The CPJ examined government activities in March and April 2011, two months with sensitive political milestones, and found that critical journalists were targeted in more than 50 instances of repression -- arbitrary arrests, short-term detentions, beatings, smear campaigns, surveillance, and social sanctions. The government strategy seems to have shifted from long jail sentences to frequent, low-profile harassment.
Much of the focus is on bloggers and Twitter users. According to the CPJ, there are about 40 critical bloggers and "the struggle for free expression is being waged almost exclusively in digital media." They go on to state that "the government proudly announced in February that it had enlisted roughly 1,000 bloggers to denounce critical journalists," but did not offer a reference to that announcement.
They predict that the ALBA undersea cable will disadvantage the critical bloggers who have to scramble for Internet access illegally, visibly at embassies and Internet cafes or at expensive hotels. Journalists outside of Havana, with few hotels and no embassies, are at an even greater disadvantage. The cable will improve the already free access enjoyed by the official government bloggers.
The report concludes with lists of specific recommendations for the Cuban government, international community, U.N. Human Rights Council, European Union, Organization of American States, technology and blogging community and U.S. government.
The CPJ states that they have reports of 50 sanctions during a two month period and presents a number of annecdotes to support the claim. It would be interesting to conduct a survey of the independent Cuban bloggers to ascertain the frequency and types of harassment they have experienced.
Finally, this report may seem one-sided to some who feel that Cuba has no choice but to engage in such practices because of US attempts to influence Cuban public opinion, so called "cyberwar." There is no doubt that many reports and committees on Cuba are blindly one-sided, seeing the situation in stark black/white terms. But, this report is lent credibility by the fact that the CPJ is not a Cuban interest group -- they are interested in protecting journalists globally. They are an equal opportunity critic of repression wherever they encounter it.
The so-called "Committee to Protect Journalists" isn't a Cuban interest group. It's an ANTI-Cuban interest group. It has never come out against the tens of millions of dollars which Washington budgets to actively promote destabilization inside of and the overthrow of the Cuban government.
ReplyDeleteOne look at the corporate journalists and sponsors of the Committee to Protect Journalists makes that obvious:
How anyone can expect the Cuban authorities to permit unlimited freedom when the country is quite literally AT WAR with Washington is ridiculous. Washington did not permit absolute freedom of the press inside the US during World War II, as we saw in the famous Minneapolis Smith Act trial.
The Cuban media is, nevertheless, making an effort to be more open and more investigative, as recent reports in that very media make evident. You do not acknowledge that, which makes it clear that your approach isn't balanced at all, but simple another front in the US media's cyberwar against Cuba.
If you had had any critical comment at all on the puff-profile which the New York Times gave to Yoani Sanchez, you might have had a touch of credibility. However, you do nothing of the sort. That's why it's become obvious, that you, who have not even been to Cuba in a decade, represent yet another front in Washington's battle against Cuba.
Walter Lippmann said ...
ReplyDelete> The so-called "Committee to Protect Journalists" isn't a Cuban interest group. It's an ANTI-Cuban interest group.
Their tagline is "defending journalists worldwide," and the content of their Web site is certainly global, and not focused on Cuba.
> Washington did not permit absolute freedom of the press inside the US during World War II
Do you really think the efforts by the US to sway Cuban public opinion are comparable to WW II?
> The Cuban media is, nevertheless, making an effort to be more open and more investigative
As the CPJ reported, they have stopped handing out long jail sentences. Have there been other liberalization steps?
> If you had had any critical comment at all on the puff-profile which the New York Times gave to Yoani Sanchez, you might have had a touch of credibility.
I did not see it -- send me a link.
You moderate a pro-government list server and travel a lot in Cuba. Are you subsidised in any way?
> you, who have not even been to Cuba in a decade
That is true, but from what I have read, the situation is sadder than when I was last there. See my post on Cuba's first Internet connection.
Switching gears -- I know you travel frequently in Cuba and have many contacts there. Would you be willing to switch from discussing politics and provide technical and policy information on the state of the Cuban Internet? For example, can you shed some light on the state of the infrastructure planned and being deployed to complement the ALBA cable? Could you and your colleagues help with tests that would shed light on the impact of the cable once it is operational?