Posts Tagged ‘Cuba’
March 8th, 2011
Cuban reporter Pedro Arguelles Moran has been
released from prison on parole. He is the last of the journalists jailed during the 2003 “Black Spring” crackdown to be freed. In April 2003 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison under
Law 88, for commiting acts “aimed at subverting the internal order of the nation”. He was
released as part of an agreement brokered by the Catholic church in 2010.
February 16th, 2011
Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez, a journalist imprisoned during Cuba’s ‘Black Spring’ of 2003 was
released on 12 February. Unlike many of the 52 journalists and dissidents
released last July, Maseda, who co-founded the independent news agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro, will not be forced to go into
exile. Six of the 11 prisoners who refused the
deal brokered with Spain have now been released and will be allowed to remain in Cuba. There are now just two ‘Black Spring’ journalists who are yet to be freed. Maseda was released
against his will, saying that he did not want to go without the others.
October 26th, 2010
Guillermo Farinas has
won the 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the European Union’s most prestigious human rights award. Farinas has spent much of the last 15 years in jail and has gone on hunger strike more than 20 times. His most recent hunger strike ended in July when the government
agreed to release 52 political prisoners. At the same time as the EU bestowed the accolade, Cuba authorised the
release of a further five prisoners, who were not among the originally specified 52. The released men are due to be transferred to Spain. 39 have already been released, but 13 have refused the deal and remain behind bars.
July 12th, 2010
The Cuban authorities have announced that they
intend to release 52 political prisoners. The first prisoners are expected to
arrive in Madrid tomorrow (13 July). Cuba has come under increased international pressure following the death of
political prisoner Orlando Zapato Tamayo in February. Tamayo had been on a hunger strike. The first five prisoners are being allowed to travel to Spain with their relatives. The remaining 47 will be released over the next few months, they will also be allowed to relocate to Spain. The Cuban Human Rights Commission claims that after the releases Cuban jails will still hold 110 political prisoners.
July 5th, 2010
Cuban authorities have
expelled prominent intellectual Esteban Morales from the Communist party after he alleged senior party members were corrupt. Writing on the
Cuban National Artists and Writers Union’s website, Morales claimed that party bureaucracy and the greed of unnamed high ranking party members would be the downfall of the communist state. The
article was quickly removed but not before being widely circulated. Rumours of corruption have been widespread in Cuba; two government ministers were recently being forced to resign following
allegations that they had used state aircraft for personal gain.
May 18th, 2010
On 14 May, a
Cuban appeal court reduced a blogger’s
20 months jail sentence to a fine of 300 pesos (12 dollars). Dania Virgen, who writes
El Blog de Dania, was charged with abuse of authority for mistreating her 23-year-old daughter, who disapproved of her political activism. Yoani Sánchez has published
an article and video interview with Dania Virgen on her blog.
April 28th, 2010
An independent journalist and blogger has been sentenced to 20 months in prison
on charges that had not yet been made known. Dania Virgen García
was sentenced just one day after her arrest by police on 22 April. Virgen García’s blog
El blog de Dania, launched in January, reports on the violence and repression
independent reporters face on the island. She is also a well known supporter of the “Damas de blanco” movement (
Ladies in White).
November 20th, 2009
On 12 November, Cuban authorities refused to issue visas for 15 international journalists hoping to report on the Global Forum for Health Research in Havana from 16-20 November.
International journalism organisation Media 21, based in Switzerland, had selected 15 journalists from countries including Guatemala, Brazil, Spain, Uganda, France and the United States to cover the event and participate in a series of workshops.
According to the Cuban Embassy in Berne, the Foreign Ministry in Havana decided not to issue visas to journalists wishing to participate in the Media 21 programme, which seeks to promote quality reporting of key global issues through specially tailored workshops and field trips. ( World Federation of Science Journalists)
Read more
