(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 November 1997, Odalis Curbelo Sanchez and Juan Antonio Sanchez Rodriguez of the Cuba Press news agency were taken in for questioning in Pinar del Rio by three State Security agents for having taken pictures of posters of Pope John Paul II that had been vandalised. During the interrogation, the journalists were […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 November 1997, Odalis Curbelo Sanchez and Juan
Antonio Sanchez Rodriguez of the Cuba Press news agency were
taken in for questioning in Pinar del Rio by three State Security
agents for having taken pictures of posters of Pope John Paul II
that had been vandalised. During the interrogation, the
journalists were threatened with legal action. State Security
also reminded Sanchez Rodriguez of the order that he not go to
Pinar del Rio, “except for family reasons.” The two journalists
were released four hours later.
Elsewhere, on the evening of 21 November, Rafaela Lasalle,
founder and director of the Oriente Press news agency in Santiago
de Cuba, was assaulted at her home during a “reprobation meeting”
organised by members of the Communist Party and by members of the
Vigilance and Protection Group of the Ministry of Interior.
Lasalle was one of the women assaulted by certain participants.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
journalists in Cuba stops
Appeals To
His Excellency Fidel Castro
President
Havana, CubaDr Juan Escalona Reguera
Attorney General
San Rafael 3, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +53 7 333164Roberto Robaina Gonzalez
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Calzada No. 360
Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
Fax: + 53 7 333085 / 335261 / 333460General Abelardo Colome Ibarra
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
Plaza de la Revolucion
Havana, Cuba
Fax: + 53 7 33 5261 (attn: Ministro del Interior)
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
