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Thursday, January 15, 2015

Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations Could Be Good for Free Expression

Carlos Lauria - Senior Americas Program Coordinator at the Committee to
Protect Journalists

Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations Could Be Good for Free Expression
Posted: 01/14/2015 1:48 pm EST Updated: 01/14/2015 1:59 pm EST

The detention of several Cuban dissidents in Havana just before the
year's end -- and two weeks after the historical announcement of the
restoration of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba --
serves as a somber reminder of Raúl Castro's government's lack of
tolerance of dissent and the challenges that await in the difficult
transition ahead. The detention of dissidents took place hours before
performance artist Tania Bruguera was planning to stage an unauthorized
open-mike free-speech event, described by Cuban officials as a political
provocation.

In the last few years, Cuba has made minor and mostly symbolic openings
in the press-freedom landscape. Perhaps the most important one has been
the 2013 reforms in legislation that allow political opponents and
independent journalists and bloggers to travel internationally for the
first time in decades. Also noteworthy was the 2014 launch of prominent
blogger Yoani Sánchez's news website 14ymedio. While its content is
inaccessible to most Cubans, who lack unfiltered connections to the
Internet, its reporters have been able to work without serious restrictions.

But as the recent arbitrary arrests of dissidents show, the Cuban
government has not abandoned its repressive practices, intended to limit
the free flow of information. In fact, a Cuban blogger is listed in
CPJ's recently released 2014 imprisoned census. Ángel Santiesteban
Prats, also a writer of novels, has been serving a five-year prison
sentence since February 2013 on trumped-up domestic-abuse charges, in
retaliation for his criticism of the government on his blog, according
to many local writers and political dissidents.

Plans between the two countries to normalize relations for the first
time since the Cold War has debunked the arguments used by Cuba
throughout the years to justify the incarceration of independent
journalists. Cuban officials have argued that independent journalists
are "mercenaries at the service of the U.S. imperialism." During the
so-called Black Spring in March 2003, when the government then-led by
President Fidel Castro launched a widespread crackdown against
dissidents while the world's attention was focused on the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq, a total of 29 independent journalists were sentenced
to jail terms of up to 27 years. During court proceedings, it was
alleged that those journalists were charged with destabilizing the
nation because of their work for foreign-media outlets.

Analysts believe some of the programs that the U.S. implemented in Cuba
to promote democracy and human rights have played into the Cuban
government's hands. A secretly funded and introduced Twitter-like
program intendedto provide information to Cubans who have limited access
to the Internet was an effort by the U.S. Agency for International
Development to encourage political discussions in the island, according
to an Associated Press 2014 investigation. This program, in addition to
a recently revealed one to promote hip-hop music, have been widely
viewed asattempts by the U.S. government to undermine the Castro brothers.

As both countries are taking steps to normalize relations, the rationale
behind the imprisonment and intimidation of the Cuban independent press
could now become obsolete. The constant smear campaigns against
dissidents, including accusations of being CIA spies or State Department
covert agents, today appear outdated.

While there are numerous obstacles on the path to U.S.-Cuba
normalization, the effect of such an extraordinary turn in the
relationship between both countries could be positive for freedom of
expression. As a result, journalists will hopefully be able to do their
jobs without the ongoing threat of being incarcerated solely for
reporting and expressing critical opinions, and with the possibility of
having Internet access without filters, obstructions or prohibitive costs.

As Cuba remains hostile to dissent, it is clear that changes won't
happen at once. In order to improve its dismal free-expression record,
Cuba must ratify and implement international human-rights agreements in
order to guarantee freedom of expression and information, end the use of
detention, surveillance and smear campaigns against independent
journalists and bloggers, remove all legal barriers to individual
Internet access and extend access to the population at large, release
all imprisoned journalists, and dismantle a legal framework that
punishes independent journalism.

Source: Normalization of U.S.-Cuba Relations Could Be Good for Free
Expression | Carlos Lauria -
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carlos-lauria/normalization-of-uscuba-r_b_6472338.html

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