(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly condemned an attack on Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist Jorge Carlos Forbes. The journalist was assaulted as he was leaving the opening of a contemporary Cuban art exhibition at the Great Arch of La Défense, in Paris, on 20 January 2004. Earlier that same evening, members of the organisation had demonstrated […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has strongly condemned an attack on Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist Jorge Carlos Forbes. The journalist was assaulted as he was leaving the opening of a contemporary Cuban art exhibition at the Great Arch of La Défense, in Paris, on 20 January 2004.
Earlier that same evening, members of the organisation had demonstrated outside the exhibition, at the foot of the Great Arch, to draw attention to the fact that 30 journalists are currently behind bars in Cuba. The RSF members had left the scene before the assault took place.
Forbes was standing at the foot of the Great Arch with two Cuban exiles when the Cuban culture minister and Cuban ambassador to Paris left the exhibition. Following a heated exchange between the two dissidents and the Cuban government representatives, four members of their security staff attacked the journalist. Forbes identified himself as a journalist, but was brutally struck on the face, causing him to collapse on the ground. He injured his arm in the fall. The journalist immediately filed an official complaint with the police and went to hospital for x-rays on 21 January.
“Cuba, where 30 journalists are currently imprisoned simply because they expressed an opinion different from that of the government, is currently the world’s biggest prison for journalists,” RSF said. “[The] assault [on Forbes] demonstrates that, even on French territory, the Cuban authorities are prepared to directly target journalists, in total contempt for press freedom and human rights,” the organisation added.
RSF also noted that this was not the first time journalists had been attacked in France by persons linked to the Cuban authorities. On 24 April 2003, independent journalist Ricardo Vega was assaulted during an RSF demonstration in front of the Cuban embassy in Paris (see IFEX alerts of 21 October and 25 April 2003).
