Free Cuba's imprisoned journalists!

Updated, Sept. 17, 2009.

Sunday, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day.

As a journalist, I remember my colleagues around the world who suffer because they dare to exercise a liberty possessed by all men and women, the freedom of expression. As long as one journalist is in jail or otherwise oppressed or repressed because of their work, all of us — other journalists, as well as newspaper readers, television viewers and Internet users — are that much less free.

As a Cuban, I especially remember my colleagues and compatriots of the island's independent press, especially those listed below, imprisoned because of their commitment to free expression, and to a free Cuba.

Pedro Argüelles Morán*

Victor Arroyo Carmona*

Mijail Bárzaga Lugo*

Adolfo Fernández Saínz*

José Ferrer García*

Alfredo Felipe Fuentes*

Miguel Galván Gutiérrez*

Julio Gálvez Rodríguez*

José García Paneque*

Lester González Pentón*

Ricardo González Alfonso*

Iván Hernández Carrillo*

Normando Hernández González*

Juan Herrera Acosta*

José Izquierdo Hernández*

Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez*

Pablo Pacheco Ávila*

Fabio Prieto Llorente*

Alfredo Pulido López*

Omar Rodríguez Saludes*

Omar Ruíz Hernández*

Oscar Sanchez Madan

Alberto Triay Casales

Other Cuban journalists in the Castro gulag are:

Guillermo Espinosa Rodríguez

Raimundo Perdigón Brito

Ramón Velásquez Toranzo

(* Members of the Group of 7556.)

To learn more about Cuba's independent press and its imprisoned journalists, visit Reporters Without Borders and Committee to Protect Journalists.