On the eve of his visit to Cuba for the G-77 summit of developing countries, RSF sent a letter to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, entreating him “to intervene on behalf of four journalists currently jailed during [his] talks with the Cuban authorities”. RSF also urged Annan “to inform [the Cuban authorities] of […]
On the eve of his visit to Cuba for the G-77 summit of developing countries, RSF sent a letter to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, entreating him “to intervene on behalf of four journalists currently jailed during [his] talks with the Cuban authorities”. RSF also urged Annan “to inform [the Cuban authorities] of your concern about the conditions in which prisoners are held and about the ban on international human rights organisations going to Cuba and visiting prisons”.
The four journalists currently jailed are Bernardo Arévalo Padron, founder of the independent news agency Línea Sur Press, sentenced to six years in jail in November 1997 for “insulting” President Fidel Castro and Vice-President Carlos Lage; Manuel Antonio González Castellanos, correspondent for the independent news agency Cuba Press in Holguín, eastern Cuba, arrested on 1 October 1998 and sentenced to two years and seven months in prison for insulting the Cuban president; Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández of the independent news agency Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes, arrested on 18 January 1999 and sentenced the next day to four years in prison for “social dangerousness” following a perfunctory trial; Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona of the independent news agency Union de Periodistas y Escritores de Cuba Independientes, sentenced to six months in prison for “monopoly” by the People’s Court in Pinar del Río, western Cuba, on 24 January 2000. His “crime” was buying toys – perfectly legally – to give to poor children in the region. All of them have health problems but none of them are receiving the medical treatment they require. Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and RSF have not been authorised to go to Cuba by Castro’s government.
In Cuba, where the Constitution stipulates that “freedom of speech and freedom of the press are subject to the goals of socialist society”, only the official press is authorised. Approximately 100 independent journalists, grouped into a dozen press associations that are not recognised by the State, are faced with constant harassment. Since the beginning of the year, four were detained and six placed under house arrest. In 1999, fifty were detained and forty-one were placed under house arrest.
