Parent agency | Ministry of the Interior Committees for the Defense of the Revolution |
TheNational Revolutionary Police Force (Spanish:Policía Nacional Revolucionaria,PNR) islaw enforcement inCuba, under the administration of theCubanMinistry of the Interior. Article 65 of theCuban Constitution states that "defense of thesocialistmotherland is every Cuban's greatest honor and highest duty".[1] Conscription into either thearmed forces or the nationalpolice force is compulsory for those over the age of 16. Conscripts have no choice to which service they are assigned.[2]
Crime rates in Cuba remain significantly lower than many other major nations worldwide, with Cuban police acting strongly against any crime, particularly inHavana.Fidel Castro commented in 1998 that "the war against crime is also a war against theimperialist enemy".[3] Information on murder and rapecrime statistics for the country have never been released by the government, but theft was estimated to be 6,531 cases in 1988, or 62 per 100,000 population.[4]
TheCuban penal system contained 19,000 inmates in 1990, approximately 190 per 100,000.[4] A major problem found within all of the different sources found about the Cuban jails is the sanitary part of the jails. It is difficult for the jails to keep things sanitary because running water in Cuba is limited. This makes the number of toilets and showers further restricted. The prisoners are given a towel, two bars of soap, and a tube of toothpaste that they must make last until the month is over in which they will then get a new set of everything to use.[5]
List of known prisons in Cuba:
As with many countries, the PNR is under the control of theMinistry of the Interior, which in turn reports to theCouncil of State. The Ministry of the Interior is divided into three divisions: Security, Technical Operations, and Internal Order and Crime Prevention. The latter is further divided into corrections, fire protection, and policing.[4] The PNR reports to this subdirectorate, and is responsible foruniform policing,criminal investigation,crime prevention,juvenile delinquency, andtraffic control. The PNR conducts these activities across the 14provinces of Cuba, each of which has its ownpolice chief who reports to a central PNR command in Havana.[4]
While the Internal Order and Crime Prevention controls the PNR, which is responsible for day-to-day policing, the Security division of the Ministry of the Interior is responsible for crimes such asespionage,sabotage and offenses against state security.[4] All these divisions of the Ministry of the Interior and the PNR have been closely associated with theCuban Revolutionary Armed Forces since 1959, thus the police uses the model those used by thePolice of Russia with military ranks.
In addition, the PNR is supported by theCommittees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR), apolice intelligenceauxiliary police organization usingla guardia, a nightlyneighborhood watch. The CDR also handle issues relating towater andenergy conservation,pet inoculation, andpublic health.[4]
The PNR have a wide range ofpolice cars, the most common being the Soviet-madeLada 2107 and the Chinese-madeGeely CK, the latter of which was introduced in 2009 to replace the older Soviet cars.Hyundai and newLada Vestas were put into service in recent years.[6] There are also a number of French-made Peugeot and Citroen cruisers, introduced in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but these are still vastly outnumbered by the Lada 2107s, which are ubiquitous throughout Cuba.[7] They have utilised radio communications as well as a computer dispatching system since the 1990s, made possible by the increased investment in the PNR to cope with rising crime during theeconomic crisis after thefall of the Soviet Union.[4][7] PNR officers are armed with asemi-automatic handgun (usually aMakarov PM orCZ-75) and abaton, and they "may use necessary force to apprehend suspects and to defend their person or that of any other citizen".[4] They are not issued any other type of weapon.[4]
On 30 July 2021, the PNR (as an entity), its director, Oscar Callejas Valcarce, and its Deputy Director, Eddy Sierra Arias, were added by theU.S. Department of the Treasury to itsSpecially Designated Nationals (SDN) list for the "violent repression of protestors in Cuba" during theJuly protests.[8][9]
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
