Cuba

(CPJ/IFEX) – Three State Security officers detained Havana Press correspondents Jesús Díaz Loyola, Lázaro Rodríguez Torres, and María del Carmen Carro Gomez as well as Havana Press Director Jorge Olivera on the afternoon of 6 January 1999. The journalists have been threatened with beatings. The State Security officers — who give their names as Kevin, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the detention and systematic pressures aimed at stopping Cuban journalists from covering local events. According to RSF’s information, seven journalists from different independent press agencies in Cuba were detained for questioning as the trial of Lázaro Constantin Durán was set to get underway on Tuesday, 16 December 1998 at 8:00 […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the detention of journalist Omar Rodríguez Saludes for questioning. According to RSF’s information, Saludes, a journalist with the independent press agency Nueva Prensa, was taken in for questioning on Thursday, 10 December 1998. He was detained after being invited to a press conference given by the families of the “group […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the legal action launched against Mario Viera González. According to RSF’s information, proceedings against Mario Viera González, director of the independent press agency Cuba Verdad, which were to take place Friday, 27 November 1998, were postponed sine die further to incidents which took place that very day in court. The […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is condemning the imprisonment of journalist Manuel Antonio González Castellanos. González, a correspondent for the independent news service CubaPress, was arrested on charges of sedition (desacato) on the evening of 1 October 1998 in San Germán, Holguín Province, by State Security agents (See IFEX alert of 6 October 1998). **Updates IFEX alerts […]

(RSF/IFEX) – El 6 de octubre de 1998, RSF protesto contra la detencion del periodista independiente Manuel Antonio González. **Spanish version of 6 October 1998 alert. Version española de la alerta de IFEX del 6 de octubre de 1998** Según las informaciones de que dispone RSF, el 1 de octubre por la tarde, Manuel Antonio […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF is protesting the recent arrest of independent journalist Manuel Antonio González. According to RSF information, on 1 October 1998, González, correspondent for the independent press agency Cuba Press in Holguín (in the eastern part of the island), was arrested by State Security agents for having “insulted Fidel Castro.” The journalist is since […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage is currently in Paris on a state visit (from 21 to 25 September). On this occasion, RSF is asking his French hosts — President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, Senate head René Monory and Charles Josselin, Foreign Minister and Minister responsible for relations with the Francophonie — to […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 15 September 1998, RSF protested the detention of journalist Juan Antonio Sánchez Rodríguez. According to RSF’s information, on 10 September, Sánchez Rodríguez, a journalist with the independent news agency Cuba Press, was arrested in Havana by a national police patrol and moved that same day to State Security headquarters in Pinar del […]

(IAPA/IFEX) – On 22 July 1998, IAPA, through its Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, protested the ouster of foreign news correspondents from the Cuban national legislature and called on President Fidel Castro to show respect for journalists in carrying out their work. Castro had expelled journalists representing international news media from the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 15 June 1998, journalist Juan Carlos Recio Martinez began serving a sentence of twelve months of forced labour. Recio Martinez was convicted in February for “Acts against the Security of the State” and sentenced to one year of agricultural labour (see Background, below). **Updates IFEX alerts of 20 and 6 February 1998** […]

(IAPA/IFEX) – This week, Cuban authorities refused to grant journalist Raul Rivera, who is vice-president of IAPA’s Cuba branch, permission to leave Cuba temporarily. Rivera, who is also current president of the Cuba Press news agency and a recognized poet, had received an invitation to travel to Spain, but immigration authorities refused to authorise permission […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On 27 May 1998, Ariel Tapia, a journalist with the news agency Cuba Press, was ordered by the head of the Monitoring and Protection Unit (Sistema Unico de Vigilancia y Proteccion, SUVP) to meet with him. The SUVP is composed of officials from the Ministry of the Interior, the Committee for the Defence […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, on 11 April 1998, Bernardo Arevalo Padron, who was sentenced on 28 November 1997 to six years in prison for “contempt” against Fidel Castro and Carlos Lage, the president of the National Assembly, was assaulted in the Ariza prison by two State Security agents. Arevalo Padron, founder of the independent […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – According to CPJ, Línea Sur 3 correspondent Bernardo Arevalo Padron, who was sentenced to six years in prison in October 1997, has been suffering from health problems since his confinement to a filthy cell in Ariza prison in Cienfuegos province. Arevalo has bronchitis and reportedly was treated twice for high blood pressure in […]

(RSF/IFEX) – According to RSF, journalist Juan Carlos Recio Martinez has been sentenced to one year hard labour without detention. He has been convicted of participating in “activities against state security.” **See IFEX alerts as noted** On 13 February, Recio Martinez, a reporter with the independent Cuba Press agency in the province of Villa Clara, […]