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CUBA
The heroism and stubborn persistence of a few
dozen independent journalists who confront the regime's repression every day
keep alive the flame of defiance.
Independent journalism is conducted illegally, under conditions of repeated
harassment and material limitations. It is not possible to communicate directly
with the people, because of the iron control of the media, which, faithful to
Lenin's dictates, are considered exclusively "vehicles of propaganda at
the service of the state." Independent journalists communicate indirectly
through Internet pages or risky radio broadcasts to other countries.
There are about 120 independent journalists, scattered in Havana and the provinces,
in about 20 agencies or professional groups. There are frequent losses because
of the strength of the repression. But there are also gains, such as Julio César
Gálvez, a journalist of Radio Ciudad of Havana and COCO, who recently
joined the ranks of independent journalists with all the risks that implies.
The Law of Reaffirmation of National Dignity and Sovereignty of 1997, known
as the "gag law," is still in effect. It provides for sentences of
three to 10 years in prison for people who collaborate with "enemy news
media."
Thus, independent journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padrón remains in
prison serving a six-year term in El Diamante jail in Cienfuegos province for
"showing contempt for the chief of state" and "enemy propaganda."
The regional vice president of the Free Press Committee in Cuba, Raúl
Rivero, made public a few months ago excerpts from a letter from Arévalo
Padrón about subhuman conditions in his prison. The jailed journalist
said: "Our situation here is unbearable. The heat, overcrowding, the rodents,
the humiliation, the lack of drinking water are hard to bear. This concentration
camp is a hell.
"The bugs roam freely and suck our blood while we sleep, but the saddest
and most degrading thing is to see how the military guards use common prisoners
in the dirty work of informing on political prisoners and robbing them.
"Some young men imprisoned for common crimes sell sexual favors to other
inmates for food, sugar, cigarettes or medicine to get high on. So, we are obliged
to serve out our sentences as political prisoners under these subhuman conditions."
Arévalo Padrón, 36, is to be freed at exactly 3 p.m. on December
15, 2003, when he completes his sentence for "contempt of the chief of
state."
José Orlando González Bridón, an electrical engineer and
general secretary of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba, has been
imprisoned in Combinado del Este in Havana since December 15, 2000. He wrote
articles for the Web page of Cuba Free Press of Miami.
At first González Bridón was accused of "spreading false
information," which could not be proved at trial, but the prosecutor kept
charges of "defamation of the institutions, heroes and martyrs of the homeland."
At the beginning of June, the court found that the defendant had "distributed
false information to disturb the peace, damage the prestige and credibility
of the state, as well as its relations with other states" and sentenced
him to two years of prison. It denied a defense appeal to a higher court to
overturn the verdict for procedural reasons.
The regime has chosen to threaten and detain independent journalists for a few
hours, urging them to stop their work. The official reprisals include unjustified
delays in permission to immigrate and denials of requests to travel abroad.
Five journalists have visas to go to the United States, but official permission
has been withheld.
The most notorious case of prohibition of travel abroad is that of Raúl
Rivero who has been the victim of arbitrary acts and immigration delays for
13 years, preventing him from accepting invitations such as those of the Inter
American Press Association and, more recently, the Miami Book Fair. Just a few
weeks ago, the immigration authorities again prohibited Rivero from traveling,
this time to France to be honored by Reporters Without Borders. In November
of 1999, Fidel Castro said on national television that Rivero "will never
be allowed to travel outside the country."
The independent press is not allowed to have access to e-mail and the Internet,
while the Cuban government maintains more than 300 sites of news media and official
institutions. The strict monopoly of the Internet reaches such extremes as the
following: For more than a year the journalist and writer Amir Valle published
a newsletter on Cuban literature called "Cuban Letters" that suddenly
was suspended, because, authorities said, no independent publication is allowed.
Valle is not an independent journalist or political dissident.
The theatrical apparatus of Cuban totalitarianism, in a triumphalist escalation
of political agitation, now has the Internet as its face to the world, and the
famous Round Tables as an instrument of its most vigorous expressions.
The Round Tables have taken the top place in public information, in the afternoons
and at night, forcing the print press to publish long texts of their content.
It is a new platform for totalitarian news designed personally by Fidel Castro
who often presides and pontificates in the televised sessions. Journalists of
the official media have even been reprimanded for publishing a news item before
it was "presented" in the afternoon Round Tables. Castro wants to
save the scoops for himself.
In September the authorities announced the opening of a new television channel
for "educational and cultural programming" costing $3.7 million. It
is a new forum for propaganda, closed, of course, to any attempt to inform or
dissent.
In October, Ricardo González Alfonso, president of the Manuel Márquez
Sterling Association of Journalists, was warned by two State Security agents
not to hold a course in English-language journalism for independent journalists
in his home when the country was holding a government-sponsored forum for international
journalists.
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Copyright © 2003 Inter American Press Association.
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