(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 December 2001 IAPA press release: IAPA CONDEMNS REPRESSION AGAINST INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS IN CUBA Miami (December 27, 2001) -The Inter American Press Association condemns the latest attempt by the Cuban government to silence the voices of independent journalism by using police force during another incident reported in the city […]
(IAPA/IFEX) – The following is a 27 December 2001 IAPA press release:
IAPA CONDEMNS REPRESSION AGAINST INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS IN CUBA
Miami (December 27, 2001) -The Inter American Press Association condemns the latest attempt by the Cuban government to silence the voices of independent journalism by using police force during another incident reported in the city of Florida, in the Province of Camagüey.
Journalists from the Avileña Free Press Agency (APLA) and from the Journalists Association of Camagüey (CPC) were beaten on December 25 by police officers and undercover agents when they were trying to provide coverage of the opening of an independent library.
Regional Vice Chairman for Cuba of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Raúl Rivero reported that the journalists assaulted were Misley Delgado Bambino and Lester Téllez from APLA and Normando Hernández González, Carlos Brizuela, and Joel Blanco García from CPC. He said that the police, “used physical force against the reporters” and that “some received cuts and bruises.”
Chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information Rafael Molina condemned the attack and expressed the institution’s solidarity with “those who risk their lives by serving as channels of information for public opinion.”
“We condemn this latest act of intimidation that tries to continue to create set backs to the smallest gains in freedom that the independent journalists strive to create each day,” added Molina, director of Ahora magazine, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Rivero reported that the police action prevented the opening of the library, which was part of a national movement that has already created 80 libraries in the entire country and operates outside of State control.
