(RSF/IFEX) – RSF condemns a 22 November 2005 operation by government officials and progoverment groups in which intimidation and force were used to prevent participants in a training workshop for independent journalists from attending a party to mark the end of the course. “We condemn this all the more firmly as it was targeting journalists […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF condemns a 22 November 2005 operation by government officials and progoverment groups in which intimidation and force were used to prevent participants in a training workshop for independent journalists from attending a party to mark the end of the course.
“We condemn this all the more firmly as it was targeting journalists and would-be journalists whose only crime was to get training outside of official channels and to want to promote a free, quality press in Cuba,” the press freedom organisation said.
Among those who received visits at home from pro-government supporters were students Feliberto Pérez and Julio Sánchez, who were threatened with reprisals if they left their homes.
Alexander García Mujica, director of the Villa Blanca Press agency, and Félix Reyes Gutiérrez, of the Cubanacán Press agency, were also forced to stay in their homes. García was warned that if he went out, “no one will be responsible for what happens to you.” Reyes was put under surveillance by Communist Party members and his telephone was confiscated.
Alejandro Tur Valladares, director of the Jagua Press agency and a member of the training panel, was detained as he was leaving his home and taken to a Communist Party office where he was threatened with imprisonment. He was released six hours later. Francisco Blanco Sanabria, who is a student, was similarly treated.
The day after the party, Cubanacán Press director Guillermo Fariñas, who coordinated the training workshop, received a visit from three military personnel. He told RSF the three soldiers said they would not tolerate any more “independent courses.”
The workshop was organised by the Marta Abreu Social Studies Forum, a “free cultural institute” based in the city of Santa Clara, central Cuba, which was founded in April 2001 by independent journalist Omar Moisé Ruiz Hernández. Ruiz was arrested in March 2003 and is currently serving an 18-year prison sentence.
