WiPC 2009 Resolution: Cuba

and is even increasing this repression via new arrests at the units of the Department of Security of the State, where the detainees, after several days, are given Writs of Judicial Warning, threatening them with court action if they continue their activities as dissidents; furthermore, dissidents and civil activists are harassed via repeated "acts of repudiation" by groups reportedly linked to the police and other police threats; all this despite the European Union having lifted the diplomatic sanctions imposed on the Cuban government because of its detention and imprisonment of some 75 dissidents, including 35 writers, independent journalists and librarians, in March/ April 2003.;

Disappointed that the European Union, when lifting the above mentioned sanctions, indicated that it expected reciprocal gestures by the Cuban government, such as an improvement in the human rights situation in the island and greater tolerance for opposition activists and for their right to exercise freedom of expression; and yet such changes by the Cuban government have to date not materialised;

Outraged that writers and journalists who have won international awards for their intellectual work and for freedom of expression, including the internet writer Yoani Sánchez, have been denied permission by the Cuban Government to leave the country in order to receive these prizes, in violation of Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.;

Alarmed that the Cuban government keeps in force Law 88 of 1999, allowing sentences of up to 20 years in prison for those who peacefully exercise their right to freedom of expression, and that some 26 independent journalists, writers and librarians are currently serving prison sentences based on this and other laws;

Of these journalists, writers and librarians, we highlight the following who have been imprisoned since 2003 and are in poor health:

NORMANDO HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, journalist and writer, sentenced to 25 years in prison, recipient of the Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award;

RICARDO GONZALEZ ALFONSO, poet, journalist and short story writer, editor of the "De Cuba" literary magazine and author of the book of poems ¨Men Without Faces" ("Hombres sin Rostro,") sentenced to 20 years in prison;

Also: VICTOR ROLANDO ARROYO CARMONA (sentenced to 26 years), REGIS IGLESIAS RAMIREZ (18 years), JOSE UBALDO IZQUIERDO HERNANDEZ (16 years), IVAN HERNANDEZ CARILLO (25 years), PEDRO ARGÜELLES MORÁN (20 years) and JOSE LUIS GARCIA PANEQUE (24 years), among others.

Conditions at many of the around 300 penitentiary centres on the island are said to be poor and jeopardise inmates' wellbeing through lack of medical personnel and medicines, inadequate food and poor sanitation. Furthermore, political prisoners are often placed in cells with common prisoners, and in jails far from their homes, making regular family visits difficult.
Disgusted because the Cuban government not only keeps in force a 2004 law which restricts Cubans' access to the internet, allowing only government officials and those with close links to the Communist party personal internet access, but has also tightened its application;

Urges the Cuban government to free the 26 independent journalists, writers and librarians who are currently imprisoned for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression, and to ensure that their release is unconditional, allowing those freed to stay in the country or to leave it, in line with Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;

Finally, also urges the Cuban government to repeal Law 88 of 1999 and the law restricting internet access, in line with Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and to ratify the latter treaty which the government signed in February 2008.