Cuba

Arrested in 2011 after writing articles about mismanagement of a Santiago aqueduct project and the installation of fibre-optic cable between Venezuela and Cuba, José Antonio Torres was sentenced in July to 14 years in prison and withdrawal of his university degree in journalism.

Cuban authorities charged journalist Yaremis Flores with anti-state crimes in connection with news articles critical of the government, an arrest that sparked two waves of protests and detentions outside a Havana police station.

The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed the release of Cuban blogger and IPI World Press Freedom Yoani Sánchez, who had been detained by Cuban authorities on Thursday evening while attempting to cover the trial of a Spanish activist accused of causing the death of a well-known dissident in a car crash.

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the arrest of three independent Cuban bloggers and calls for their immediate release. Yoani Sánchez, one of Cuba’s most prominent bloggers, was detained yesterday along with her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar, and blogger Agustín Díaz in the city of Bayamo, according to news reports.

A charge of criminal contempt brought against Cuban independent journalist Calixto Martínez Arias for warning about cases of cholera and dengue in his country was today protested by the Inter American Press Association (IAPA). If found guilty he could face three years in prison.

Roberto de Jesús Guerra, editor of the news website Hablemos Press, was detained with one of the site’s photographers, Gerardo Youmel Ávila Perdomo, while the two were on their way to an Internet training course; Jesús Guerra was later released but was “savagely beaten beyond recognition”.

The independent news agency Centro de Información Hablemos Press has complained of an increase in repression of its journalists.

Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias recently reported, via Hablemos Press, that Havana was experiencing problems with its water supply.

Almost two years after the first crop of journalists arrived in Spain, the four who remain in the country are living under extremely difficult conditions, struggling even to feed themselves.

Dissidents said that when they sought to exercise their basic rights to speak up about human rights concerns and hold rallies over the past few weeks, the authorities responded with beatings, detentions, harassment, and other repressive measures.

It was, according to the blogger, the 19th time Cuban officials have turned down her request to leave the island. As in the past, officials gave no reason for the rejection.

Calixto Ramón Martínez Arias is awaiting deportation from the capital for the ninth time in less than two years, to his hometown of Camagüey.

IAPA laments the absence of solidarity of Latin American governments with the Cuban people.

Mauricio Vicent, correspondent for the Spanish newspaper “El País” and the Cadena Ser network, was told that the government would not renew his work permit because of his portrayal of a “partial and negative” image of the country.

As Cuba implements economic reforms and prepares to introduce high-speed Internet, freedom of expression continues to be met with a policy of repression that stifles the free flow of information, according to CPJ’s report.

Four people have been sentenced in Havana for distributing pamphlets criticising Raúl and Fidel Castro, while two human rights defenders have been sentenced for “insulting national symbols” and “disorder” for public acts that they denied had taken place.