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The following letter to Fidel Castro was released Wednesday by the Committee to Protect Journalists and signed by more than 100 prominent writers and journalists from 19 Latin American countries.
Miami, March 17, 2005: The Committee to Protect Journalists,
together with 108 Latin American journalists and writers, calls
for the immediate and unconditional release of all imprisoned
Cuban journalists. We further demand that the sentences of six
journalists released on medical parole be annulled.
With 23 imprisoned journalists, Cuba remains one of the world's
leading jailers of journalists, second only to China. The journalists
have been jailed since March 2003, when the Cuban government
arrested them as the world's attention was focused on the war
in Iraq. Two weeks after their detentions, the journalists were
tried summarily -- their trials lasted one day -- behind closed
doors, and they were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14
to 27 years.
Some on hunger strikes
Although the Cuban government has labeled them ''mercenaries,''
an analysis of trial documents shows that the journalists' work
was within the parameters of the legitimate exercise of free
expression established under international human-rights standards.
The imprisoned journalists have reported unsanitary prison conditions
and inadequate medical care. They have also complained of receiving
rotten food. Unlike the general prison population, most journalists
are allowed family visits only every three months and marital
visits every four months. Their relatives have been harassed
for talking to the foreign press, protesting the journalists'
incarceration and gathering signatures calling for their release.
Those journalists who were ill before being jailed have seen
their health worsen in prison and have been transferred to hospitals
or prison infirmaries, while others have developed new illnesses.
Some journalists went on hunger strikes during 2004 to protest
their conditions. Because prison authorities refused to allow
outside contact with the strikers or to disclose information
about them, their families were unable to monitor their health.
Between June and December 2004, Cuban authorities released six
journalists on medical parole. One released journalist, Carmelo
Díaz Fernández, was warned that he would be sent
back to prison if he recovered from his illnesses -- or if he
did not maintain ``good behavior.''
In late 2004, the remaining jailed journalists were transferred
to prison hospitals in Havana, ostensibly for medical checkups.
The transfers came as Cuba resumed formal diplomatic contacts
with Spain in a possible precursor to normalizing relations with
the European Union. The circumstances fueled speculation that
additional releases were imminent, but all 23 were returned to
their prisons.
Right to information
Most jailed journalists are far from their homes, adding to the
heavy burden on their families. The imprisonment of these journalists
in reprisal for their independent reporting violates the most
basic norms of international law, including Article 19 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees everyone
``the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers.''
As writers and journalists in Latin America, we earn our livelihoods
by gathering and disseminating information and, in some cases,
expressing our opinions.
We believe that our activities benefit the societies in which
we live and that our right to freedom of expression is protected
by international law. For the Cuban government to arbitrarily
abrogate this right is an affront to human dignity.
We urge the Cuban government to respect international law by
allowing journalists to work freely, without fear of reprisal.
The signers include Tomás Eloy Martínez and Mario Diament of Argentina; Rosental Calmon Alves of Brazil; Alejandra Matus of Chile; María Jimena Duzán of Colombia; Michele Montas of Haiti; Carlos Fuentes and Laura Esquivel of Mexico; Sergio Ramírez of Nicaragua; Miguel Antonio Bernal of Panama; Gustavo Gorriti, Enrique Zileri and Mirko Lauer of Peru, and Teodoro Petkoff of Venezuela. A complete list can be found at www.cpj.org