Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: cubaRodríguez Saludes, 44, was a wellknownphotographer who also reportedand wrote. He was being held at ToledoPrison in Havana, where he was allowedjust one visit every month, according toLaura Pollán Toledo, a human rightsactivist and wife of imprisoned journalistHéctor Maseda Gutiérrez.According to his wife, Ileana MarreroJoa, the journalist had been diagnosedwith gastrointestinal problemsand hypertension.Mijaíl Barzaga LugoAgencia Noticiosa CubanaIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Barzaga Lugo, a reporter for the independentnews agency Agencia NoticiosaCubana, was arrested in March2003 and accused the following monthof violating Law 88 for the Protectionof Cuba’s National Independence andEconomy. Cuban authorities handedhim a 15-year prison sentence.Barzaga Lugo was being held at1580 Prison in the municipality ofSan Miguel del Padrón, according toLaura Pollán Toledo, a human rightsactivist and wife of imprisoned journalistHéctor Maseda Gutiérrez. Shesaid the reporter suffered from skinailments made acute by prison conditions;he did not receive medical treatmentfor the problem.Adolfo Fernández Saínz, PatriaIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003In March 2003, Cuban state securityagents raided the Havana home ofFernández Saínz, correspondent forthe independent news agency Patria,and then arrested the journalist. Hewas tried under Law 88 for the Protectionof Cuba’s National Independenceand Economy in April. In June of thatyear, Cuba’s highest court, the People’sSupreme Tribunal, upheld his convictionand his 15-year prison sentence.Fernández Saínz, 60, was being heldat Canaleta Prison in central Ciego deÁvila province, 250 miles (400 kilometers)from his home, CPJ researchshows. Prison authorities allowed himfamily visits once every two months.His wife, Julia Núñez Pacheco, toldCPJ that traveling to the prison wasdifficult and very expensive. A onewaybus ticket cost 85 Cuban pesos(US$3.75), a large portion of the averageCuban monthly salary of 480Cuban pesos (US$21).Conditions in Canaleta Prison werevery poor, Núñez Pacheco told CPJ.Her husband was housed in a barrackswith roughly 40 other inmateswith little air circulation and bad hygiene.Food was inadequate and ofteninedible, she said. He suffered fromchronic hypertension, emphysema,osteoporosis, prostate ailments, andfour kidney cysts, and received scantmedical attention.Alfredo Felipe Fuentes, freelanceIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Fuentes, an economist by training,began working for the Cuban inde-pendent press in 1991. On March 19,2003, he was arrested after a raid onhis home in the city of Artemisa. Thenext month, the freelance reporter wasconvicted of violating Article 91 of theCuban penal code, which imposesharsh penalties for acting against “theindependence or the territorial integrityof the state.” A judge in westernHavana province handed him a 26-year prison sentence.The 60-year-old journalist was beingheld at the maximum-securityGuanajay Prison, his wife, LoydaValdés González, told CPJ. ValdésGonzález, who was allowed to visither husband only once every 45 days,said conditions at Guanajay werebetter than those at other prisonswhere he had been held. Due to hissevere back problems, the reporterdid not share a cell with other prisoners.Valdés González said her husbandsuffered from chronic gastritisthat caused him to lose significantamounts of weight.Valdés González told CPJ that inDecember 2007, her husband presentedan appeal to Cuba’s SupremeTribunal Court. Because Cuban authoritiesdenied Fuentes access to alawyer, he did so without benefit ofcounsel. After two years, the courthad still not responded to him, ValdésGonzález told CPJ.Normando Hernández GonzálezColegio de PeriodistasIndependientes de CamagüeyIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Hernández González was arrested inMarch 2003 as part of the massivecrackdown on Cuba’s dissidents andindependent press. The director ofthe news agency Colegio de PeriodistasIndependientes de Camagüey wassentenced the following month to 25years in prison under Article 91 of thepenal code.Hernández González was held in anisolation cell at the maximum-securityKilo 7 Prison in his home province ofCamagüey for much of the year, hismother, Blanca González, told CPJ.He spent all but two hours a weekalone, and received family visits onlyonce every 45 days, she said. The journalistwas diagnosed with intestinalailments, and has suffered from pneumoniaand knee problems so severethat even standing was difficult, hismother said. In November, doctorsalso diagnosed Hernández Gonzálezwith several cardiovascular ailments.Hernández González was moved tothe hospital at Combinado del EstePrison in late October, said Oscar EspinosaChepe, a formerly jailed journalist.His wife, Yaraí Reyes Marín, toldCPJ that she requested medical parolefor her husband in July 2006, but Cubanauthorities did not respond.Juan Carlos Herrera AcostaAgencia de Prensa Libre OrientalIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Herrera Acosta was arrested during themassive crackdown on Cuba’s dissidentsand independent press. A Cuban court316317