Journalists denied entry at Havana airport

Posted on Fri, Aug. 04, 2006

MEDIA
Journalists denied entry at Havana airport
Journalists from around the world are rushing to Cuba to report on Fidel
Castro's illness and transfer of power. But many are being turned away.
BY NIKKI WALLER
nwaller@MiamiHerald.com

Since Fidel Castro ceded power to his brother Raúl on Monday night,
foreign journalists have been trying to get into Cuba to report on the
unprecedented move.

But Cuban airport officials have barred at least 11 reporters from
entering the country this week and ordered several others who managed to
slip in to leave within 24 hours.

Cuba requires foreign journalists to obtain reporters' visas before
arriving and then register with the International Media Center in Havana
to obtain accreditation.

Applications for the journalists visas usually take three weeks; for
many news organizations in South Florida, including The Miami Herald,
those requests often go unanswered.

On Wednesday, five journalists, including a Miami Herald reporter, were
stopped at José Martí International Airport outside Havana when they
arrived on a COPA airlines flight from Panama hoping to gain entry as
tourists.

Airport officials questioned the reporter, along with journalists from
The Washington Post, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and radio stations
in Chile and Peru. They all were denied entry and put on outbound flights.

Journalists in Cuba said media outlets with offices in Havana had
managed to slip in several extra reporters from abroad, without proper
visas, to help out. But when they went to register with the media center
they were ordered to leave.

Officials at the media center told journalists that while they
understand the foreign media's interest in the story, all journalists
must carry the appropriate visas.

The United States and several other countries also officially require
foreign journalists to obtain special visas. This requirement is often
ignored, however, and foreign journalists are rarely if ever checked for
proper visas while reporting in the United States.

Also turned back were six journalists who tried to enter Tuesday on a
Cubana airlines plane from Mexico. The group included Miami WPLG-ABC 10
reporter Glenna Milberg and a photographer and reporter from The Palm
Beach Post, all seeking tourist visas.

''There was a significant number of journalists on that plane,'' said
Palm Beach Post Managing Editor Bill Rose. ``A number of those were sent
home.''

The group was detained overnight in the baggage claim area at the
airport, where some journalists stretched out on rows of seats to sleep.
Over the 15 hours spent in the airport, Milberg said she made friends
with airport workers and customs agents, even sharing her copy of
Tuesday's Miami Herald.

''It was like Tom Hanks in The Terminal,'' she said, referring to the
movie in which a man, trapped for months in an airport terminal,
befriends the staff.

On Wednesday, the six journalists were permitted to roam the terminal
until their flight left.

Milberg and her cameraman filmed the scene in the terminal and filed a
report that aired on WPLG- ABC 10 Wednesday night.

The Spanish-language news agency EFE, which maintains a bureau in
Havana, is waiting to obtain more journalist visas so its Havana staff
can take a rest and prepare for whatever comes next, said Miami bureau
chief Emilio Sánchez.

''Nobody knows what is going to happen in the next days or weeks,'' he
said. He added that EFE has no plans to send journalists to Cuba as
tourists, even though the wait for reporters' visas could be long.

''It's not easy to deal with the Cuban government. Every time you ask
for something, they respond in a different way,'' he said.
Miami Herald staff writer Frances Robles contributed to this report.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/special_packages/fidel_castro/15194222.htm