21 March 2007
Cuban Repression of Journalists Deemed To Have Worsened
World community marks anniversary of "Black Spring" in Cuba
By Eric Green
USINFO Staff Writer
Washington -- On the fourth anniversary of the Cuban regime's crackdown
on dissidents, observers of Cuba agree that the country's communist
government continues to attack press freedom, and that harassment and
repression against independent journalists have worsened.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a March 20
statement that 59 of the 75 "independent thinkers, journalists,
librarians and academics" who were imprisoned in the crackdown remain
behind bars. McCormack said: "Those who have been released know that it
is 'conditional' and live with the constant threat of being sent back to
jail. They also know, as all Cubans do, that repression is on the rise."
Cuban experts described the two-week period of what was called "Black
Spring," which began on March 18, 2003, as the most severe repression of
peaceful dissent the island had seen in recent years.
McCormack said: "Cuba's future will be decided by the Cuban people. For
this process to begin, it is time for Cuban authorities to stop the
cycle of repression, to end the practice of holding political prisoners
and to release all political prisoners to their homes and families in Cuba."
Four years after Black Spring, Cuba still has 270 "prisoners of
conscience," including 25 journalists, which makes the country "the
second-biggest prison in the world for journalists after China," the
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said.
Greg Wiegand, a human rights officer at the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana, told USINFO March 19 that the overall press freedom situation in
Cuba has not improved since Fidel Castro named his younger brother Raúl
acting president of the country on July 31, 2006.
Another official, working in the State Department's Office of Cuban
Affairs, told USINFO that the plight for journalists in Cuba is "just as
dismal as ever." (See related article.)
According to the Havana-based nongovernmental group the Cuban Commission
for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, the number of independent
journalists in prison has dipped slightly since Raúl Castro took power,
but the Cuban regime has "ratcheted up" the level of harassment against
independent journalists, human rights and labor activists, and others.
Wiegand said that (usually brief) detentions, interrogations and
official warnings are among the forms of harassment that have increased.
He added that the Cuban government made headlines in February by
refusing to renew the credentials of three foreign journalists who had
been working in Cuba and asking them to leave the country.
In a February 27 speech, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
said Cuba has no freedom of association, freedom of speech or free flow
of information. Gutierrez, who co-chairs with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, said
the lack of press freedom in Cuba is reflected by the treatment of the
three foreign journalists in February.
The United States believes that "Cubans, like others throughout the
world, deserve fundamental freedoms," including freedom of speech, press
and worship, Gutierrez said.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) March 14 urged
Raúl Castro to release all jailed journalists in Cuba immediately and
unconditionally and "to stop persecuting the independent press."
According to the group, the Cuban government has labeled these
journalists "mercenaries" who have acted against the interests of the state.
"This is an arbitrary and vague charge unsupported by any evidence," CPJ
said, adding that its analysis of trial documents "further indicates
that the journalists were prosecuted for engaging in professional
activities protected by international law."
Another New York-based group, Human Rights First, issued a statement
March 15 saying that "it is past time" for those locked up during Black
Spring to be free. It added that many of those in prison are "suffering
from serious health problems, which have been triggered or exacerbated
by harsh prison conditions."
Human Rights First said the imprisonment of "these activists [and
journalists] was and continues to be widely condemned by the
international community, including the United Nations, foreign
governments and independent human rights organizations."
The State Department's annual human rights report for 2006 says the
Cuban government subjected independent Cuban journalists to travel bans,
detentions, harassment of family and friends, equipment seizures,
imprisonment and threats of imprisonment. Occasional physical attacks
on independent journalists, mainly by assailants in plain clothes,
occurred during the year, the report says.
The Cuba section of the State Department's Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 2006 is available on the department's Web site.
The full text of Gutierrez's remarks is available on the Commerce
Department Web site.
More information on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba is
available on the White House Web site.
The statements by Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect
Journalists, and Human Rights First are available on the groups' Web sites.
