vigilant TV

An opinion piece by RSF secretary-general Robert Menart details the charges against journalists imprisoned in Cuba for publishing articles in the US press.

Twenty-nine other journalists like him are imprisoned in Cuba. Most of them received sentences ranging from 14 to 27 years in early April in trials held in the best Stalinist fashion—lasting just a few hours and with their dose of repentant offenders, spies and informers taking the witness stand. Their lawyers were not shown the details of the charges until five minutes before the start of the trials. Neither foreign correspondents nor diplomats were allowed to attend.

These dissidents were accused of cooperating with the United States with the aim of undermining “the state’s independence or territorial integrity.” What they did was write reports that were published in the foreign—above all U.S.—news media, as no privately owned newspaper, radio or TV station is permitted in Cuba. They had also dared bring out two clandestine magazines in Cuba called De Cuba and Luz Cubana, in a bold move without precedent in 44 years of Castroism.

The Cuban constitution and legislation could not be clearer: the communist government enjoys an absolute monopoly of the news media. They are owned by the state and run by offshoots of the Cuban Communist Party. The journalists who work for these media must belong to the Union of Cuban journalists, which is also overseen by the party. The only exceptions are some 15 small, independent Catholic magazines whose existence is tolerated.

– WSJ, In Cuba’s Tropical Gulag.

A different version of the piece at RSF describes some of the conditions under which those journalists are held.

[Blanca Reyes] told Reporters Without Borders on 4 August that she had spoken to [her husband, journalist and poet Raúl Rivero] by phone on 31 July and that it was clear he was suffering though he did not complain. He was deliberately being held in harsh conditions and only allowed one visit every three months instead of the normal one month. She said her own visits to him, as his wife, were also restricted.

“I can only bring him extra food every three months,” she said. “Canned food is forbidden, so he has to eat biscuits and has no protein in his diet. I won’t be able to see him again until 21 August.” She said he also had circulatory problems and that the authorities were passing on medication she brought him.

– RSF, Wife of jailed journalist Raúl Rivero attacks “unacceptable” prison conditions.