Dissidents are most often prosecuted under those laws, yes, which is a good reason to not have those laws. But I’m aware of at least one case where a Cuban dissident was apprehended and prosecuted for buying cement in the black market, something the government was able to know because they most likely had somebody tagging the person 24/7 [^1]

But that exotic case is not that much needed. Laws will be abused by the powers whenever they want; you don’t need to look farther than the current USA administration and how the president is using war powers to treat poor laborers as enemy combatants and send them to concentration camps. And yet, USA’s system of government was designed in a way that should have prevented the executive to abuse power; why it has failed is another (difficult) discussion, but the founding fathers seemed well acquainted with the despotism of other nations.

[^1]: https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20090828/cuba-detiene-a-disiden...