Freedom for Cuban Journalists

As much as many of us complain about biased coverage in the media, we should be thankful that our founding fathers thought it important enough to have free speech guaranteed in our constitution. But this freedom we often take for granted is not part of life in castro's Cuba. A basic principle of castro's brutal governance is the repression of dissenting views and the outlawing of a free press. This is one of the ways an insecure regime can remain in control.

The castro regime has systematically jailed journalists who have tried to express views that are contrary to the revolution. Not many people hear about these forgotten heroes...until now. The Inter American Press Association is shouting loud and clear to have 27 journalists freed and pardoned. Here is a press release from the IAPA:

IAPA calls for unrestricted news access in Cuba, release of 25 jailed journalists

MIAMI, Florida (August 7, 2006) The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today called on the Cuban government to give unrestricted access to the country to foreign reporters and repeated its request for the release of 25 independent journalists imprisoned there since 2003.
The announcement last week of President Fidel Castro's health crisis led international news organizations to seek urgent entry for their reporters to Cuba, where an entry visa is required and normally takes several weeks to obtain.

It was learned that Cuban officials have denied entry to at least four journalists for failing to obtain such a visa and that permission to enter the country was cancelled for four others from Europe despite their having complied with the visa requirements.

"Regrettably, we are not surprised at the news blackout imposed by authorities who are incapable of making an exception and allowing reporters to cover the breaking news as occurs in other places, even at a time when their country is under scrutiny by the rest of the world, wanting to know first-hand what is going on there," said Gonzalo Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.

Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre, once again repeated an IAPA request for the release of 25 independent journalists, most of them in poor health, serving lengthy terms in Cuban prisons. "We hold the Cuban government responsible for the personal well-being of the imprisoned journalists and of those who continue working outside government control," Marroquín said.

Editor and Publisher has more on this story:


IAPA Calls For Mass Editorials Urging Cuba To Free Journos

By Mark Fitzgerald

Published: August 16, 2006 3:35 PM ET

CHICAGO With Cuban President Fidel Castro apparently on the mend but still ceding power to his brother Raul, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) says now is the time for newspapers around the hemisphere to urge the immediate release of some two dozen imprisoned journalists, and an end to government harassment of the tiny independent press on the island.

IAPA is suggesting newspapers publish the commentary simultaneously on Friday Aug. 18.

"Given recent developments in Cuba ... the situation has worsened for the independent press in that country," IAPA President Diana M. Daniels, general counsel and corporate secretary of The Washington Post Co., wrote in the "Dear Colleagues" letter to IAPA members.

"We believe this is the time to heighten our pressure for the immediate release of the jailed journalists, most of whom are suffering from chronic health problems and abuse in the prisons," wrote Daniels and Gonzalo Marroquín, director of the Guatemala City daily Prensa Libre.

On Aug. 8, a week after the government announced that Castro had temporarily ceded power to his brother while he underwent unspecified intestinal surgery, Cuban authorities released one imprisoned independent journalist, Santiago Albert DuBouchet Hernández, director of the news agency Habana Press. He had completed a sentence of one year for allegedly resisting arrest.

Most of the remaining imprisoned journalists were rounded up in mass raids in March of 2003 that also swept up independent librarians, economists and other dissidents. Most journalists were charged with violating the notorious Law 88, a 1999 act providing long sentences for a variety of journalistic "crimes.

"IAPA listed the imprisoned journalists, who are serving terms ranging from one to 27 years, as the following: Ricardo Alfonso, Pedro Argüelles, Victor Arroyo, *Armando Bentancourt, Mijail Bárzaga, José Caraballo, José Castillo, Adolfo Fernández, *José Ferrer, Alfredo Fuentes, Miguel Galván, José García, Alejandro González, Lester González, Oscar González, Roberto Guerra, Julio Gálvez, Iván Hernández, Normándo Hernández, Juan Herrera, José Izquierdo, Hector Maseda, Pablo Pacheco, Fabio Prieto, Alfredo Pulido, Omar Rodríguez, Omar Ruíz."


There is a petition sponsored by Reporters Without Borders here that you can sign urging the Cuban government to free and pardon these men.

Other blogs to which I owe most of this information:
Michelle Malkin (Val Prieto writing)
American Thinker
Uncommon Sense
Wall Street Cafe
Instapundit