CUBANET ... CUBANEWS

July 6, 2000



Amnesty Denounces Repression of Cuban Librarians

Press Release from the Friends of Cuban Libraries. July 5, 2000.

Amnesty International recently published its "Annual Report 2000" summarizing the organization's concerns regarding human rights violations throughout the world. The section of the report dealing with Cuba declares: "Dissidents, who included journalists, political opponents and human rights defenders, suffered severe harassment during the year.... Prisoners were sometimes subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

According to the report issued by the world's leading human rights organization, Cuba's independent librarians are among the groups targeted for repression by the government of the island nation. As an illustration of Amnesty's concerns, the report cites the case of Ramon Colas and Berta Mexidor, the co-founders of Cuba's independent library movement, which is dedicated to the goal of offering public access to uncensored books.

In August, 1999, government agents evicted Colas, Mexidor and the couple's two children from their apartment in Las Tunas, which also served as the location of Cuba's first independent library; the government took this action after claiming the family, which had lived in the apartment for thirteen years, were illegal occupants. Ramon Colas was temporarily arrested during the course of the eviction. (In November, 1999, after he was arrested again, Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action Appeal demanding the immediate release of Ramon Colas and other detainees on the grounds that they were "prisoners of conscience detained solely for peacefully attempting to exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.")

Amnesty International concludes this section of its "Annual Report 2000" by noting: "Other independent librarians were also subjected to threats, short-term detentions and the confiscation of their books."

In spite of denials by the Cuban government, the persecution of the independent librarians has been documented in reports issued by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, Amnesty International and the intellectual freedom committee of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA).

A growing number of human rights organizations and library associations around the world have expressed support for the embattled independent librarians, who have now opened approximately fifty uncensored libraries in defiance of what IFLA has denounced as "a campaign of threats, intimidation, harassment, eviction, short-term arrests, and the confiscation of incoming book donations or book collections." As an example of this growing support, Kathleen De Long, the president of the Canadian Association of College and University Libraries, wrote a letter to President Fidel Castro declaring: "Your government's response to The Independent Libraries in Cuba Project clearly violates basic human rights to intellectual freedom.... In persecuting and harassing members of the Cuban library community, your government is striking at the heart of the principles espoused and acted upon by librarians worldwide."

The Friends of Cuban Libraries encourage other individuals and organizations to express solidarity with the independent librarians by sending courteous letters to: President Fidel Castro, Consejos de Ministros y el Estado, Havana, Cuba.

BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, founded in June, 1999, is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for the independent librarians. We oppose censorship and all other violations of intellectual freedom, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regardless of whatever leader or political party may be in office in Cuba. We are funded entirely by our members and do not seek or accept contributions from other sources.

CONTACT:For more information, send e-mail to: Robert Kent (rkent20551@cs.com) or telephone: (USA) 718-340-8494. Mailing address: 474 48th Avenue, Apt. 3-C, Long Island City, NY 11109 USA.

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