MIAMI, Florida
(Apr. 28, 2000).-The Inter American Press Association expressed
its concern today at reports of constant harassment of independent
journalists in Cuba and the mistreatment of their imprisoned colleagues.
"To punish, harass and discredit the reputation of independent
journalists is a recurring means of undermining their work,"
said Rafael Molina, chairman of the hemisphere organizations Committee
on Freedom of the Press and Information. "We are keeping a
close watch on developments and trust that the rights of those in
prison will be respected and the government will act to see due
process is observed."
"There have been no substantial changes (in the plight of
imprisoned journalists), Marvin Hernández Monzón,
a reporter with the independent new agency Cuba Press, said in a
report posted on the IAPAs Web site on freedom of expression issues
in Cuba.
Víctor Rolando Arroyo, a journalist sentence in January
to six months imprisonment on charges of hoarding, is being held
under appalling hygienic conditions and being given poor food and
visits by his family are being restricted. Joel Jesús Díaz
Hernández remains in solitary confinement in the Canaleta
prison in the east-central province of Ciego de Avila. Bernardo
Rogelio Arévalo Padrón and Manuel Antonio González
Castellanos, jailed since 1997 and 1998, respectively, also have
had family visits and access to reading matter curtailed.
Customs agents in Havana on April 26 seized several editions of
the Cartas de Cuba magazine, charging that it was "counter-revolutionary
material." The magazine had been addressed to independent journalist
Tania Quintero Antúnez.
Earlier this month, reporter Ohalys Víctores of the Cuba
Voz news agency was denied an exist permit to travel abroad on unspecified
"reasons of state" grounds, Hernández said. Meanwhile,
Lázaro Echemendía, a reporter for Cuba Press, was
villified in graffiti scrawled on a wall opposite his house early
this month.
For more information, visit the IAPA Web site on Cuba at http//:cuba.sipiapa.org or via the IAPA home page, www.sipiapa.org
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