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Alert

"Chicago Tribune" and "El Universal" newspapers' correspondents told to leave, BBC correspondent denied visa

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has condemned Cuba's 22 February 2007 decision not to renew the visas of American Gary Marx, correspondent for the "Chicago Tribune" newspaper, and Spaniard Cesar Gonzáles-Calero, correspondent for the Mexico City-based "El Universal" newspaper. Their accreditation has been withdrawn and they have been told to leave the country. As well, BBC correspondent Stephen Gibbs has been refused an entry visa.

"When the Cuban authorities are not cracking down on Cuba's independent journalists, they target foreign correspondents," RSF said. "The reasons for these expulsions are clear. The Cuban regime is hard put to understand that the press is not a propaganda tool. It should realise the foreign media is not there to please any government, any more than Cuba's own media should be."

Marx, who has been in Cuba since 2002, was told his reporting was "too negative." The authorities said he had been in the country "long enough" and gave him 90 days to leave with his family. Marx said he had been planning to leave Cuba anyway, in mid-June when his children, aged 8 and 10, finished the school year. He is one of the very few US journalists to be allowed to reside in Havana. The authorities have nonetheless indicated they would consider a request for accreditation from another "Chicago Tribune" reporter.

Gonzáles-Calero, in Cuba since April 2003, said: "Their explanation was that my coverage of the Cuban situation was not convenient for the Cuban government." The authorities told him to stop reporting as of 28 February. "El Universal" vice-president Roberto Rock said the newspaper would lodge an official complaint with the Cuban government.

Seven foreign journalists were turned back on arrival in Cuba last year and an eighth was expelled.