Freedom of Expression

Cuba

1.                  During the year 2001, no changes in Cuba showed any political willingness on the part of that state to work toward greater respect for freedom of expression and information.  As has been noted on other occasions, the absence of a plural democracy in Cuba translates, in practical terms, into systematic violations of free speech.  The Cuban State continues to deny its citizens freedom of expression and free access to information. In addition, the legal system imposes countless obstacles on the ability to receive and publish information.  The Cuban authorities continue to use tactics of harassment and intimidation against independent journalists in order to silence criticism of the government.

2.                  According to information received, a total of 29 journalists and other media workers were arrested on charges of contempt of authority during 2001.  In addition, there have been countless cases in which independent journalists and the press have been intimidated or pressured.  Additionally, as in previous years, several media workers have been forced to flee the country.[1] In Cuba, the state continues to enjoy a monopoly over information and absolute control thereof, thus denying the Cuban people the right of access to more than one source of information and opinion.

           Aggression and Threats

3.                  Between July and August 2001, Jorge Olivera Castillo, Graciela Alfonso, and Jesús Alvarez, three independent journalists and members of the Manuel Márquez Sterling Society for Reporters, a group that provides training courses for independent journalists, received intimidation in the form of acts of aggression and interrogations at the hands of the security forces, intended to silence their reporting.[2]

4.                  During October 2001, the Manuel Márquez Sterling Society for Reporters suffered harassment at the hands of the State Security Department (DSE).  On October 12, two DSE agents arrived at the society’s headquarters to inform its director, Ricardo González Alfonso, that a ban had been imposed on its 2001-2002 cycle of classes.  On October 14, agents of the political police visited the homes of journalists Graciela Alfonso, Dorka de Céspedes, Aimée Cabrera Álvarez, Jorge Olivera Castillo—all active society members—to inform them that both attending and organizing classes were prohibited.  On October 23, a DSE agent called at the home of Dorka de Céspedes to warn her about the illegal nature of the courses organized at the Manuel Márquez Sterling Society.  On October 26, the police demanded that Ricardo González Alfonso put a halt to the classes. On October 29, a member of the DSE prevented a class from being held on the society’s premises.  The agent ordered Raúl Rivero, the director of the Cuba Press news agency and a journalism teacher at the society, to leave.  Shortly after, a number of other individuals were expelled from the society’s premises: Carmelo Díaz Fernández, director of the Independent Syndical Press Agency of Cuba (APSIC); Pedro Pablo Alvarez, general secretary of the Unitary Council of Workers of Cuba; and the journalists Víctor Manuel Domínguez, Migda Graciela González Alfonso, and Adolfo Fernández Sainz.  The journalist Carlos Castro was planning to attend the event but was halted at the door when he refused to submit to a search in public.  Castro was hurried, against his will, into an official vehicle that dumped him in a small town some dozens of kilometers’ distance away from Havana.[3]

5.                  On December 25, 2001, journalists Miley Delgado Bambino and Leste Téllez from the Avilena Free Press Agency (APLA) and Normando Hernández González, Carlos Brizuela, and Joel Blanco García of the College of Journalists of Camagüey (CPC) were beaten by police officers and plain-clothes agents as they were preparing to cover the opening of an independent library in the city of Florida.  According to reports, the police action prevented the opening of the library, which is one of 80 across the country that operate outside state control.[4]

Detentions

6.                  On April 9, 2001, the independent journalist Ricardo González Alfonso was placed under house arrest by the Cuban authorities.  He is the correspondent in Cuba of the nongovernmental organization Reporters without Borders (RSF), based en Paris, France. The National Revolutionary Police (PNR) arrested the journalist after his ex-wife accused him of having threatened her.  González Alfonso was arrested at midday on Monday and released later that same day.  The police found out he was a journalist only after he was arrested.  That night, two police officers arrived at González Alfonso’s house with a warrant for his house arrest; however, the warrant was missing an official stamp and was not signed.  The journalist had suffered harassment at the hands of the Cuban authorities on several prior occasions, invariably in connection with his reporting work.[5]

7.                  On June 2, 2001, José Orlando González Bridón, a journalist and the general secretary of the Confederation of Democratic Workers of Cuba trade union (CTDC), was sentenced to two years in prison for distributing “false news.” On August 21, when the case was taken to appeal, the charges were changed to “defamation of institutions and organizations, and of heroes and martyrs,” and the punishment was reduced to a one-year prison term.  Since 1999 the journalist has been writing articles for the Cuba Free Press webpage, based in Miami, Florida.  He was arrested on December 15, 2000, for an article published on that website about the death of a trade union colleague.  In the article, he reported that Joanna González Herrera, the CTDC’s national coordinator, had been murdered by her ex-husband and that the Cuban police had not prevented her death.  He also broadcast this information from a Miami-based radio station.  González was released on parole on November 22, 2001.[6]

8.                  On August 5, 2001, journalist Jadir Hernández Hernández was sentenced to house arrest in the town of Guines, which prevented him from doing his job as the correspondent for the independent agency Havana Press.  He had received a series of threats over the preceding days.[7]

9.                  On August 22, 2001, Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández from the Avileña Independent Journalists Cooperative (CAPI) and Carlos Brizuela Yera from the Camagüey Independent Journalists Cooperative (CPIC) were arrested by State Security agents.  The police confiscated four radios and two boxes of books they were carrying.  The journalists were released eight hours later.  They had also previously been arrested for their journalism work.  Jesús Joel Díaz Hernández had been in prison from January 18, 1999, to January 17, 2001, for “posing a danger to society.” Carlos Brizuela Yera was arrested on May 1, 2001, and held for four days on suspicion of having written letters opposing the government.[8]

10.              On August 22, 2001, Dorka de Céspedes of the Havana Press agency was arrested while preparing to cover a demonstration organized by civil associations not recognized by the authorities.  She was threatened by about ten State Security agents before being released.[9]

11.              On August 29, 2001, the director of the Free Eastern Press Agency (APLO), Milagros Beatón, along with her two minor daughters, received a summons from State Security.  During her interrogation, she was offered the opportunity to leave the country and visit her exiled husband in the United States if she ceased to publish articles on a Miami-based website, surrendered her fax machine, and disbanded the agency.[10]

12.              The Rapporteur has, on several occasions, condemned the exercise of state power through arbitrary and intimidating acts, such as detentions, intended to restrict individuals’ basic freedoms and, in particular, freedom of expression.  The Rapporteur urges the government of Cuba to desist from its systematic policy of oppressing all dissident opinions and to seek out ways to promote tolerance in the exchange of ideas and opinions, respecting the free flow of information.

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