Cuba

(RSF/IFEX) – Abel Escobar Ramírez of the independent news agency Cuba Press was released on 1 November 2003. He had been arrested on 29 October near the central town of Morón. No details are currently available about the circumstances of his release.

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the arrest of independent journalist Abel Escobar Ramírez on 29 October 2003 near Morón (350 kilometres east of Havana) and called for his immediate release. The organisation also called for the return of documents confiscated from the home of another journalist during a search the same day in the same […]

(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 30 October 2003 IAPA press release: Miami (30 October 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemns yesterday’s detention in Havana of journalist Claudia Márquez Linares, vice-president of De Cuba magazine, and fears that this action signals the beginning of a new wave of repression against the independent […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed serious concern about the state of health of two independent journalists and four other dissidents who began a hunger strike on 18 October 2003 in the Holguín provincial penitentiary in central Cuba to protest the transfer of Iván Hernández Carrillo, another independent journalist, to a “punishment cell” the previous day. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has announced that it is supporting a complaint filed on 14 October 2003 by news photographer Ricardo Vega against an unidentified employee of the Cuban embassy in Paris. The complaint alleges “threat with a firearm” and “complicity” in the use of violence by embassy staff who broke up a demonstration by RSF […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF deplores the sentence of three years of public service work given to independent journalist José Manuel Caraballo for allegedly “falsifying” school certificates when he taught at a tourism training centre. The sentence, delivered by the People’s Court Ciego de Ávila province on 5 September 2003, was “clearly aimed at tightening the gag […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is 3 September 2003 CPJ press release: CUBA: CPJ concerned about journalists on hunger strike New York, September 3, 2003 – The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is deeply concerned about disturbing new developments in Cuba’s ongoing incarceration of independent journalists. According to family members, two imprisoned journalists, Manuel Vázquez Portal […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has expressed great concern about a hunger strike begun by three independent Cuban journalists – Manuel Vázquez Portal, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta and Normando Hernández González – in Boniatico prison, in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba. The journalists are protesting their conditions of detention. Since they went on hunger strike […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 25 August 2003, RSF expressed great concern at the plight of three imprisoned independent journalists – Mario Enrique Mayo, Adolfo Fernández Sainz and Ivan Hernández Carillo – who have been on hunger-strike since 15 August in the town of Holguin (eastern Cuba). They are demanding proper food and medicine for prisoners who […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is an 11 August 2003 CPJ press release: CUBA: CPJ alarmed by deteriorating health of Cuban journalist New York, August 11, 2003 – CPJ is alarmed by the deteriorating health of imprisoned journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was transferred last week to a military hospital in the capital, Havana. On Thursday, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Imprisoned Cuban journalist and poet Raúl Rivero has lost nearly 20 kg (40 pounds) since he was jailed in March 2003, according to his wife Blanca Reyes, who fears he is being starved in jail in Ciego de Avila. Rivero is serving a 20-year sentence for allegedly “undermining the independence and integrity of […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: CPJ’s mission confirms dire situation for imprisoned journalists and their families New York, July 18, 2003 – Renowned Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti traveled to Cuba last week on behalf of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and confirmed the dire situation for independent Cuban journalists and […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 9 July 2003, a Paris court barred RSF and the French advertising agency Rampazzo from using a world-famous photograph of Cuban guerrilla leader Ernesto “Che” Guevara wearing a beret with a red star on it. The ban came at the request of Diane Diaz Lopez, daughter and heir of the late Cuban […]

(IFLA/FAIFE/IFEX) – The following is an IFLA/FAIFE media release: IFLA calls on US to allow visits and information to and from Cuba “IFLA again urges the US government to eliminate obstacles imposed by its policies on access to information by Cubans”, says the Chair of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, Mr Alex Byrne. The International Federation of […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 5 June 2003, RSF denounced the Cuban Supreme Court’s confirmation of sentences against two of the 26 independent journalists who were arrested in late March and later jailed for lengthy terms. On 3 June, the court upheld a sentence of 26 years for Miguel Galván Gutiérrez and 16 years for José Ubaldo […]

(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 23 May 2003 IAPA press release: IAPA asks government leaders, during their visit to Argentina, to intercede with Castro to free jailed independent journalists in Cuba New wave of threats, warnings protested MIAMI, Florida (May 23, 2003) – The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today asked Western Hemisphere governments […]