IAPA condemns repression against 14ymedio in Cuba

Miami (December 10, 2015) .- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the siege of Cuba's political police against the digital newspaper 14ymedio directed Yoani Sanchez, to prevent coverage of the celebrations for the Day of the Human Rights; while he is demanding the authorities to cease acts of repression and censorship information.

Sanchez told the IAPA that two agents of the State Security guard stationed and from early morning blocked the access to the floor where the newsroom of 14ymedio is located to prevent journalists from covering the activities around the day observance by United Nations on December 10.

The chairman of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the SIAPA, Claudio Paolillo said: "We continue waiting for a change of attitude of the government toward independent journalism in Cuba. Although the island has opened in the past year their borders to other forms of expression, journalists and bloggers continue to exert his work there in conditions of control, surveillance and censorship. "

Sanchez, regional vice president for Cuba of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the IAPA, explained that when the managing editor of 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, tried to get to the elevator to go outside, subjects who identified themselves as agents of counterintelligence warned him that "you will not leave today."

Also revealed that activist groups denounced arrests and searches throughout the country, including the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU)). A dozen of arrest were made, according with Sanchez. Also revealed that activist groups denounced arrests and searches throughout the country, including the Ladies in White and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) organization they arrested 12 of its members.

Paolillo, editor of the Uruguayan weekly Busqueda, added that "the acts of repression against activists, artists, journalists and reporters continue in Cuba, so the free exercise of freedom of expression in this country remains a pending issue for us ".

The IAPA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It consists of more than 1,300 publications in the Western Hemisphere; and it is based in Miami, United States. For more information, please visit http://www.sipiapa.org