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Alert

RSF condemns transfer of journalists to prisons far from their homes

(RSF/IFEX) - On 26 April 2003, RSF protested over plans to transfer a dozen independent journalists arrested last month to provincial prisons hundreds of kilometres from their Havana area homes and warned that it would lead to their ill-treatment.


The families of a dozen of the 26 journalists detained in a crackdown on 78 dissidents were told by state security police that their relatives would shortly be sent to jails up to 900 kilometres from the capital. The families immediately denounced the move as an effective "second sentence" in view of the difficult travel conditions in the country.

"This second isolation will make the journalists even more vulnerable to the abuses and humiliating treatment to which political prisoners are routinely subjected in Cuba," said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. "The authorities' failure to provide medical care for journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who is seriously ill, is a very bad sign," he added.

News of the planned transfers was reported by the websites cubanet.org and nuevaprensa.org and confirmed by the wives of several of the prisoners involved. The affected journalists are:

- Víctor Rolando Arroyo Carmona, of the UPECI agency, who is to be transferred to a prison in Guantanamo (910 kms from Havana),
- Mijail Barzaga Lugo, of the Agencia Noticiosa de Cuba agency, who is to be transferred to a prison in Santa Clara (Villa Clara province), (270 kms from Havana),
- Chepe, a freelance journalist, who is to be transferred to Guantanamo,
- Adolfo Fernández Sainz, of the Pátria agency, who is to be transferred to Holguín (730 kms from Havana),
- Miguel Galván Gutiérrez, of the Havana Press agency, who is to be transferred to Matanzas (98 kms from Havana),
- Julio César Gálvez Rodríguez, a freelance journalist, who is to be transferred to Santa Clara (Villa Clara province),
- Edel José García, head of the Centro Norte Press agency, who is to be transferred to Boniato, in Santiago (860 kms from Havana),
- Ricardo González, editor of the magazine "De Cuba" and RSF correspondent, who is to be transferred to Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey (530 kms from Havana),
- Hector Maseda Gutiérrez, of the Grupo de Trabajo Decoro agency, who is to be transferred to Santa Clara,
- Jorge Olivera, head of the Havana Press agency, who is to be transferred to Chafarina prison, in Guantanamo,
- Raúl Rivero, a poet and head of the Cuba Press agency, who is to be transferred to Ciego de Avila (423 kms from Havana), and
- Manuel Vázquez Portal, of the Grupo de Trabajo Decoro agency, who is to be transferred to Boniato (Santiago).

Miriam Leyva, Chepe's wife, said the journalist is seriously ill. He suffers from chronic hepatitis and high blood pressure and is not getting the required medical attention he needs. His niece, Dr Ileana Prieto Espinosa, said he also has very serious liver problems.

On 21 April, Chepe was transferred from Villa Marista, the state security police headquarters, to the Marianao military hospital. His wife was told when she visited him the next day that he had not had medical tests or treatment because he was going to be sent to Guantanamo prison very shortly. The Italian ambassador in Havana has officially expressed his concern about Chepe's health.

Background Information

On 18 March, the Cuban government took advantage of the imminent United States (U.S.)-led invasion of Iraq to launch an unprecedented wave of repression. They arrested nearly 80 dissidents, including 26 independent journalists, accusing them of undermining the country's "independence and territorial integrity" in collusion with the U.S. Interests Section (diplomatic representation) in Havana. The journalists were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six to 27 years.

Rivero, 1997 winner of the RSF-Fondation de France Prize, and González, RSF's Havana correspondent, received 20-year sentences. All the journalists were given sham trials, in secret, expedited, with no right to defend themselves and involving pre-prepared evidence from undercover agents and neighbours accusing them solely on the basis of their opinions.

Before 18 March, four journalists were already in prison. Bernardo Arévalo Padron, of the Línea Sur Press news agency, was sentenced to six years' imprisonment in November 1997 for "insulting" President Fidel Castro and Vice-President Carlos Lage. Carlos Brizuela Yera, of the CPIC news agency, and Lester Téllez Castro, head of the Agencia de Prensa Libre Avileña, were arrested on 4 March 2002 in Ciego de Ávila while protesting a police attack on a journalist from the Cuba Press agency. Carlos Alberto Domínguez has been held without charge since 23 February 2002.

The Cuban constitution bans any private ownership of the media. Because they cannot publish in their own country, about 100 independent journalists have relied on U.S.-based Cuban exile organisations to publish their articles, mostly on websites. Nearly 60 independent journalists have been forced into exile since 1995, having faced daily harassment from the authorities.