Below is the complete text of a letter which CPJ sent to President Fidel Castro regarding the cases of journalists denied visas to cover the Pope’s visit, and other pending cases. **New cases and updates. For background, see IFEX alerts of 16 January 1998, 17 October, 18 September, and 21 August 1997 (Arevalo Padron case); […]
Below is the complete text of a letter which CPJ sent to President Fidel
Castro regarding the cases of journalists denied visas to cover the Pope’s
visit, and other pending cases.
**New cases and updates. For background, see IFEX alerts of 16 January 1998,
17 October, 18 September, and 21 August 1997 (Arevalo Padron case); 24
October and 19 September 1997(Arce Cabrera case); and 21 January 1998
(Sanchez and Colman cases) **
His Excellency Fidel Castro Ruz
President of Cuba
c/o United Nations Mission
New York, NY
January 20, 1998
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect journalists (CPJ) is writing on the eve of Pope
John Paul II’s visit to Cuba, to express its concern that many international
journalists who have written critical stories about Cuba have been denied
visas to cover this newsworthy event. In the view of CPJ, a policy of
denying journalists visas to travel to Cuba in reprisal for carrying out
their professional responsibilities constitutes an attack on the press and a
violation of international law.
Among the many cases that have come to our attention are the following:
was
denied a visa to travel to Cuba to cover the Pope’s visit. His editor at the
paper was told by Cuban officials that any other reporter would be
acceptable. Adams, a veteran Latin America reporter, has covered Cuba for
more than a decade. Adams suspects that a story he published on
prostitution in Cuba two years ago may have angered authorities.
=20
Juan Tamayo, Cuba correspondent for the newspaper. In private conversations
with Cuban authorities reporters were told that the paper’s chances of being
given a visa were remote because of “longstanding criticism of the Herald’s
and Nuevo Herald’s coverage of Cuba.”
=20
Pouz=E1 of
Am=E9rica TV, and Mario P=E9rez Colman of La Naci=F3n_were denied visas.
Concepci=F3n Mu=F1oz, a spokesman for the Cuban Embassy in Buenos Aires, was
quoted as saying the decision was taken because of the reporters’ critical
coverage of Che Guevara’s burial in October. In a speech on January 12 you
called the journalists “mercenaries,” noting, “No one should forget that
this country knows
how to say no and when this country says no, it’s no.”
=20
November.
He suspected the measure was taken in reprisal for a story published in the
International edition of Newsweek about exiled Cuban writer Eliseo Alberto.=
=20
=20
granted a visa to travel to Cuba.=20
Your government’s explicitly stated reason for denying a visa to many of the
above-mentioned journalists is its displeasure with their previous reporting
on Cuba. This action is a clear violation of Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which grants the right to “receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”=20
CPJ also remains concerned about the condition of Cuban journalists who have
faced systematic persecution and harassment in the months preceding the
Pope’s visit. Among the more serious violations that have come to our
attention are the following:
agency in
Cienfuegos, was sentenced to six years in prison on October 31 for “lack of
respect” of Fidel Castro and Carlos Lage, a member of the Cuban State
Council. The conviction stems from a story Ar=E9valo published in which he
revealed how a helicopter transported meat from a farm in the town of
Aguada de Pasajeros to Havana, while the inhabitants there went hungry.
Ar=E9valo is one of two Cuban journalists who have been jailed for=
practicing
their profession. Journalist Lorenzo P=E1ez Nu=F1ez, from the Buro de Prensa
Independiente de Cuba, was convicted of defamation on July 12 after a
one-day trial for a story he published about police misconduct in Pinar del
R=EDo. P=E1ez Nu=F1ez is serving an 18-month sentence.
=20
of
the Buro de Prensa Independiente de Cuba in Havana, faces imminent arrest
because of his independent reporting. Since 1994, when Arce began his work
as a journalist, he has been detained 23 times, and beaten three times. On
October 23, a retired employee of the Ministry of the Interior assaulted
Arce outside his home. The same man again attacked Arce as he was walking on
a Cienfuegos street with his wife on the morning of October 29, hitting the
journalist in the head with a stick. After the attack, Arce were arrested by
the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and was told he would be charged
with both the October 23 and 29 assaults. On October 31, Arce was summoned
to the provincial headquarters of State Security where he was detained for
three days. Last week Arce was fined 250 pesos by the PNR.
As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues
around the world, we ask that you take measures to ensure that both Cuban
and non-Cuban journalists are free to cover the Pope’s visit to Cuba, an
event of overwhelming international interest.=20
In your January 12 speech you noted that the work of journalists in Cuba
will be closely monitored by your government. “We will observe how they do
their work, with what level of objectivity, and if they publish any detail
unfavorable to the revolution,” you said.=20
Your government will also be closely observed during this international
event. We call on you therefore to halt the practice of denying visas to
journalists who have written critical stories about Cuba and also to end the
government persecution of independent journalists, beginning with the
release of those who have been wrongly jailed for practicing their=
profession.
Sincerely,
William A. Orme, Jr.
Executive Director
