OAS » IACHR » Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression » Cuba

Freedom of Expression

Cuba

            83.       In 2003, the situation of freedom of expression in Cubadeteriorated significantly due to the repression of dissident voices by the government of Fidel Castro.

 

            84.       The Rapporteurship has repeatedly expressed its concern, in its reports and press releases, over the systematic violation of freedom of expression due to the lack of a pluralistic democracy in the country.

 

            85.       The Cuban authorities continue using practices of intimidation and harassment aimed at independent journalists to muzzle criticism of the government.  The year 2003 was far from being an exception.  To the contrary, the government’s repressive practices were deployed to a greater extent than in other years.

 

            Detentions

 

            86.       In March 2003, there was a wave of detentions in Cuba of persons who had expressed their opposition to the policies of the Cuban government, in particular in relation to the right to freedom of expression and respect for human rights.

 

            87.       Some 80 Cuban dissidents were convicted, in very summary trials, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 28 years.  These convictions were handed down under the Law to Protect the National Independence and Economy of Cuba and the Law to Reaffirm Cuban Dignity and Sovereignty.[1]  Some of the convictions were affirmed on appeal in June by the Supreme People’s Tribunal.[2]

 

            88.       On March 18, 2003, State Security raided the homes and seized material and equipment from independent journalists in Havana.[3]  That same day, the government announced the detention of at least 12 journalists who worked for press agencies not recognized by the authorities and who the government labeled “traitors” and “salaried employees” of James Cason, chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.[4]

 

            89.       That week, 28 journalists were detained, including: Jorge Olivera, Ricardo González Alfonso, Raúl Rivero, José Luis García Paneque, Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Pedro Argüelles Morán, Edel José García, José Gabriel Ramón Castillo, Julio César Gálvez, Víctor Rolando Arroyo, Manuel Vázquez Portal, Héctor Maseda, Oscar Espinosa Chepe, Adolfo Fernández Saínz, Mario Enrique Mayo, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Pablo Pacheco, Normando Hernández, Carmelo Díaz Fernández, Miguel Galván, Léster Luis González Pentón, Alejandro González Raga, Juan Carlos Herrera, José Ubaldo Izquierdo, Mijaíl Barzaga Lugo, Omar Ruiz, Iván Hernández Carrillo, and Alfredo Pulido.[5]

 

            90.       Between April 3 and 4, 2003, the journalists were tried in proceedings that lasted one day, and which were conducted behind closed doors.  On April 7, they were given prison sentences that ranged from 14 to 27 years.  According to information received by the Rapporteurship, in several trials, the defense counsel had no access to the defendants, and had only a few hours to prepare their cases.[6]

 

            91.       The Rapporteurship condemned these events in two press releases, one dated March 20, 2003,[7] the other April 4, 2003.[8]  This situation also led to the Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Organization of American States and the United Nations  Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Ambeyi Ligabo, to state their concern in a joint press release on May 3, in Kingston, Jamaica, on World Press Freedom Day.[9]

 

            92.       The health of some of the detained journalists, as well as the conditions in which they had been imprisoned, was a matter of concern to various international organizations.  According to the information received, some family members had had problems visiting the detainees, who in some cases were being held in maximum security facilities.[10]  On April 26, State Security informed a dozen families of the detained journalists that their relatives were going to be transferred to provincial prisons, in some cases more than 900 kilometers from the capital.  The families protested in view of the difficulties getting around the island.[11]

 

            93.       Some of the journalists organized strikes to protest their detention.  In August, Manuel Vázquez Portal, Juan Carlos Herrera Acosta, and Normando Hernández González, who were being held at the prison in Boniatico,[12] declared a hunger strike. Mario Enrique Mayo, Adolfo Fernández Sainz, and Iván Hernández Carrillo, imprisoned at the penitentiary in Holguín, did likewise.[13]  In October, Fernández Sainz and Mario Enrique Mayo initiated a hunger strike once again.  This time they were joined by dissidents Antonio Díaz Sánchez, Alfredo Domínguez Batista, Angel Moya Acosta, and Arnaldo Ramos Lauzurique, all being held at the penitentiary at Holguín.

 

            94.       On Monday, February 10, 2003, Argentine journalist and researcher Fernando Ruiz Parra, a professor at the Universidad Austral, was detained and held incommunicado while on his way to Matanzas to interview a dissident reporter as part of a journalistic investigation on the growth of independent journalism on the island.  He had entered the country with a tourist visa on February 3.  He was released on February 12.[14]

 

            95.       On March 4, 2002, independent journalist Carlos Brizuela Yera, 29 years of age, was jailed in the provincial prison of Holguín. As of March 2003, the authorities had yet to set a trial date.  He informed Noticiero Cubanet that he was beaten, offended, and threatened.[15]

 

            96.       On May 4, 2003, Bernard Briançon, in charge of the private French production company Mediasens, was detained at the Havanainternational airport when going through customs.  He was taken to a room situated in the basement level of the airport, and his baggage was searched.  Eight videotapes containing interviews with dissidents were seized.  The customs authorities did not give any explanation, and made him sign an “act of retention and rectification.”[16]

 

            97.       On October 30, 2003, independent journalist Claudia Márquez Linares, vice-president of the magazine De Cuba, was detained for two hours in Havana.[17]

 

            98.       On October 29, 2003, independent journalist Abel Escobar Ramírez was detained near Morón (350 km east of Havana) for violating the Law for Protection of Cuba’s National Independence and Economy.  His tape recorder and four cassettes were seized.  He was released on November 1, after signing a statement in which he pledged to end his activity as a journalist.[18]

 

            Other

 

            99.       Bernardo Rogelio Arévalo Padrón was released on November 13, 2003, after spending six years in prison.  Arévalo is a founder of the news agency Línea Sur.  In 1997, he was given a six-year prison term for disrespecting President Fidel Castro during interviews he gave to radio stations based in Miami, United States.  According to the information received, Padrón said he had been subjected to physical and psychological torture by the prison authorities.[19]

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