WHEREAS the government and its agencies have stepped up their criticism and threats, as well as arbitrary arrests, citations by police, threatening interrogations and seizures of work equipment, in response to the growth of journalism that is independent of the government, especially in new online platforms
WHEREAS the charging of exorbitant fees for Internet connections, in addition to making Cuba the country with the lowest rate of Internet access in the hemisphere, adversely affects the work of independent journalists; and the number of media outlets subjected to censorship through the government's tampering with web servers has increased
WHEREAS the government intercepts and censors text (SMS) messages, emails, and voicemail messages, repressing freedom of expression in a manner without precedent in the region
WHEREAS not only does the independent press lack a framework of legal protection for its work, but self-censorship is a common practice among journalists in government-owned media, as they fear reprisals if they report on topics that are unfavorable to the government, and they also experience workplace discrimination because they are not allowed to contribute to independent news programs
WHEREAS the government has said that state ownership of the media continues to be a "gain of the Revolution" and that "they [media outlets] should never be privately owned"
WHEREAS a large number of journalists, most of them independent, were arrested during the visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to Cuba
`WHEREAS even reporters who have worked for international media outlets for decades, such as Fernando Ravsberg, continue to receive threats for doing their work
WHEREAS the Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec says: "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".
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
To demand that the Cuban government no longer make Cuba one of the most repressive countries in the world when it comes to the Internet and online media, and that it cease to resist the wave of change in communications and technology
To demand that the government respect the work and the freedom of expression of both independent journalists and the professionals who work for the state-owned media
To insist once again that the U.S. and Cuban governments include guarantees for freedom of expression and press freedom as part of the framework for their rapprochement and reinstatement of relations, not only at the government level but also in people-to-people relations.
