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Editorial:
Journalist in Cuba a profile in courage 5g23j
San Antonio Express-News,
October 31, 2003.
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| Claudia Marquez Linares |
When this newspaper or one of its columnists
criticizes the Bush istration - or
any branch of the U.S. government - the
only retribution may be a round of angry
letters from readers.
If we lived in Cuba, as does one of our
freelance contributors, Claudia Mrquez
Linares, our penalty for such criticism
could be intimidation or imprisonment.
That is the hard lesson dozens of Cuban
opposition leaders and journalists learned
this year when dictator Fidel Castro decided
to crack down on internal dissent.
Since last spring, Osvaldo Alfonso, president
of the Cuban Liberal Party, husband of Mrquez
and father of her 6-year-old son, has languished
in prison.
This week, two State Security agents detained
and interrogated Mrquez, then released
her.
Not only has Mrquez, an independent
journalist in a highly controlled state,
written columns critical of the government,
but also three weeks ago she revived a magazine
whose staffers were among those jailed last
spring.
That apparently resulted in her detention.
Agents threatened her, forbidding publication
of another issue and asking if she loved
her son.
Those of us who read and write what we
will, sheltered by the freedoms we have
always known, should never fail to appreciate
our good fortune.
Likewise, we must be ready to in
any way possible those who struggle heroically
for the freedoms we take for granted.
At 26, Mrquez has developed incredible
courage, born of hardship.
We must not forget her, nor those who sit
in jail for exercising the rights we enjoy.
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