The United States Embassy in Cuba has called on the Cuban government to protect independent journalists and freedom of the press.
The consular center, which acts as spokesman for the White House administration, pointed to the risky situation in which journalists not affiliated with state press institutions try to go about their jobs.
“During World Press Freedom Day week, we continue to emphasize that independent journalists in Cuba are often attacked, harassed or arrested by regime officials while going about their work,” they warn on social media.
They also demanded that “the regime must protect freedom of the press and independent journalists.”
In the week of #WPFDwe further emphasize that independent journalists in #Cuba They are often attacked, harassed or detained by regime officials while going about their work. The regime must protect freedom of the press and independent journalists. pic.twitter.com/TiA0OmSh9E
— Embassy of the United States in Cuba (@USEmbCuba) May 5, 2022
This week, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) once again ranked Cuba as the worst country in Latin America for press freedom, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report. On the occasion of another commemoration of World Press Freedom Day.
In the so-called world classification of press freedom, which evaluates how journalism is practiced in 180 countries and territories around the world, they warn that the regime of the Castro brothers will continue to exist in the largest of the Antilles.
In the list, Cuba appeared at number 173, a lower position compared to the previous year when it was at number 171, as specified by Martí Noticias.
“Miguel Díaz-Canel, protégé of Raúl Castro, whom he succeeded in 2019 as president of the country and later as first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, continues the Castro family line and retains almost total control of information,” they denounce in the report to.
Reporters Without Borders also states that it is concerned “that arrests, arbitrary detention, threats of imprisonment, persecution and harassment, illegal searches of homes, and the seizure and destruction of materials contrary to official lines are part of Castro’s everyday life.”
Regarding the independent press, the report develops several points. In doing so, they recognize that television stations, radio stations and newspapers are closely monitored and controlled by the state, and that the private press remains constitutionally prohibited.
On the other hand, they explain that “independent journalists are being watched by agents who are trying to restrict their movements, make arrests and erase the information they hold”.
“Bloggers and some citizen journalists find the internet a space of freedom, access to which is largely controlled by the state, but they do so at their own peril: faced with the authorities’ cruelty, they are often imprisoned or forced into exile. . . In 2021, new regulations made the principle of an open, free and inclusive internet even more utopian and completely violated the right to freedom of expression, information and association in the digital environment,” the report said.
Journalists such as independent reporter Luz Escobar denounced this week: “It is time to remember that harassment of independent journalists by state security continues in Cuba. We continue to work illegally and suffer the persecution that makes it so difficult to practice.”
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