For more on U.S. policy, see Cuba and the United States and Freedom of
the Press.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=March&x=200703201219001xeneerg0.8823969&chanlid=wha
Cuban Repression of Journalists Deemed To Have Worsened
World community marks anniversary of "Black Spring" in Cuba
By Eric Green
USINFO Staff Writer
Washington -- On the fourth anniversary of the Cuban regime's crackdown
on dissidents, observers of Cuba agree that the country's communist
government continues to attack press freedom, and that harassment and
repression against independent journalists have worsened.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a March 20
statement that 59 of the 75 "independent thinkers, journalists,
librarians and academics" who were imprisoned in the crackdown remain
behind bars. McCormack said: "Those who have been released know that it
is 'conditional' and live with the constant threat of being sent back to
jail. They also know, as all Cubans do, that repression is on the rise."
Cuban experts described the two-week period of what was called "Black
Spring," which began on March 18, 2003, as the most severe repression of
peaceful dissent the island had seen in recent years.
McCormack said: "Cuba's future will be decided by the Cuban people. For
this process to begin, it is time for Cuban authorities to stop the
cycle of repression, to end the practice of holding political prisoners
and to release all political prisoners to their homes and families in Cuba."
Four years after Black Spring, Cuba still has 270 "prisoners of
conscience," including 25 journalists, which makes the country "the
second-biggest prison in the world for journalists after China," the
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said.
Greg Wiegand, a human rights officer at the U.S. Interests Section in
Havana, told USINFO March 19 that the overall press freedom situation in
Cuba has not improved since Fidel Castro named his younger brother Raúl
acting president of the country on July 31, 2006.
Another official, working in the State Department's Office of Cuban
Affairs, told USINFO that the plight for journalists in Cuba is "just as
dismal as ever." (See related article.)
According to the Havana-based nongovernmental group the Cuban Commission
for Human Rights and National Reconciliation, the number of independent
journalists in prison has dipped slightly since Raúl Castro took power,
but the Cuban regime has "ratcheted up" the level of harassment against
independent journalists, human rights and labor activists, and others.
Wiegand said that (usually brief) detentions, interrogations and
official warnings are among the forms of harassment that have increased.
He added that the Cuban government made headlines in February by
refusing to renew the credentials of three foreign journalists who had
been working in Cuba and asking them to leave the country.
In a February 27 speech, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez
said Cuba has no freedom of association, freedom of speech or free flow
of information. Gutierrez, who co-chairs with Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, said
the lack of press freedom in Cuba is reflected by the treatment of the
three foreign journalists in February.
The United States believes that "Cubans, like others throughout the
world, deserve fundamental freedoms," including freedom of speech, press
and worship, Gutierrez said.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) March 14 urged
Raúl Castro to release all jailed journalists in Cuba immediately and
unconditionally and "to stop persecuting the independent press."
According to the group, the Cuban government has labeled these
journalists "mercenaries" who have acted against the interests of the state.
"This is an arbitrary and vague charge unsupported by any evidence," CPJ
said, adding that its analysis of trial documents "further indicates
that the journalists were prosecuted for engaging in professional
activities protected by international law."
Another New York-based group, Human Rights First, issued a statement
March 15 saying that "it is past time" for those locked up during Black
Spring to be free. It added that many of those in prison are "suffering
from serious health problems, which have been triggered or exacerbated
by harsh prison conditions."
Human Rights First said the imprisonment of "these activists [and
journalists] was and continues to be widely condemned by the
international community, including the United Nations, foreign
governments and independent human rights organizations."
The State Department's annual human rights report for 2006 says the
Cuban government subjected independent Cuban journalists to travel bans,
detentions, harassment of family and friends, equipment seizures,
imprisonment and threats of imprisonment. Occasional physical attacks
on independent journalists, mainly by assailants in plain clothes,
occurred during the year, the report says.
The Cuba section of the State Department's Country Reports on Human
Rights Practices for 2006 is available on the department's Web site.
The full text of Gutierrez's remarks is available on the Commerce
Department Web site.
More information on the Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba is
available on the White House Web site.
The statements by Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect
Journalists, and Human Rights First are available on the groups' Web sites.
For more on U.S. policy, see Cuba and the United States and Freedom of
the Press.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs,
U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=March&x=200703201219001xeneerg0.8823969&chanlid=wha
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