Miami (January 27, 2021).- The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) condemned the detention in Cuba of a journalist as well as that of various artists and intellectuals and demanded their immediate release to the authorities. The hemispheric organization urged the international community to denounce the atrocities and human rights violations on the island.
Independent journalist Camila Acosta, from Cubanet, was detained on Wednesday and her whereabouts are unknown. Other artists and writers, who were preparing to attend a tribute to José Martí on the eve of the 168th anniversary of his birth were also arrested and later released, according to the independent portal 14ymedio.
It was also reported that the political police officers are keeping an eye on the residences of journalists Iliana Hernández, a collaborator of CiberCuba, and Luz Escobar, of 14ymedio. Yesterday, journalist Yoe Suárez was interrogated by the political police and threatened with the "mercenary crime".
"We condemn the aggravation of repression, threats and censorship against independent media and journalists, activists and citizens, against whom the government of President Miguel Díaz-Canel uses the Penal Code and archaic decrees to punish them and silence their right to freedom of expression", concurred Jorge Canahuati, the IAPA President and Carlos Jornet, Chairman of the IAPA's Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
Canahuati, CEO of the multimedia Grupo Opsa, from Honduras, and Jornet, director of the newspaper La Voz del Interior from Córdoba, Argentina, reiterated the urgency that the international community "immediately raise its voice to denounce the atrocities and human rights violations on the island".
IAPA is a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense and promotion of freedom of the press and of expression in the Americas. It is made up of more than 1,300 publications from the western hemisphere; and is based in Miami, Florida, United States.
