[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 76 (Tuesday, June 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3426-H3427]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1945
               OPPRESSION OF FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IN CUBA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dan Miller of Florida). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to draw attention to 
the struggle of journalists and their work toward freedom of 
information and freedom of the press in Cuba. Cuba was recently ranked 
by the Committee to Protect Journalists as one of the 10 worst places 
for journalists to work. For the past 7 years, the committee has also 
listed Fidel Castro as one of the top 10 enemies of the press.
  Cuba is the only Latin American nation where the press is completely 
gagged. The Cuban constitution includes a ban on all non-governmental 
media outlets, giving Castro complete control over all media outlets. 
After 43 years of power, Castro shows no sign of lessening his 
stranglehold on the press.
  Mr. Speaker, last week the New York Times published an article on the 
work and struggles of Omar Rodriguez Saludes, one of only 100 
independent journalists working in Cuba. Independent journalists like 
Omar who would choose to work outside the government-controlled media 
outlets are denounced by Castro as counterrevolutionaries and are 
barred from covering official events. Independent reporters face 
repeated interrogation and detainment by Cuban authorities, monitoring 
and interruption of their telephone calls, restrictions on their 
travel; and they are often placed under house arrest to prevent 
coverage of certain events.
  A new tactic of intimidation involves arresting journalists and 
releasing them hundreds of miles from their homes.
  To report the news, Omar travels around Havana on a battered child-
size bicycle, knowing that he can make his deadline as long as he does 
not have a flat tire, or if a corner policeman does not confiscate his 
notes, tape recorder, and camera. Omar writes his articles in longhand, 
or basically on a 20-year-old typewriter that he and a group of 
reporters share. He gathers every 2 weeks or so with other journalists 
in a cramped apartment in Havana's Chinatown, which is the makeshift 
headquarters of one news agency. He and others await their turn to 
place a phone call and dictate their stories to several Web sites on 
Cuban affairs in the United States. And even then, the state-owned 
telephone monopoly frequently refuses to connect their international 
calls.
  Mr. Speaker, Cuba is the only country in the Western Hemisphere where 
a journalist is currently jailed for his work. In 1997, journalist 
Bernardo Arevalo Padron was jailed for ``disrespecting'' Castro and 
another Cuban state council member, Carlos Lage. The charges stem from 
a series of interviews that Arevalo gave to a Miami-based radio station 
in which he alleged that while farmers starved, helicopters were taking 
fresh meat from the countryside to the dinner tables of Castro and 
Lage.
  Despite being eligible for parole and in declining health, Arevalo 
continues to be held in a labor camp.

[[Page H3427]]

  Mr. Speaker, in the United States, we take I think all too often for 
granted the rights and freedoms of our journalists. We just assume that 
it is true throughout the world. But it is not true. There are many 
countries that simply do not allow journalists to practice.
  I urge my colleagues to join with me to draw attention to and take a 
stand against oppression of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, 
in this case Cuba; but there are other countries that have similar 
problems.

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