UPDATED, March 23, 2011 — Alberto Triay has been released from prison.
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UPDATED, March 2, 2008
Alberto Gil Triay Casales is currently serving a 7-year prison sentence handed down after he was arrested in November 2005. He was convicted of "enemy propaganda" and other supposed "crimes."
The name of yet another journalist has been added Uncommon Sense's March 18 Project:
I was somehow remiss in not earlier calling attention to Triay. None of the lists I have consulted in preparing the 3/18 Project included the 55-year-old founder of Estrella Solitaria and contributor to Payolibre. I also do not remember reading any previous accounts of what happened to him.
Until this morning, when Reporters Without Borders (RSF) blasted the Cuban government for not yet announcing the verdict in its legal case against the journalist.
Triay, who originally was arrested last November, was charged with “subversive propaganda” — which in Cuba means telling the truth about the regime — and faces up to seven years in prison.
To protest his possible punishment, Triay on Sept. 13 started a hunger strike, according to RSF.
“We are ... worried about the fate of Triay Casales, whose health is deteriorating. He has had several heart attacks and has high blood pressure. He also has a serious hip problem that could leave him disabled if it is not treated properly,” RSF said in its statement.
RSF also condemned the 14-hour detention this past weekend of journalist Odelín Alfonso.
For more about the imprisoned independent journalists in Cuba, go to Payolibre, CubaNet, Cuban Political Prisoners.info or Reporters Without Borders.
For more on Uncommon Sense's March 18 Project, including profiles of other independent journalists, in and out of prison, read here.
To see pictures of most of the imprisoned journalists, go here.
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
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.)
For more on the Cuban dissidents, see the Cuban American National Foundation's Web site.
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 often dispatches about how the imprisoned journalists are doing in prison. You can also find their stories at Cuba Verdad.
And yes, this is the same Cuba that on May 9, 2006, was elected to a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.
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