CUBA

CUBA WHEREAS more than 41 years ago freedom of expression and press were abolished in Cuba when the island’s totalitarian government confiscated independent media, ushering in a news blackout in a repressive era which persists to this day WHEREAS the freedom of the press report on Cuba notes that independent journalism is experiencing its “darkest moment” with a worsening of official repression via jailings, beatings and house arrests WHEREAS four independent journalists are currently serving jail sentences for practiced their profession WHEREAS Fidel Castro himself has publicly labeled some 20 independent journalists, including the IAPA regional vice chairman, Raúl Rivero, as “antirevolutionary chieftains” and “conspirators,” and during January and February more than 25 journalists have been subjected to arrests by police, beatings and house arrests to prevent them from doing their work WHEREAS the Cuban government persists in maintaining Law 88, called the “Law for the Protection of the National Independence of the Cuban Economy,” which violates Principles 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 of the Declaration of Chapultepec, severely restricting freedom of expression and the right to information THE IAPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS RESOLVES to raise its voice again in protest before the totalitarian government of Cuba over the imprisonment, harassment and house arrests of independent journalists for the purpose of impeding the free flow of information to demand of the Cuban government freedom for the four journalists serving jail sentences for practicing their profession to urge member newspapers of the IAPA to express solidarity with the independent journalists by publishing news generated by the independent news agencies, which now may be accessed freely through the Internet web page sponsored by the IAPA for the independent press of Cuba to ask all the newspapers of the hemisphere to instruct their correspondents to visit the independent journalists when they visit Cuba, as a symbol of solidarity, and to consider contracting them as correspondents in Cuba.