(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release: Paris, 12 September 2000 Cuba Harassment, exile, imprisonment One hundred independent journalists challenge the State In a report, Reporters sans frontières, which sent a representative to Cuba from 10 to 17 August 2000, reviews the situation of press freedom in Cuba. In that country state control […]
(RSF/IFEX) – The following is an RSF press release:
Paris, 12 September 2000
Cuba
Harassment, exile, imprisonment
One hundred independent journalists challenge the State
In a report, Reporters sans frontières, which sent a representative to Cuba from 10 to 17 August 2000, reviews the situation of press freedom in Cuba. In that country state control of published or broadcast information has not slackened. At a time when their potential audiences are increasing, owing to the Internet, about one hundred independent journalists, considered by the authorities to be “counter-revolutionaries”, are one of the main targets of repression.
Since 1997 five of them have been sentenced to between six months’ and six years’ imprisonment, and over one hundred arrests and cases of questioning have been reported. These journalists are frequently victims of accusations, attacks, seizure of equipment, house arrests, pressure on their families, friends or contacts, and attempts to discredit or divide them.
The relative respite from harassment of all
“opponents” after the Pope’s January 1998 visit lasted no more than a year. Attempts by several heads of state or government (at the Latin-American Summit in November 1999 in Havana) to get the Cuban government to democratize the regime were fruitless. Freedom of expression, of the press and of association are still not established in Cuba. On her departure from Havana on 17 August, the journalist sent by RSF was questioned, interrogated and searched. Her equipment was seized.
Three journalists are currently in jail. In total, since 1 January 2000, about fifteen journalists have been questioned or placed under house arrest and nineteen others have gone into exile.
In its report, RSF asks the Cuban authorities to release the jailed journalists, to legalize the independent news agencies and to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The organization also asks the countries of the European Union and the ACP States (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific), within which Cuba has observer status, to intervene with the Cuban authorities in support of RSF’s recommendations. Lastly, the international organization for the defence of press freedom calls on the media of democratic countries to collaborate with independent journalists by publishing their chronicles and articles.
This report is available in French, English and Spanish on the RSF web site: www.rsf.fr. The photos of the independent journalists are free of copyright and at the disposition of the press.
