The Inter American Press Association has condemned the 3-year prison sentence handed down last week to Cuban independent journalist Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet:
IAPA President Enrique Santos Calderón, editor of the Bogotá, Colombia, newspaper El Tiempo, declared, “Once again we can see the level of intolerance in Cuba, which, besides being the country in the Western Hemisphere with the highest number of imprisoned journalists, also imposes restrictions and deprives its citizens of the right to express themselves, to know and to access information.”The chairman of the IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, Texas, added that in Cuba some 60 independent journalists are subjected to ongoing harassment and must attempt to carry out their independent work under pressure. “Their materials and money are confiscated, they are hounded and fined, their communications are tapped, and they are under constant watch and intimidation.”
He added, “We believe that if Cuba is to be considered for re-entry into the Organization of American States it will first have show political will by freeing the jailed journalists and other prisoners of conscience.”
Read the whole release here.
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