Cuba

WHEREAS the Cuban government has recently unleashed a violent wave of repression including searches of homes and individuals, confiscations and arrests to dismantle the growing movement of independent journalists throughout the country WHEREAS Raúl Rivero, regional vice president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information is among the 20 people arrested WHEREAS among these actions was the seizure of the copies and all the equipment used to produce the magazine De Cuba, an effort to open a window of free information to Cuban readers, and that other projects to publish alternative bulletins and magazines by independent journalists to break censorship and government control are endangered WHEREAS the Cuban government has threatened to prosecute these acts of journalistic independence under the so-called Law to Protect National Independence and the Economy of Cuba which provides for sentences of up to 20 years in prison in such cases WHEREAS reporter Bernardo Arévalo Padrón has been serving a six-year sentence since 1997 because of his professional work, and journalists Carlos Alberto Domínguez, Léster Téllez Castro and Carlos Brizuela have been in jail since March awaiting trial, and other members of the independent press are still harassed and fined to block their access to information sources and places where they go to cover news WHEREAS the Cuban government denies independent professionals access to the work tools they need to gather, produce and distribute their news, ideas and opinions both inside and outside the island WHEREAS Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people” WHEREAS Principle 5 of the Declaration of Chapultepec establishes that “Prior censorship, restrictions on the circulation of the media or dissemination of their reports, forced publication of information, the imposition of obstacles to the free flow of news, and restrictions on the activities and movements of journalists directly contradict freedom of the press” THE MIDYEAR MEETING OF THE IAPA RESOLVES to demand the immediate release of all jailed journalists, especially Raúl Rivero, vice president of IAPA for Cuba, and the end of the current repressive campaign against press freedom to request the immediate intervention of democratic governments, professional groups and human rights organizations, and in general the entire international community, to demand that the Cuban government end its hostile acts against freedom of information to demand the free and unrestricted practice of independent journalism in Cuba and its representatives’ access to the tools necessary to disseminate ideas, information and opinions inside and outside the country.