CUBA

WHEREAS
there has been no press freedom in Cuba for 44 years

WHEREAS
in an unprecedented increase in repression, the Cuban government arrested 28 independent journalists and sentenced them after summary trials, to prison terms ranging from 14 to 27 years for simply disseminating news, ideas and opinions outside the government’s control

WHEREAS
one of the prisoners is Raúl Rivero, regional vice president of IAPA’s Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail

WHEREAS
the Cuban regime’s arbitrary actions were not limited to imposing disproportionate sentences, but also included sending the prisoners to high-security prisons far from their homes and families with deplorable hygiene, food and medical conditions

WHEREAS
reporter Bernardo Arévalo Padrón has been serving a six-year sentence since 1997 for doing his journalistic work, and three other journalists have been in custody for more than a year awaiting trial

WHEREAS
other members of the independent press are constantly harassed and threatened to give up their work or be charged

WHEREAS
the spiraling repression of the Cuban regime also targets the people’s other options for information, such as unauthorized Internet connections, access to foreign television and unofficial video rental centers, which try to remove the people from totalitarian control and open space for information and entertainment other than official propaganda

WHEREAS
Principle 1 of the Declaration of Chapultepec declares “No people or society can be free without freedom of expression and of the press. The exercise of this freedom is not something authorities grant, it is an inalienable right of the people”

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE IAPA RESOLVES
to demand the immediate release of the jailed journalists, including Raúl Rivero, the vice president of the IAPA

to demand an end to the campaign of harassment and repression against independent journalism in Cuba, and the restrictions imposed on Cuban society to deprive its citizens of the right to information and freedom of expression

to ask democratic governments, professional organizations, human rights groups, civic associations and the international community to strongly ask the Cuban government to declare a general amnesty for all the journalists and other prisoners of conscience and to immediately reestablish press freedom on the island.