CUBA NEWS
October 21, 2005

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Press freedoms slip back in West, advance in newly free states: watchdog

PARIS, 20 (AFP) - Press freedom is being eroded in parts of the Western world, failing to advance in Iraq, but making progress in states emerging from repression, the watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says.

Its 2005 annual press freedom index again puts North Korea at the bottom of the list in 167th position, while Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland share top spot.

The top 10 countries are all European. New Zealand (12), Trinidad and Tobago (12), Benin (25) and South Korea (34) are the highest-ranked countries in other continents.

The Paris-based watchdog reports that Middle Eastern countries ( Iran 164, Iraq 157, Saudi Arabia 154, Syria 145) are among states where journalists have the toughest time and where government repression or armed groups prevent the media from operating freely.

"The situation in Iraq deteriorated further during the year as the safety of journalists became more precarious," RSF said.

"At least 24 journalists and media assistants have been killed so far this year, making it the mostly deadly conflict for the media since World War II. A total of 72 media workers have been killed since the fighting began in March 2003."

The US army (United States in Iraq, 137) also violated press freedom, as it did in 2003 and 2004, RSF said. "Six journalists were jailed in Abu Ghraib prison without explanation and not allowed to receive visits from their lawyers, families or employers. Four journalists were killed by US army gunfire between September 2004 and September 2005."

Iran once again had the region's worst record of press freedom, with seven journalists in prison and four others provisionally free and in danger of being returned to jail at any moment.

"Akbar Ganji is still being held in solitary confinement despite a more than 60-day hunger-strike, an international campaign and several official promises to free him. Cyber-dissident Mojtaba Saminejad has been in jail since October 2004, serving a two-year sentence."

Some Western democracies slipped down the index. The United States (44) fell more than 20 places, mainly because of the imprisonment of New York Times reporter Judith Miller and legal moves undermining the privacy of journalistic sources.

"Canada (21) also dropped several places due to decisions that weakened the privacy of sources and sometimes turned journalists into 'court auxiliaries'. (30) also slipped, largely because of searches of media offices, interrogations of journalists and introduction of new press offences."

There was better news from countries which have recently won or retained their independence, says the report, disproving the argument that democracy takes decades to establish itself.

"Nine states that have had independence (or recovered it) within the past 15 years are among the top 60 countries -- Slovenia (9), Estonia (11), Latvia (16), Lithuania (21), Namibia (25), Bosnia-Hercegovina (33), Macedonia (43), Croatia (56) and East Timor (58)," it says.

"More and more African and Latin American countries (Benin 25, Namibia 25, El Salvador 28, Cape Verde 29, Mauritius 34, Mali 37, Costa Rica 41 and Bolivia 45) are getting very good rankings."

The bottom 10 countries were listed as:

158 -- Vietnam
159 -- China
160 -- Nepal
161 -- Cuba
162 -- Libya
163 -- Myanmar
164 -- Iraq
165 -- Turkmenistan
166 -- Eritrea
167 -- North Korea

Sons of Iraq Vet to Leave Cuba for Visit

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writer. Mon Oct 17, 2005.

WASHINGTON - A Cuban-American who won a Bronze Star in Iraq but was not allowed to return to his homeland to care for a sick son said Monday that his children are being allowed to visit the United States.

Under an agreement with the State Department and the Cuban government, Sgt. Carlos Lazo's two sons, 17-year-old Carlos Rafael Lazo and 19-year-old Carlos Manuel Lazo, will visit for three months. Lazo, a sergeant in the Washington state National Guard, plans to fly to Miami on Friday to meet them.

The family's plight had drawn national media attention and prompted lawmakers from both parties to complain about the strict limits imposed on travel to Cuba by the Bush istration.

The rules, meant to punish the Communist government of Fidel Castro, limit family visits to once every three years.

"First of all, I'm very grateful for the outcome of this," Lazo said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"On the other hand, I feel sad because there are thousands of Cuban-Americans - especially in Miami - who, due to these restrictions, cannot see their families," he said.

Lazo, 40, of Seattle, came to the U.S. from Cuba by raft in 1992. Now a U.S. citizen, he works as a counselor for the state's social and health services department. He ed the National Guard in 2000 and trained as a medic.

He was sent to Iraq in April 2004 and earned the Bronze Star for braving sniper fire and mortar rounds while providing medical aid to troops during a battle in Fallujah.

Lazo last saw his sons in April 2003. Last year, on leave from Iraq, he flew to Miami with the intent of flying on to Havana, only to learn that the State Department had put a hold on engers going to Cuba.

He tried again last spring after hearing that his younger son was suffering from a high fever. The boy was hospitalized for 10 days, then sent home with doctors still uncertain why he was sick.

Lazo thanked a host of ers in Congress, including Rep. Jim McDermott (news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and Rep. Jeff Flake (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz.

Cuba praises Ibero-American summit's call for end to US 'blockade'

HAVANA, 17 (AFP) - Cuba praised the Ibero-American summit for urging the United States to end its 43-year-old embargo against the communist island and describing it as a "blockade."

"It is historic," National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon told reporters. The summit "spoke in a more precise, exact language," he said.

The summit displayed its "rejection of the economic war policy used by the United States against Cuba," said Alarcon, who is in charge of Cuban policy toward Washington.

In a resolution attached to the summit's final declaration Saturday in Salamanca, Spain, countries called on Washington to "put an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade that it maintains on Cuba."

The 15th Ibero-American summit brought together 19 heads of state and government from Andorra, Portugal, Spain and Latin American states.

The US State Department played down the impact of the summit's statement.

"I think that if you look back over the history of such statements from these kinds of summits, this is a common statement," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. "It's one that you'll find if you go back over the years, a common position that they have held."

McCormack added that Fidel Castro's Cuba "shouldn't take any comforts" from such statements by US allies.

"I think while you have seen this same type of statement concerning the embargo and differences -- policy differences over the embargo -- you have also seen during that period of time over recent years, increasingly pointed statements about European concerns about Cuba's human rights records and the importance of democratic reforms in Cuba," he said.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had also played down the statement on Sunday, saying it had created a "false polemic." Such resolutions, he told Spanish radio, was "almost a conventional ritual" at such summits.

Cuban Official Blames U.S. for Death

AP, October 18, 2005.

Cuba's Parliament speaker blamed the U.S. government Monday for the drowning last week of a 6-year-old Cuban boy during an illegal migration attempt to South Florida.

The child, Julian Villasuso, died Thursday when the boat smuggling him and 30 others _ including his parents _ capsized in the Straits of Florida about 45 miles south of Key West as it was being pursued by a Coast Guard cutter.

The boy's parents were among those the Coast Guard later found clinging to the overturned speedboat, which authorities believe was captained by migrant smugglers. The boy's body was discovered after the craft was turned upright.

"If you arrive (in the United States) they it you," Parliament speaker Ricardo Alarcon told international reporters. He was referring to American policies that allow most Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay, but return most of those picked up at sea to their homeland.

"But you have to make it, escape from the (U.S.) Coast Guard, you have to violate American laws, you have to risk your life," added Alarcon, among President Fidel Castro's most trusted senior officials.

The child's parents _ Julian Villasuso and Maizy Hurtado _ were released to relatives living in Florida. The U.S. Attorney's Office had asked Washington to it the parents to the country because it is considering prosecution against the smugglers.

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