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Cuba detains, expels several
foreign journalists 3r62e
Committee
to Protect Journalists,
May 21, 2005.
New York, May 20, 2005-The Committee to
Protect Journalists condemns the detention
and expulsion of several foreign journalists
who traveled to Cuba to cover an unprecedented
gathering today of opposition activists
and international observers.
Italian journalist sco Battistini,
who arrived in Cuba last night on assignment
for the Milan-based daily Corriere della
Sera, was detained this morning, the newspaper
reported. Corriere della Sera said it did
not have further details, but it expected
Battistini would be expelled.
Polish journalist Jerzy Jurecki, an editor
with the regional weekly Tygodnik Podhalanski,
was detained at his hotel in Havana last
night and taken to an immigration detention
center near Havana's airport, according
to international news reports. Polish journalist
Seweryn Blumsztajn, who works for the national
daily Gazeta Wyborcza, was detained with
Jurecki, press reports said. A third journalist,
whose name has not been disclosed but who
reportedly works for the Polish edition
of Newsweek magazine, was also in police
custody. The three journalists, together
with three other Polish citizens, are at
a Cuban airport awaiting expulsion.
Cuba's ambassador to Poland said the journalists
had traveled to Cuba on tourist visas and
were violating Cuban law, The Associated
Press reported.
Authorities barred several other Spanish
and Italian journalists who traveled to
Cuba on tourist visas from reporting on
the opposition gathering, the Miami-based
daily El Nuevo Herald reported. Over the
last several days, several European legislators
invited to the gathering have also been
expelled from, or denied entry to Cuba.
The two-day meeting-the first such event
ever held by opposition activists-was organized
by the Assembly to Promote Civil Society
(APSC), an umbrella group of civil society
and dissident groups. The assembly, in the
planning for several years, was designed
to bring together dissidents and to formulate
plans to create a democratic society in
Cuba. The meeting began today with 200 activists
and guests in attendance at the house of
dissident Flix Bonne Carcasss
in Havana's outskirts. Organizers have complained
that dissidents from other provinces were
harassed and forbidden to travel to Havana.
Under Cuban immigration regulations, foreign
reporters who visit the island to work must
apply for journalist visas, which are processed
through Cuban embassies abroad. Cuban officials
grant visas to foreign journalists selectively,
J research shows, and they routinely exclude
those from media outlets deemed unfriendly,
such as The Miami Herald. Cuban law further
specifies that foreign journalists who travel
to the country on a tourist visa "should
abstain from practicing journalism."
"The Cuban government has clearly
used a politicized visa process to block
critical coverage," J Executive Director
Ann Cooper said. "We call on Cuban
authorities to allow both foreign and Cuban
journalists to do their work without harassment."
Twenty-three Cuban journalists have been
imprisoned since March 2003 as part of a
massive government crackdown on the independent
press and dissidents. J and many other
groups have campaigned for the release of
the journalists, who have been jailed on
charges of working against the interests
of the state.
J is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit
organization that works to safeguard press
freedom around the world.
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