Mr. Castro, let my heroes go

As a Cuban and as a career newspaperman, the 27 independent journalists imprisoned in Fidel Castro's gulag are my heroes.

I have had the good fortune to work with many outstanding reporters and editors, but none of us have ever exhibited the bravery — if only because we never had to — of a Omar Rodriguez or a Fabio Prieto. On occasion, we have had to overcome some harrowing challenges to get a story.

But rarely has the simple but powerful act of reporting and writing a story that tells the truth about our government or another powerful interest carried with it even the slightest possibility that we would be thrown in jail.

In Cuba, however, that is job hazard No. 1 for independent journalists. Many of them learned that in March 2003, when Fidel Castro unleashed a wave of repression that decimated the opposition, including the voice of that opposition — the writers and editors of the independent press. About two dozen were arrested, and they all received harsh prison sentences for doing only what good journalists do: Telling stories that give readers a better, clearer picture of their nation and their world.

But in Cuba, as under other tyrannies, that is tantamount to treason. That free flow of information is something a dictatorship cannot survive forever, so it represses accordingly.

As a Cuban and as a journalist, I have felt a call to pick up where the imprisoned journalists left off, to tell their stories, and the stories I wish they could tell instead. It is why I started the March 18 Project, to force my readers to always remember, to make sure the Castro regime does not get away unscathed with its vicious brand of censorship.

The recent uncertainity on the island and the growing realization that the dictator's biological demise may be imminent has rekindled calls for the U.S. to rethink its Cuba policy, namely by lifting the long-standing economic embargo. However, that and other conciliatory acts must not be taken until a post-Castro regime - post-Fidel and Raul - releases the independent journalists and other imprisoned dissidents from its jail cells.

Of course, the Castros have that power now.

And, of course, they won't use it.

But now, more than ever, is the time for the world — especially for their professional brethern off the island — to join with the Inter American Press Association, Reporters Without Borders and voices across the blogosphere to demand freedom for Cuba's imprisoned journalists.

As Cubans and as journalists, my heroes are:

Ricardo Alfonso

Pedro Argüelles

Victor Arroyo

Armando Bentancourt

Mijail Bárzaga

José Caraballo

José Castillo

Adolfo Fernández

José Ferrer

Alfredo Fuentes

Miguel Galván

José García

Alejandro González

Lester González

Oscar González

Roberto Guerra

Julio Gálvez

Iván Hernández

Normándo Hernández

Juan Herrera

José Izquierdo

Hector Maseda

Pablo Pacheco

Fabio Prieto

Alfredo Pulido

Omar Rodríguez

Omar Ruíz

You can read more about them by clicking on the links on the left, under "March 18 Project."

The Inter American Press Association counts 25 journalists as being imprisoned in Cuba. With the inclusion of Armando Betancourt, who was arrested earlier this summer, and democracy activist José Ferrer, who has worked some as a journalist, I count 27.

Either 25 or 27, it is 25 or 27 too many.

A free society requires a free press.

The fact that there are more than two dozen journalists in jail for, well, being journalists, shows how far Cuba has to go.

Please, join the campaign to free Cuba's journalists.

The Inter American Press Association is calling on newspapers on Friday to publish editorials demanding Cuba release its imprisoned journalists.

Bloggers should join the effort, too. Use your space on Friday to speak up for these heroes.

For as Val Prieto eloquently notes, we are independent journalists, too.

Their only misfortune, the only thing that distinguishes what they do and who they are from all of us is that they happen to be Cuban. Cuban independent jounalists. They live in a world most of us cannot even imagine and for simply reporting on that world, for trying to open some eyes as to their realities, for doing exactly what we do here freely, they have been stripped of their lives. They have been stripped of their voices.

But tomorrow, as fellow independent journalists, you and I, we, all of us, can be their voices. We can use our own cozy blogs, our personal soapboxes, to help these fellow independent journalists, these now muted but one day when they are free to be future bloggers.

WHAT MORE CAN YOU DO?

Reporters Without Borders has an ongoing petition drive asking Fidel Castro to release independent journalists in prison. You can sign the petition here. (A technical note: Reporters Without Borders is based in Paris, so the confirmation e-mail you will receive after signing the petition will be in French. Just in case you don't read French, the confirmation e-mail asks you click on the link to complete the petition signature process. Castro won't receive your message until you click on the link.)

Perhaps the most important thing you can do is find and read the work of Cuba’s independent journalists carrying on the work of those in prison. A place to find their articles, in Spanish, English and French, is CubaNet. The Web site also often published dispatches about how the imprisoned journalists are doing in prison.

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Michelle Malkin

American Thinker

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