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07 March 2006
Press Group Warns of Renewed Attack on Free Expression in Cuba
Condemns Castro regime's "perverse" methods of gagging dissent
Washington -- The regime of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro is renewing its attacks on free speech in Cuba, warns a press advocacy group called the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA).
In a March 2 statement, the Miami-based group said the Castro regime "continues using perverse methods to silence critical voices and gag any slight attempt at freedom of expression" in Cuba.
The group said it has received in recent weeks complaints from a number of Cuban independent journalists who say they have been subjected to harassment by the staging of neighborhood "repudiation" rallies outside their homes. Holding such rallies, said the IAPA, is a technique used by Cuba's state security apparatus "in an attempt to intimidate and demoralize those who dissent from the official political line."
The U.S. State Department says a December 2005 background note on Cuba that the country's state security department, under the Cuban Ministry of Interior, works to repress opposition voices and dissent within Cuba. (Full text of the background note is available on the State Department Web site.)
Part of the Castro regime's official wave of repression has been the harassment of journalists Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Jorge Olivera Castillo, said the IAPA. The two journalists were paroled from jail because of health problems after they had been imprisoned in March 2003 along with 73 other people, among them dissidents and independent journalists.
The IAPA said the Castro regime has restricted the activities of both journalists and has threatened to return them to jail on specious grounds.
The IAPA also reported the Castro regime's harassment of numerous other independent journalists in Cuba.
Gonzal Marroquín, chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, said that "it is unacceptable that the Cuban government continues to think that by jailing people, applying psychological pressure, keeping a close watch, imposing controls and other measures that restrict the journalists' individual freedom, they will be able to triumph over the fundamental right to freedom of expression."
The IAPA's condemnation followed a February 24 statement by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists that also denounced the Castro regime's continued harassment of Cuban independent journalists.
That group called it "outrageous" that Cuba, which jails more journalists than any other country in the world except China, "should continue to harass journalists even after they have left prison." (See related article.)
Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based press advocacy group, expressed the same sentiment in a January 31 statement, saying it was "dismayed and outraged" by the Castro regime's "continuing harassment of independent journalists." (See related article.)
The repression of Cuba's independent journalists also is documented in the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices -- 2004. Released February 28, 2005, the report says the Castro regime strictly censors news and information and limits the distribution of foreign publications. The Cuba section of the report is available on the State Department Web site.
For information on U.S. policy, see Cuba.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
