WHEREAS, the regime keeps in prison two independent journalists, a YouTuber and a citizen who tookvideos of a protest;
WHEREAS, the repression of the July 11 peaceful protests by the Ministries of the Interior and the Armed Forces has left more than 300 new political prisoners;
WHEREAS, many independent journalists have been placed under house arrest for months at a time, with or without judicial justification - and that three of them remain under this measure;
WHEREAS, the government continues to fail to recognize the independent press and journalists, tries to choke them by law enforcement and economic means, forces them to change their editorial line and presses their reporters into exile;
WHEREAS, the Ministry of Communications and ETECSA are the agencies that block independent websites and carry out total or partial cuts of Internet and telephone services to the entire country or to certain independent journalists;
WHEREAS, the Communist Party, through its media outlets, articulates smear campaigns against independent media and journalists, and that the Ministry of Justice endorses human rights violations, in addition to condemning journalists, youtubers and Facebook users;
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, the Penal Code, Law 88, Decree-Laws 370 and 35 are used to curb freedom of the press, information and expression;
WHEREAS, the government has begun to harass and intimidate those who are calling for a new protest on November 15;
WHEREAS, for over 60 years the regime has violated all the precepts set forth in the Chapultepec and Salta Declarations
THE 77th IAPA GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLVES
To condemn the imprisonment and call for the immediate release of reporters Lázaro Yuri Valle and Esteban Rodríguez, and YouTuber Yoandi Montiel, and call for the suspension of the legal actions against Mary Karla Ares and Camila Acosta;
To demand that the government cease police and judicial persecution against independent journalists, as well as its practice of forcing them into exile, and to stop the repression in social networks against those who exercise their right to criticism and dissent;
To demand the abolition of laws that criminalize journalistic activity and citizens for exercising their right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression;
To alert the hemispheric press and international organizations about the new wave of repression that the government has already unleashed against the organizers of a social protest called for November 15.
