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Reporters
without Borders. 15.03.2002
Reporters with Borders called today for the immediate and unconditional
release of Cuban journalist Carlos Alberto Domínguez, of the Cuba Verdad
independent press agency, who arrested on 23 February.
"This arrest shows the independent press is not being spared in the
wave of repression against the opposition," RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard
said in a letter to Cuban President Fidel Castro. Ménard noted that Cuba
is currently the only country in Latin America where journalists are still being
imprisoned.
RSF also called for the release of independent journalists Lester Téllez
Castro and Carlos Brizuela Yera and for charges against them to be dropped. It
also repeated its demand for the release of Bernardo Arévalo Padrón,
head of the Linéa Sur Press agency who has been in jail since November
1997.
RSF learns that Domínguez was arrested at his home by four state
security police and jailed first in Havana at a centre run by the Technical
Investigation Department (DTI), which is part of the interior ministry and
notorious for ill-treating prisoners. The health of the journalist, who suffers
from migraine and high blood pressure, deteriorated badly and since 8 March he
has been held at the Mariana military hospital. Domínguez has reportedly
been charged with "disturbing public order" and "refusing to obey
instructions." He is also said to have been accused of helping to organise
demonstrations on 24 February to mark the death of four pilots of the Cuban
exile group Brothers to the Rescue, who were shot down by Cuban air force planes
on 26 February 1996. Domínguez is also head of the Law Institute and a
member of the November 30 Democratic Party, two organisations not recognised by
the authorities, and has been arrested many times because of this. Marta Beatriz
Roque, head of the Cuban Institute of Independent Economists, says 26 opposition
activists have been arrested over the past three weeks. "This wave of
repression is aimed at decapitating dozens of dissident groups operating in the
country," she said.
Téllez Castro, who heads of the Agencia de Prensa Libre Avileña
(APLA) and Brizuela Yera, who works for the Colegio de Periodístas
Independientes de Camaguey, were beaten by police on 4 March and then detained
along with eight human rights activists. They were arrested on their way to
visit Jesús Alvarez Castillo, correspondent of the Cuba Press agency in
Ciego de Avila (central Cuba), who had been hospitalised after being beaten up
the same day by police. Téllez Castro was transferred to a prison in
Cienfuegos (west of Ciego de Avila) on 11 March and Brizuela Yera was sent to a
detention centre in the eastern province of Holguín. The two men are
expected to be charged with "insulting behaviour," as well as "causing
trouble in a medical facility" and "refusing to obey instructions."
APLA director Téllez Castro has been on hunger strike since 5 March. The
eight human rights activists were also taken to detention centres.
RSF also calls again for the release of Arévalo Padrón, who
was sentenced on appeal on 28 November 1997 to six years in prison for "insulting"
President Castro and Vice-president Carlos Lage in an interview with a Miami
radio station, in which he called them "liars" for failing to respect
commitments to democracy they had signed at an Ibero-American summit. The
journalist is being held in labour camp no. 16, in Cienfuegos province. His
applications for release on bail have been rejected several times.
Only the government-controlled media is allowed to operate in Cuba. About
100 independent journalists rely on Cuban exile organisations in the United
States to distribute their articles, mostly on Internet websites. Reporters
Without Borders counted nearly 100 instances last year of pressure or
intimidation aimed at journalists, including threats, physical attacks, police
summonses, house arrest and pressure on families. The authorities also arrested
29 journalists. About 50 independent journalists have been forced into exile
abroad since 1995.
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