|
The
Friends of Cuban Libraries, May 30, 2002.
When former U.S. president Jimmy Carter landed in Havana in mid-May to
begin his historic visit to Cuba, he offered both moral and material support
for the island nation's human rights organizations. Included in the former
president's baggage were books destined as gifts for Cuba's rapidly growing
independent library movement. Since the founding of Cuba's first independent
library in 1998, volunteers throughout the island have used space inside their
homes to inaugurate more than one hundred uncensored libraries open to the
public; their goal is to challenge the government's system of censorship by
offering the Cuban people access to reading materials which reflect all points
of view. According to human rights monitors such as Amnesty International, the
Cuban government has responded to the independent library movement with a
campaign of harassment and persecution.
On May 16, during his historic meeting with dissidents and human rights
activists in Havana, former President Carter expressed support for the island's
uncensored library movement in a conversation with Gisela Delgado, the national
director of the Independent Libraries Project. After presenting Ms. Delgado
with the gift of books he had brought to enrich the collections of the
libraries, President Carter stated that the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia,
which he directs, will continue to supply Cuba's independent libraries with
shipments of books, magazines and other materials. As a gesture of solidarity,
President Carter signed and dedicated to Gisela Delgado one of the books he had
brought to Cuba for the independent libraries, a Spanish translation of Vincent
Roussel's biography "Martin Luther King: Against All Exclusions."
Radames Suarez, a member of the Friends of Cuban Libraries, an
international support group for the island's independent librarians, commented:
"Our organization briefed staff members of the Carter Center before their
trip to Havana, and we greatly appreciate President Carter's generous actions
to advance the cause of human rights. The island's emerging civil society is
being strengthened by Mr. Carter's support for Cuba's brave independent
librarians and their innovative movement to defend intellectual freedom as a
universal human right."
BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, founded in June, 1999,
is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for Cuba's independent
librarians. We oppose censorship and all other violalations of intellectual
freedom, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regardless of
whatever government may be in office in Cuba. We are funded entirely by our
members and do not seek or accept funding from other sources. For more
information, send e-mail to: rkent20551@cs.com or telephone (USA) 718-305-9201.
Mailing address: 4-74 48th Avenue, #3-C, Long Island City, NY 11109 USA.
Website: (www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org). |
