Just imagine the stories they could tell if Cuba's independent journalists could operate free of police harassment.
Which, of course, is exactly why they are not allowed to operate free of police harassment.
The latest journalist to receive — and reject — an interrogator's suggestion they find another line of work is Jesús Almaguer Pérez, a writer for the Jóvenes sin Censura (Youth Without Censorship) news agency.
The police followed a familiar pattern with the 27-year-old Almaguer, according to a story written by Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia and posted at Payo Libre.
They picked Almaguer up Wednesday morning, took him to a police station and threatened him with much worse if he did not quit working as a journalist. Several of his colleagues at Jóvenes sin Censura and other independent news agencies have suffered similar treatement.
To show he was serious, the interrogator warned Almaguer that he could be prosecuted under Law 88, which the regime routinely has used to throw journalists and other dissidents in prison, Particularly offensive to the regime, apparently, were recent stories Almaguer wrote about a dengue epidemic on the island, according to the Payo Libre story.
In response to the threats, Almaguer followed a pattern set by many of his colleagues, and told the police to take their bad-cop routine elsewhere.
"I am going to continue my journalistic work until the final consequences, and I would be ready to go to prison with pride and honor like my unjustly jailed brothers," Almaguer said.
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