The panorama of press freedom has not changed. Government news media continue to be used as vehicles of propaganda, and censorship and disinformation remain unalterable. What has changed lately is the level and frequency of repressive actions against opponents and independent media.
In this period no journalists have been sent to prison, but actions of surveillance, control and repression have not ceased. Detentions during a few days or hours have intensified, as has the beating of opponents by mobs or with the direct intervention of police.
The reforms, widely publicized though timidly embarked upon, have not managed to lift the Cuban economy from bankruptcy nor the population from its shortages. But none of the applied reforms could be a better illustration of the regimes dictatorial and absurd nature than the recent decree in which donation and buying and selling of automobiles is authorized, something that, to the amazement of the world, has been forbidden for 50 years. In other words, until a few days ago Cubans could go to prison if they dared to sell or donate a car they owned. Thus the crisis in Cuban society continues deepening to the same extent to which the peoples discontent is growing.
During August and September the government launched a repressive, open, systematic and violent wave of actions against the opposition and especially the Ladies in White. Numerous detentions were carried out within the framework of processions in Santiago and Havana on the occasion of Day of the Virgin of Charity, Cubas patron saint. Acts of repudiation, beatings by police, detentions, and public and private threats were the methods employed. The international press has reported on these abusive actions, however it has not been able to raise condemnation by any government in the world, not even in Latin America.
At the same time, a campaign to discredit the Ladies in White was launched, accusing them of being incited and paid by Washington and of provoking disorder in order to justify attacks upon Cuba.
During the 67th General Assembly of the IAPA in Lima, it was made known that one of the founders of the Ladies in White had passed away, Laura Pollán, 63, after a long illness; the news saddened not only Cuban dissidents, but also all sympathizers of the movement of Cuban women who had taken the front line in the struggle for freedom and democracy in their country.
Unlike other times, when arrests remained hidden or took a while to become known, the use of mobile phones has enabled police actions against opponents to be learned of almost simultaneously, which is why the government is seeking to prevent photographs or videos being taken of repressive acts.
Nevertheless, the use of force and application of violence in public, at a higher level, are indications that on the one hand the government has given up improving its image before the European Union and has ended the apparent honeymoon with the Roman Catholic Church, the standard-bearer of a mediation process that gave rise to the sending into exile of dozens of journalists belonging to the Group of 75, convicted in the so-called Black Spring, and the tacit authorization for the Ladies in White not to be bothered during their regular Sunday marches.
The strategy of the main thrust would seem to be directed above all to those most radicalized political actors who could at some point gain the favor of the people or provoke, through their actions, a social explosion difficult to control. In these circumstances the government is opting to confront international criticism before allowing organized civil action to flourish in the midst of social discontent.
On September psychologist and journalist Guillermo Fariñas, 2010 Sakharov Prize winner, was reported to have been arrested in Santa Clara as he was about to begin a protest march, with other members of the opposition. On September 27 political police agents beat and insulted in full view on the street Martha Beatriz Roque, a prominent leader of the opposition and head of the Cuban Network of Community Journalists (RCCC), together with Arnaldo Ramos Lauzerique of the same organization and Berta Soler of the Ladies in White. Calixto Ramón Martínez, correspondent of the Hablemos Press information center was arrested on September 30 (since May he has been arrested another two times) and now newly faces deportation to his city of origin, Camagüey. The organization Reporters Without Borders in an October 6 press release condemned the expulsion of the correspondent from the Cuban capital (the ninth such action in two years), which, it argued, is taking place in a new context of increasing repression of civil society and dissident organizations.
Amnesty International has twice called on Havana to cease repression of defenseless women who seek the release of political prisoners. The Cuban Human Rights and National Reconciliation Commission in September alone recorded 563 arrests, the highest figure in 30 years. For this reason the number of political prisoners far from decreasing has in fact increased. And in the first eight months of this year there were 2,221 brief detentions, almost double the number in the same period in 2010.
The most relevant development has been the public protests in recent months, staged on occasion by few people. Another new development is that the Ladies in White have intensified their peaceful protests in the provinces in eastern Cuba, which has led the regime for the first time to use anti-riot troops. These unusual protests have on occasion had the backing of the population who apparently seem no longer to have fear.
The foreign press has also suffered. Entry to the country by the new bureau chief of Agence France Presse was denied and the accreditation of Maurice Vicent, for two decades correspondent of Spanish media El País and Cadena Ser, was not renewed. Havana claimed that he depicted a partial and negative image of the country. In Spain, the Senate Ibero-American Affairs Committee on September 21 adopted a motion by the Partido Popular party calling on the government to demand that the Castro government renew the accreditation of Vicent. In addition, it urged the executive branch of the Spanish government to denounce the progressive repression on the island.
In the Vicent case what is seen is an attempt to scare foreign journalists raising the threat of expulsion so as to control them, diminishing the objectivity of their reports or silencing them. In fact, it is a practice that is working: it is enough to see how certain developments of undeniable journalistic importance have gone unreported. Thus, to report from Cuba is an ongoing juggling act.
Much more than in the past there is an attempt to limit or impede public access to alternative information channels. Postponed until further notice has been the putting into operation of the fiber optic submarine cable installed between Venezuela and Cuba, about which so much was being said some months ago. So still pending is access including supervised access by the population to the Internet, which continues to be a privilege and luxury for just a few.
In early 2011 the government threatened clandestine manufacturers of satellite dishes and vendors of cards to capture television signals by satellite. In addition, still under way are raids to dismantle illegal cable television networks. In this context the government has reacted with concern to the fact that Radio/TV Martí is sending to mobile phones on the island news reports via text messages. Cuba has described this as a violation of its sovereignty, part of a cyberwar launched by the United States.
Contractor Allan Gross, 62, is serving a 15-year prison term handed down in March after being found guilty of committing offenses against State Security by supplying communication equipment to people considered to be members of the opposition. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction in August. An effort to obtain his release by former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson was aborted in Havana in mid-September, but some days later Havana sent a signal that it wished to normalize relations with the United States.
Meanwhile, a campaign to obtain the release of five spies in prison in the United States since 1998 has intensified. In contrast, and to the relief of the Cubans, this period has seen a considerable reduction in the Fidel Castro Reflections, probably due to a worsening of his health, which continues to be a state secret.
Curiously, the activity of independent bloggers has not ceased and there have been no reports of any repressive action against them. The movement is strengthening day to day and is consolidating its prestige within and outside of Cuba. Increasingly frequently seen on the Internet are videos capturing unusual acts of civil protest and forums of an emerging civil society, made up mostly of young people, reflecting on the crisis and formulating wide-ranging and crushing criticism of the Cuban system and government.
The conclusion could be that the government fears more the effects of a spontaneous street protest by a population disillusioned and desperate than the articles of the bloggers, the reports of journalists or the criticisms by intellectual circles all have an echo mainly abroad through the Internet but a lack of immediate national repercussion. The lessons of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria have alerted the Cuban government and explain its intent not to hand over the streets to the enemy.
Much more than in the past, an attempt is being made to limit or impede peoples access to alternative information channels.
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