This report will use the term "dissident" to refer to any individual who
expresses dissent toward the government. This includes a broad range of
nonviolent actors in Cuba, including human rights defenders,
journalists, and trade unionists, as well as members of political
groups, religious organizations, and other civil society groups not
recognized by the Cuban government, and thus considered illegal. It also
consists of people unaffiliated with any group who criticize the
government or who abstain from cooperating with the state in some way.
These diverse individuals do not share a single ideology, affiliation,
or objective.
It is not uncommon for dissidents in Cuba to exercise their dissent
through more than one medium. A person, for example, may belong to an
unauthorized political group and simultaneously monitor human rights
abuses. We consider this individual a human rights defender, a political
activist, and a dissident. At points in this report we will refer to
such individuals solely using the umbrella term of "dissident." The
Cuban government, however, does not differentiate between these
individuals or their forms of expression, branding all dissent as
"counterrevolutionary" activity and thus worthy of punishment.
New Castro, Same Cuba | Human Rights Watch (18 November 2009)
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/86549/section/4
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