(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 September 2001 IAPA press release: Cuban government withholds exit permit of independent journalists who fall under migratory agreements Miami (12 September 2001) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has condemned the tactics used by the Cuban government to harass the independent press. On this occasion, the government […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 12 September 2001 IAPA press release:
Cuban government withholds exit permit of independent journalists who fall under migratory agreements
Miami (12 September 2001) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) has condemned the tactics used by the Cuban government to harass the independent press. On this occasion, the government has withheld permits to leave the country from five journalists, even though they have been accepted by United States immigration authorities.
IAPA was informed by Raúl Rivera, Havana-based vice chairman for Cuba of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, that the Manuel Márquez Sterling Journalists Association, an organisation made up of approximately fifty independent journalists in Cuba, sent a 6 September letter to Minister of the Interior Abelardo Colomé Ibarra, in which it denounced the government’s measure.
The Manuel Márquez Sterling Journalists Association explained that the authorities retained the emigration permits of independent reporters Osvaldo de Céspedes Feliú, Milagros Beaton Betancourt, Ohalis Victore Irribarren, Jorge Dantes Abad Herrera and Manuel Portal, even though they hold American visas received under the Refugee Program in Cuba and the United States.
Without the government’s authorisation, the journalists are unable to leave the country. The letter also makes reference to independent reporter Gustavo Feliciano Cardero Rodríguez’s case. After enduring the pressure by authorities, though he had a visa to enter the United States, as well as a plane ticket to leave Cuba in 2000, on 21 August 2001 Cardero Rodríguez leapt into the sea. The journalist was rescued by American coast guards and taken to the Guantánamo Base.
In the letter, the Manuel Márquez Sterling Journalists Association asked the government to allow the five journalists to emigrate. The association condemned the document known as an “exit permit,” for violating subsection 2 of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
For further information about Cuba, see the IAPA website at http://cuba.sipiapa.org.
