08/15/2002
EDITORIAL NUMBER=0-10068

CUBAN JOURNALISTS HARASSED

The peaceful battle for freedom in Cuba is being waged by men and women committed to the protection of fundamental rights. Among those fundamental rights is freedom of the press.

The Cuban constitution says that print and electronic media are state property and cannot become private property. The Cuban Communist party controls all media as a means of indoctrinating the public. Media must operate under party guidelines and reflect government views.

As the independent watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists reports, Cuban state security agents continue to harass, detain, and threaten independent journalists who do not follow the party line. The director of the independent news agency Noticuba (no-tee-COO-bah), Ángel Pablo Polanco (ahn-hell pahblo po-LAHN-co), was detained on July 30^th. Mr. Polanco has filed news reports for the Miami-based Web sites Nueva Prensa Cubana, Cubanet, and Radio Martí.

The security agents who entered Mr. Polanca's Havana apartment said they were looking for "illegal items" and confiscated several electronic appliances, including a fax machine and a cordless phone, documents, books, money, and Mr. Polanco's passport. He was arrested and held for four days. The journalist says he has been charged with instigating others to commit the crimes of "contempt for authority". He was also charged with "insulting the nation's symbols."

Jesús Álvarez Castillo (hey-zoos AHL-varez cass-TEE-yo) is a reporter for the independent press agency CubaPress. On March 4^th, Mr. Castillo tried to cover opposition protests in Ciego de Ávila when police officers stopped him and applied a chokehold to him, spraining his neck.

On July 31^st, Mr. Alvarez Castillo was summoned to police headquarters. He was interrogated for four hours and pressured to testify about the March protest. When he told the agents that he had not witnessed the incident, they threatened to prosecute him for perjury.

The United States will continue to speak out until the Castro regime respects the rights of journalists like Angel Pablo Polanco, Jesús Álvarez Castillo and others. As President George W. Bush has said, "Focusing our support on activities that promote democratic values will go a long way toward accelerating the democratic transition of Cuba."