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FROM
CUBA
Citizens threatened for participating in
independent activities
PINAR DEL RIO, June 15 (Rafael Ferro Salas
/ www.cubanet.org) - Two agents of the political
police intercepted a group of citizens as
they left a meeting called by a dissident
organization, and threatened them with possible
consequences for attending such meetings.
One of them, Lázaro Carmona, 39,
said: "I don't belong to any dissident
organization; I was just interested in knowing
more about a program of study these people
are going to offer," referring to the
José Martí Center for Press
and Cultural Studies, and to the Association
for Freedom of the Press.
"Those two agents threatened me,"
Carmona said. "I'm not going to let
them; on the contrary, maybe in the future
I'll join the opposition. I've never liked
to be threatened for doing what I think
is right. It's not a crime to meet in a
private home. It was a peaceful meeting."
Raúl Villa, 34, who was also among
those detained by the agents, said: "I
saw the two men in the car and I thought
they were going to ask for directions. The
last thing I imagined is that they were
going to threaten me for participating in
a meeting with friends. We didn't even talk
politics," he said, and explained that
a friend, Josefa Salas, who is the vice
president of the Center for Press and Cultural
Studies, had invited him to the meeting.
A third man in the group, Roberto Hernández,
said: "My case is different. Those
two officers know I am in the opposition.
Not too long ago, I participated in a meeting
of the Independent Libraries movement, and
upon leaving, they threatened me again.
Now it's because I want to take a class.
Where is that a crime? Only in Cuba."
The Center for Press and Cultural Studies
and the Association for Freedom of the Press
announced at the meeting that they would
be offering courses in journalism.
According to Ernesto Roque, the president
of the Association, the courses will be
open to all journalists, whether or not
they belong to dissident organizations.
The courses seek to bestow legitimacy on
Cuba's independent journalists, whom the
government refuses to recognize as such
on the grounds that they are not graduate
journalists, but to whom it also refuses
any educational opportunities.
Versión
original en español
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