The IAPA has in recent weeks been receiving complaints from a number of independent journalists that they have been subjected to harassment by the staging of neighborhood ?repudiation? rallies outside their homes ? a technique used by State Security in an attempt to intimidate and demoralize those who dissent from the official political line.

The chairman of the IAPA?s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Gonzal Marroquín, who took part in a more than two-hour video teleconference on February 23 with Cuban independent journalists, declared that ?the Cuban regime continues using perverse methods to silence critical voices and gag any slight attempt at freedom of expression in the country.?

It has been learned that part of this official wave of repression has been the harassment of journalists Oscar Espinosa Chepe and Jorge Olivera Castillo, both currently freed on parole because of their health after being sent to prison in March 2003 along with 73 other persons, among them dissidents and independent journalists.

Espinosa Chepe, released from prison in November 2004 after being sentenced to a 20-year term, appeared on February 28 before Judge Sandra Méndez, chief magistrate of the Playa Municipal Court in Havana. He said that the judge told him he would be closely watched by the so-called Defense Committees and warned him he could be sent back to prison if his health improved. Espinosa Chepe is not allowed to leave the city without the judge?s permission.

Olivera Castillo, with the independent news agency HavanaPress, who has been out on parole since December 2004, was called yesterday before the Old Havana People?s Municipal Court to explain why, according to what he wrote in an article, ?I did not appear before the Municipal Health Directorate, an agency ordered to employ me under the close watch of court officials, members of the Party and of the Union?.?

On February 21, the same court had warned Olivera Castillo that if he did not comply with the order his parole could be revoked and he would have to continue serving his 18-year prison term. He has a visa to travel to the United States, but for more than a year the authorities has not responded to his request for permission to leave the country.

?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,? said Marroquín, editor of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Prensa Libre.

Among other incidents reported to the IAPA were cases of harassment of the following journalists: Lázaro Ricardo Pérez, Nueva Prensa Cuba, Isle of Pines (Youth);  Haydée Rodríguez, La Voz de Oriente, Santiago; Héctor Riverón, Agencia Libertad news agency, La Tunas; Lus Guerra Javier and Aurora del Toro, Nueva Prensa Cubana, Camagüey, and Carlos Ríos, HavanaPress, Havana.

It was also learned that the home of Gilberto Manuel González Delgado, of the Notilibre news agency, was searched on February 19 by State Security agents, who seized texts and a typewriter. González was warned that he would put on trial if he continued working as a journalist.

 On February 17, independent journalist Oscar Sáncehz Madám was threatened by the leader of a ?Revolution Defense Committee.? And on February 13 journalist Roberto Santa Rodríguez was called in by police and told to stop his journalistic activities.