ALERT: Cuban Law suppresses freedom of expression

Originator: Reporters sans frontičres (RSF: Journalists Without Borders)

Date: 1999-02-17
Country: CUBA
Source: RSF
Type(s) of violation(s): legal actions

The following is a 17 February 1999 RSF/IFEX Press Release: For immediate distribution

Cuba: New law further suppresses the freedom of expression

On 16 February 1999 Cuba's National Assembly of Peoples’ Power (ANPP) adopted the "Law for the Protection of the Cuban National Independence and Economy."  The adoption of this law constitutes yet a new threat against the freedom of expression in Cuba.   RSF urges European authorities to take this into account, in their participation in negotiations considering Cuba’s eventual membership in the ACP group of countries (Africa, the Caribbean, the Pacific), eligible for receiving aid from Brussels.  RSF requests that this deterioration of the freedom of expression also be taken into account by the governments of those countries who are currently reconsidering their diplomatic relations with the Cuban government.

The "Law for the Protection of the Cuban National Independence and Economy", is considering penalties of two to five years imprisonment or fines imposed on those who collaborate with, or maintain relations with the media, with intent to "(contribute to or facilitate) any plans against the Cuban government, as pertains to the Helms-Burton law, the North American blockade, the economic war and other such subversive plans" (according to AFP news).  Similarly the text penalizes "the possession, reproduction and distribution of any materials of a subversive character (...)." It also penalizes the participation in any meetings or demonstrations of a subversive character.  "The law sets penalties of seven to fifteen years for those who provide (information) directly or via a third party, to the United States government" with an intent to harm the Cuban state.  "This penalty will be (...) raised to  eight to twenty years of imprisonment  when the crime is committed with the participation of two or more persons, when it is carried out with the intent to gain financially (…), or if the guilty party gained access to the information through illicit means."  The law also considers the imposition of fines as high as 100.000 pesos (approx. US$4,350), as well as the confiscation of all personal goods.

These stipulations, and the way in which they are interpreted, would place restrictions on the work of the press, and particularly affect all independent press agencies. In fact as their journalists are unable to write for local publications, the law intervenes in other countries’ functions and in the production of any dissident magazines edited abroad.  Several of these magazines are circulated clandestinely in Cuba.   Independent press agencies have multiplied in the last few years and about forty journalists are actively involved with them.

After a brief period of calm that followed the Pope’s visit in January 1998, in the last few months independent journalists are again being subjected to strong pressure from the government.  Some demands for an explanation were heard during the planning of demonstrations by unrecognized organizations working in defense of human rights.  On 18 January, Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández, of the independent press agency Cooperativa Ávileńa de Periodistas Independientes, was detained and  condemned, the following day, to four years in prison for "being dangerous."   Two other journalists are presently held in Cuban jails: Bernardo Arévalo Padrón, of the independent agency Línea Sur Press, condemned in November 1997 to six years in prison for having "insulted" Fidel Castro and vice president Carlos Lage; and Manuel Antonio González Castellanos, of the independent agency Cuba Press, detained since 1 October 1998 for having "insulted" the chief of State. 
The latter is still detained, awaiting trial.

 

TRAITORS ENDORSEMENTS PEARL FILMS-HOME

'An Innocent Victory' ( From The Ithaca Journal: 06/01/00 ) 'Cuban Education' 'Cuba's Young Pioneers' Cuban 'Psychiatry'

*  Please Forward & Link This Website :  <  www.pearlfilms.com   >  Thank You. *