HAVANA, September 18 (Vicente Escobal, Lux InfoPress) – Independent journalist Juan Carlos Garcel was picked up by police, fingerprinted, and warned that if he continued working as a journalist he would be sent to jail. This incident was just the latest in what seems to be a campaign of
haressment directed against Garcel in his home city of Sagua de Tánamo.
A few months ago Garcel wrote an article about a joint venture firm between the Cuban government and Canadian firm Sherritt International which the government considers difamatory. In his article, Garcel exposed exploitative practices of workers by the government with Sherritt’s connivance.
In nearby Holguín, prisoner Manuel Antonio González Castellano, a correspondent for Cuba Press news agency in jail for "disobedience," is still denied medical assistance by the prison authorities, in spite of numerous entreaties by relatives and others.
The president of the Freedom of the Press Committee of the Interamerican Press Association, Rafael Molina, said that "to deny medical attention to a prisoner represents a violation of his human rights," in a clear reference to González’ case.
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