Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009journalists in prison: cubasentenced him in April 2003 to 20 yearsin prison under Law 88 for the Protectionof Cuba’s National Independenceand Economy.Herrera Acosta, Guantánamo correspondentfor the independent newsagency Agencia de Prensa Libre Oriental,was being held at the easternHolguín Provincial Prison in 2009,independent Cuban journalist MiriamLeyva told CPJ. She also said that thereporter was diagnosed with diabetes.His wife, Ileana Danger Hardy, toldCPJ that he suffered from psychologicalailments. According to Leyva,those problems became more acuteover the course of 2009.José Ubaldo Izquierdo HernándezGrupo de Trabajo DecoroIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Izquierdo Hernández, a reporter inwestern Havana for the independentnews agency Grupo de Trabajo Decoro,was sentenced in April 2003 to 16years in prison for acting “against theindependence or the territorial integrityof the state” under Article 91 ofthe penal code. Following an appealthe next month, the People’s SupremeTribunal Court upheld his conviction.In 2009, he was being held at GuanajayPrison in his home province.Izquierdo Hernández was diagnosedwith severe depression, digestive ailments,circulatory problems, emphysema,and asthma, according to LauraPollán Toledo, wife of fellow imprisonedjournalist Héctor Maseda Gutiérrez.Héctor Maseda GutiérrezGrupo de Trabajo DecoroIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Several state security agents raidedMaseda Gutiérrez’s home on the secondday of the March 2003 crackdownon Cuba’s dissidents and independentpress. Following a closed-door summarytrial the following month, thereporter was charged under Article91 of the Cuban penal code for acting“against the independence or theterritorial integrity of the state” andLaw 88 for the Protection of Cuba’sNational Independence and Economyand sentenced to 20 years in prison. InJune of that year, Cuba’s highest court,the People’s Supreme Tribunal, dismissedhis appeal.An engineer with a graduate degreein nuclear physics, Maseda Gutiérrezbegan working as an independent journalistin 1995, according to his wife,Laura Pollán Toledo. Maseda Gutiérrezwas a founding member of the independentnews agency Grupo de TrabajoDecoro.In 2009, the reporter was beingheld at the maximum-security AgüicaPrison in western Matanzas province,Pollán Toledo said. She said MasedaGutiérrez was allowed family visitsonce every 45 days. CPJ researchfound that he continued to report onjail conditions and human rights violationsfrom prison. In 2008, MasedaGutiérrez was awarded CPJ’s InternationalPress Freedom Award.The 66-year-old reporter, the oldestof the imprisoned Cuban journalists,suffered from high blood pressure anda skin condition, his wife said. Theskin problems worsened over 2009,but Maseda Gutiérrez did not receivemedical treatment, she said.Pablo Pacheco Ávila, CooperativaAvileña de PeriodistasIndependientesIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003On March 19, 2003, state securityagents raided the home of Pacheco Ávila,a reporter for the local independentnews agency Cooperativa Avileña dePeriodistas Independientes, in centralCiego de Ávila. He was convicted inApril under Law 88 for the Protectionof Cuba’s Independence and Economyfor committing acts “aiming at subvertingthe internal order of the nation anddestroying its political, economic, andsocial system,” and sentenced to 20years in prison.Pacheco Ávila, 39, was being held atCanaleta Prison in his home province,his wife, Oleyvis García Echemendía,told CPJ. She said her husband was ingenerally good health despite havingbeen diagnosed with high blood pressure,acute gastritis, and kidney problems.He was housed in a barracks withat least 30 other prisoners.On March 20, the sixth anniversaryof Pacheco Ávila’s arrest, prison authoritiesgranted him a 24-hour homefurlough for good behavior. In an interviewwith U.S.-based Radio Martí,Pacheco Ávila said that while at home,he was able to see his wife and 10-yearoldson, and speak by phone with otherjailed reporters and family members inother parts of Cuba and abroad.Fabio Prieto Llorente, freelanceIMPRISONED: March 19, 2003Prieto Llorente, a freelance reporterin western Isla de la Juventud, wasarrested in March 2003 during themassive crackdown on the Cuban independentpress. In April of that year,a local court sentenced him to 20 yearsin prison for violating Law 88 for theProtection of Cuba’s National Independenceand Economy.Prieto Llorente was being held in solitaryconfinement at El Guayabo Prisonin his home province, his sister, ClaraLourdes Prieto Llorente, told CPJ. Ina January 7 letter to Cuban PresidentRaúl Castro Ruz, the reporter said hiscell measured just 10 feet (three meters)by six and a half feet (two meters),and his meals consisted of spoiled andburned “animal products.” Accordingto his sister, the journalist has beendiagnosed with allergies, emphysema,back problems, high blood pressure,and depression. He was allowed visitsfrom two family members every twomonths, his sister told CPJ.In 2009, Prieto Llorente activelyreported on and protested prisonconditions. His stories, publishedon overseas news Web sites, detailedsuch issues as the brutal punishmentinflicted on other inmates by prisonguards, and the “slave-like” work that318319