Chronicles of deprivation: NYRB covers blogging in Cuba
Take a look at this story in The New York Review of Books—it gets inside the challenges bloggers face as they are considered a “threat to the Cuban government’s international image,” and cites CPJ’s findings about imprisonment (Cuba has 22 journalists in jail, more than anywhere in the world except China and Iran). Read “Can the…
Church says Cuba will release political prisoners
New York, July 7, 2010—The Catholic Church in Cuba said today that the government of President Raúl Castro has agreed to release dozens of political prisoners over the next several weeks, raising hopes that numerous imprisoned journalists could be freed. “If imprisoned journalists are freed, as suggested by the church’s announcement, it cannot come a…
CPJ testimony: Press freedom in the Americas
CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon testified today before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, saying that while democracies are prevalent in Latin America, the press continues to operate with few institutional protections. This statement was submitted into the record on Monday.
The malware lockdown in Havana and Hanoi
General purpose computers give journalists an incredible amount of power to create, research, and publish their work away from those who may wish to interfere. But such independence requires that the computer itself remain free and uncompromised by software that works against the journalist’s own interests.
Freed Cuban journalist tells of his ‘dreadful experience’
When I asked Cuban journalist Oscar Sánchez Madan to describe in one sentence his three years in jail, he told me: “I don’t wish on anybody the dreadful experience I had in prison.” A municipal court in Unión de Reyes, province of Matanzas, freed him on Sunday after he completed a three-year prison term. Around 6 a.m.,…
Oscar Sánchez Madan freed from jail in Cuba
In early 2007, freelancer Oscar Sánchez Madan was detained twice and warned to stop working for the independent press after he covered a local corruption scandal and social problems in western Matanzas province, where he lived. He was arrested in April 2007 and, after a one-day trial, Cuban authorities convicted him of “social dangerousness,” a vague charge contained in…
CPJ urges EU leader to seek freedom for Cuban journalists
Dear President Rodríguez Zapatero: On the seventh anniversary of the Cuban government’s massive crackdown on dissidents and the independent press, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on you as leader of the European Union to take the forefront in defending human rights by urging President Raúl Castro to immediately release 22 journalists now jailed in Cuba.
Spain must help free Cuban dissidents
Mark Twain once said, “In our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.” In the witty genius’ land, the United States, such irony suggests that people should not to waste the opportunities that democracy offers. But in Cuba’s case any humorous…
For bloggers, Cuba remains a dark corner
Another year has passed and we are now remembering the seventh anniversary of the Black Spring. After seven years, have there been any changes? Yes and no. Law 88, a provision calling for the protection of Cuba’s national independence, is still in force. Known as the gag law, it is used to silence Cuban citizens,…