Attacks on the Press - Committee to Protect Journalists

attacks on the press in 2009americas: cubarestrictions are among the toughest in the world. An inter-ministry commissionhas authority to regulate “the information that comes from worldwide informationwebs,” purportedly to ensure the country’s security and defense. A governmentagency approves all Internet connections, leaving only foreigners and a handfulof intellectuals, high-ranking officials, doctors, and academics with personal accessto the Web. Other Cubans went online at government-run cybercafés, hotels,embassies, and highly monitored student centers. Cubans were not allowed topurchase consumer electronics, including personal computers, until 2008. Computersremained difficult to find.For all those difficulties, Cuba became home to a small but vibrant bloggingcommunity, one that CPJ described in a September special report, “ChroniclingCuba, Bloggers Offer Fresh Hope.” CPJ found that at least 25 independent, journalistic,and regularly updated blogs were being produced by Cuban writers in2009. Most bloggers interviewed by CPJ were under age 35 and defined themselvesas part of the post-revolutionary youth. Like the independent press, theyreported on everyday experiences, pinpointing food shortages and problems ineducation, housing, and health.Bloggers wrote at home, sometimes on computers cobbled together fromblack-market parts. Although they occasionally posted directly to their blogsfrom island cybercafés, they more generally e-mailed their information to friendsliving abroad who then posted their entries. Bloggers, frequently unable to readtheir own posts online, were aware that their Internet audience was predominantlyoverseas. So they saved their work to CDs that were distributed to independentlibraries on the island, or they printed hard copies of their entries and boundthem into impromptu publications that were passed from hand to hand.Although it might seem surprising, Cubans have a long tradition in onlinejournalism. The roots of online Cuban journalism can be found in the independentpress movement that flourished from the mid-1990s into this decade. Usingbasic journalistic tools for their reporting, these independent reporters have longmade a practice of phoning, faxing, or e-mailing their stories to foreign-basednews Web sites. But the new generation of bloggers differed from their predecessorsin the independent press movement, most of whom were opposition activistswith strong political views. Bloggers generally avoided links to dissident groups,and tended not to criticize the Castro regime directly, CPJ research showed. Asa consequence—or perhaps due to a generational disconnect between the youngbloggers and the country’s aging leaders—authorities have not cracked down ashard on the blogging community as they did on the independent press. Twentynineindependent journalists were jailed in a massive 2003 crackdown on dissent;most of them remained in prison in 2009.Nonetheless, a number of bloggers told CPJ that they had been summonedby authorities for questioning and threatened with sanctions, including imprisonment,if they did not stop writing. In November, state security agents detained,assaulted, and harassed Yoani Sánchez, an internationally recognized blogger, andtwo fellow bloggers, Claudia Cadelo and Omar Luís Pardo Lazo. Authorities alsorevoked Sánchez’s permission to travel outside the country.Bloggers and independent journalists filing to overseas news outlets continuedto cover issues that were ignored by the official media. As some of Cuba’smost powerful officials and well-known Fidel Castro loyalists—including ForeignMinister Felipe Pérez Roque and Vice President Carlos Lage—were removedfrom office in March, the news was briefly reported at the end of an official TVnewscast. A day later, the official dailies, the only ones available in Cuba, printedthe resignation letters without comment or context. Bloggers questioned thereasons behind the decision and the repercussions these changes would have onthe island. Independent writers such as Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, presidentof the Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation, andOscar Espinosa Chepe, a formerly imprisoned journalist, discussed the developmentsin opinion pieces.In July, President Raúl Castro spoke about the severe impact of the globalfiscal crisis on the island, and announced spending cuts to revitalize the economy.The island’s official press responded with superficial editorials calling on Cubansto “save” and “be understanding.” Bloggers and independent journalists reportedon citizens’ varied responses. Many stories, CPJ found, were critical of the regime’spolicies and the possible repercussions on daily life.Bloggers developed strong global connections and created new means of gettinginformation out of Cuba, allowing them to highlight problems that wouldotherwise go unreported locally and internationally, CPJ research found. Internationaloutlets sought out their opinion and, at times, published their work. InSeptember, the blogging community hit another milestone. An association of Cubanbloggers sent Twitter messages for the first time from the island announcingthe winners of the first local blogging contest, according to a report in The MiamiHerald. This kind of international attention could provide bloggers (and independentreporters) with some protection from harassment and imprisonment.In April, U.S. President Barack Obama lifted restrictions on visits and thesending of money to Cuba by Americans with family on the island, but he ruledout termination of the decades-long U.S. embargo. Obama said his administrationwas willing to talk to Castro’s government, and he urged Cuba to reciprocatewith human rights improvements, The Associated Press reported. Secretary ofState Hillary Rodham Clinton said Cuba should “open up to outside opinionsand media.” President Castro responded swiftly, stating that Cuba was willingto discuss the issues but calling as well for the release of five Cubans imprisoned7 87 9