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A journalist is freed as
more than 20 remain jailed
Committee
to Protect Journalists.
New York, December 7, 2004-The man who
headed an independent Havana news agency
has been freed after more than 20 months
behind bars, becoming the sixth Cuban journalist
to be released in recent months. The Committee
to Protect Journalists called on Cuban officials
to immediately release the 23 journalists
still jailed after the government's massive
March 2003 crackdown on the independent
press.
"Dissent shouldn't be seen as a criminal
act," Jorge Olivera Castillo told reporters
after his release on Monday. Olivera also
contributed to the magazine De Cuba, a pioneer
in independent journalism on the island.
De Cuba editor Ricardo González Alfonso,
who was also imprisoned in the crackdown,
remains behind bars.
An editor for Cuban state television before
joining the independent press movement,
Olivera was released on medical parole.
He is suffering from colon problems.
"We welcome the release of Jorge Olivera
Castillo, and hope the others are released
soon," CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper
said. "But conditions for Cuban journalists
have not really changed. The journalists
released from prison are not free to do
their work."
Some of those who have been freed said
they may leave the country. Olivera, who
headed the Havana Press news agency, told
CPJ that he planned to leave Cuba for the
United States on a visa he was granted before
his arrest. Journalist Manuel Vázquez
Portal, released from prison in June, is
also considering exile.
In an interview published on a Spain-based
Web site, writer Raúl Rivero said
he would consider exile if he unable to
work in Cuba. Rivero, who was released from
prison on November 30, is a renowned poet
and Cuba's best known independent journalist.
He was serving a 20-year prison sentence
for "acting against the independence
or the territorial integrity of the State."
Rivero, who was awarded UNESCO's prestigious
Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
this year, said he spent 11 of the 20 months
in prison in a cell so small he could not
extend his arms.
© 2004
Committee
to Protect Journalists.
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