Overview
Cuba does not explicitly criminalise HIV non-disclosure, exposure or transmission, however it does maintain laws which prohibit the spread of diseases generally. The criminal law also allows for severely enhanced sentencing for certain offences if the defendant is known to have a sexually transmitted infection.
Article 187 of the Penal Code, ‘Propagation of Epidemics’, criminalises anyone who maliciously spreads or facilitates the spread of a disease with a penalty of three to eight years’ imprisonment. This provision also prohibits the violation of measures adopted by the health authorities for the prevention and control of diseases and epidemics, which is punishable by imprisonment for three months to one year and/or a fine.
Article 298 allows for an enhanced sentence of fifteen to thirty years’ imprisonment or the death penalty for those who have carnal knowledge of a woman (i.e. rape) and they are known to carry a sexually transmitted disease.
Article 299 similarly allows for an enhanced sentence of fifteen to thirty years’ imprisonment or the death penalty for those who sexually assault children resulting in serious injury or illness.
To the best of our knowledge, there have been no reported cases of HIV criminalisation in Cuba.
Laws
Penal Code
Article 187. Propagation of Epidemics
1. Anyone who infringes the measures or provisions issued by the competent health authorities for the prevention and control of communicable diseases and programmes or campaigns for the control or eradication of serious or dangerous diseases or epidemics, incur on pain of imprisonment from three months to one year or a fine of one hundred three hundred quotas or both.
2. The same sanction is incurred by anyone who refuses to collaborate with the authorities in the places of the national territory where any disease transmissible acquires serious epidemic characteristics or in the territories adjacent areas exposed to the spread.
3. Anyone who maliciously spreads or facilitates the spread of a disease, incurs the penalty of imprisonment from three to eight years.
Penal Code
Article 298
It is punishable by deprivation of liberty for four to ten years to which a person has carnal knowledge of a woman, whether by normal or unnatural means, provided that in the act there is one of the following circumstances:
(…)
The penalty shall be deprivation of liberty for a period of fifteen to thirty years or death:
a) if the act is committed by a person who has been previously punished for the same crime;
b) if the act results in serious injury or illness;
c) if the offender is known to be a carrier of a sexually transmitted disease.
Any person who has carnal knowledge of a child under the age of twelve years, even if the circumstances set forth in the preceding paragraphs do not apply, shall be subject to the same sanction as the one provided for in the preceding paragraph.
Article 299.1. Pederasty with Violence
Anyone who commits acts of active pederasty using violence or intimidation, or taking advantage of the fact that the victim is deprived of reason or sense or incapable of resisting, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for seven to fifteen years.
The penalty is deprivation of liberty from fifteen to thirty years or death:
a) if the victim is a minor under 14 years of age even if the circumstances set forth in paragraph 1 do not apply;
b) if the act results in serious injury or illness;
c) if the act is committed by a person who has previously been punished for the same crime.
Acknowledgements
HIV Justice Network's Positive Destinations
Visit the Cuba page on Positive Destinations for information on regulations that restrict entry, stay, and residency based on HIV-positive status, as well as access to HIV treatment for non-nationals.