(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Roberto T. Díaz Sotolongo, RSF protested the arrest of José Orlando González Bridon, accused of distributing “enemy propaganda” and “false information” after publishing an article on a foreign-based website. He risks being sentenced to seven years in prison. RSF asked for his immediate release and the dismissal […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Roberto T. Díaz Sotolongo, RSF protested the arrest of José Orlando González Bridon, accused of distributing “enemy propaganda” and “false information” after publishing an article on a foreign-based website. He risks being sentenced to seven years in prison. RSF asked for his immediate release and the dismissal of all charges against him. “This arrest represents a toughening of the repression against dissidents who publish their ideas on the web,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “The Cuban authorities are no longer satisfied with controlling access to the net on the island, they are also repressing the distribution of information on sites which the Cuban population does not even have access to,” added Ménard.
According to information collected by RSF, in mid-April 2001, González Bridon’s family was informed that he would be tried on 10 May. González Bridon is the secretary-general of the Cuban Democratic Workers’ Confederation (Confederacion de Trabajadores Democráticos de Cuba, CTDC), an illegal entity. He is accused of distributing “enemy propaganda” and “false information” with the aim of “provoking public disorder”. He risks being sentenced to seven years imprisonment. In an article published on 5 August 2000 on the Cuba Free Press website (cubafreepress.org), based in Florida (U.S.A.), the trade unionist called into question the authorities’ responsibility in the death of National CTDC Coordinator Joanna González Herrera. González Bridon also reported this information, which was deemed “subversive” by the court, on a Miami-based radio station. He was arrested on 15 December and has been detained as a precautionary measure. Aged fifty, he suffers from kidney problems. González Bridon is also a member of the illegal 30 November Frank País Democratic party (Partido Democrático 30 de noviembre Frank País). In Cuba, only the government press, unions and official political organisations are authorised.
RSF recalls that journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padron, director of the independent press agency Línea Sur Press, is still imprisoned (see IFEX alerts of 12 April, 26 and 12 March and 20 February 2001, 25 July and 11 April 2000, 10 December, 22 October, 17 June and 29 January 1999 and 21 September 1998). In November 1997, he was convicted and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for insulting (“desacato”) President Fidel Castro and vice president Carlos Lage. He is being held at a forced labour camp in El Diamante, in Cienfuegos province (centre of the island). Believing that he was not “politically re-educated” yet, the camp authorities denied his petition for conditional leave on 1 April. Theoretically, he could have had recourse to such an option as of October for having completed half of his sentence.
In a report titled “The enemies of the Internet”, published by RSF in March, the organisation noted:
“In 1996, the Cuban government adopted Law 209 entitled ‘Access from the Republic of Cuba to the global network.’ A direct connection (64 Kbps) with the United States of America was made. Until then, Cuba only possessed access via Canada. Use of the Internet, according to this law, should not ‘violate the moral principles of Cuban society nor the country’s laws.’ E-mail should not ‘compromise national security.’ On the other hand, on 13 January 2000, Castro created the Information Technology and Communications Ministry and announced that he wanted to ‘transform Cuba into an information society.’ Former Industry and Electronics Minister Roberto González Planas was named the head of this ministry, in charge of ‘regulating, directing, supervising and controlling Cuban politics in the area of communications and information technology, telecommunications, networks, broadcasting, radio frequencies, the postal service, and the electronics industry.'”
Castro regularly condemns this “manipulative instrument of capitalism, in which the majority of the information is available in English.” Citizens who wish to have access to the Internet must provide a “valid reason”. If their petition is granted, a contract of use with restrictive clauses is signed. Only the Cuban nomenclature has access to the Internet: politicians, high-ranking civil servants, intellectuals and journalists who are close to the circles of power, as well as embassies and foreign companies. Cuban exporting communities do not have complete access to the Net and are limited to e-mail.
A black market for e-mail addresses has arisen, serving the few Cubans who have access to a computer. Similar to fax copiers, computers must be declared to the government. Cuban Internet users suspect that information services intercept their e-mails because foreign messages either arrive hours after they have been sent or not at all.
All Internet traffic is centralised in a single machine, which carries out censorship via filters. Many sites are not available from Cuba. The filter is implemented on various levels: the site’s URL, the IP address and its content are all carefully controlled through a list of hundreds of key words. Some young Internet users, however, have been able to access the entire Net, prevailing over the obstacles.
Indirectly, the Internet permits independent journalists (a hundred or so in the island, harassed and considered “counterrevolutionary”) to enlarge their audience. Even though they do not have access to the Net, Cuban communities in exile (particularly in Miami) spread their articles transmitted by telephone or by fax.
Official newspapers “Granma”, “Juventud Rebelde” or “Trabajadores”, and the national news agency Prensa Latina each have a website. The Cuban regime censures the Internet but also uses it to spread its propaganda.
