News from the Committee to
Protect Journalists. May 23, 2001.
New York, May 23, 2001 --- After a postponement, the trial of a jailed Cuban
journalist is now scheduled to begin on Friday, May 25.
José Orlando González Bridón, a Cuban journalist and
labor activist, has been jailed since December 15, 2000. While the nature of the
charges against González Bridón was initially unclear, CPJ has
recently determined that he is being prosecuted for his journalistic work. He is
one of two journalists currently jailed for their work in Cuba.
Since late December, González Bridón has been confined in
Combinado del Este, a prison east of Havana. In late February, he was
transferred to a punishment cell for several days after staging a brief hunger
strike. Local sources report that he suffers from high blood pressure and has
lost considerable weight while in prison.
The government prosecutor has charged González Bridón with
distributing "enemy propaganda," and has requested a seven-year prison
sentence.
"Once again, Cuban authorities have shown contempt for the most
elementary principles of press freedom," said CPJ executive director Ann
Cooper. "José Orlando González Bridón is in jail today
for doing nothing more than his professional duty. He should be released at
once, and the charges against him should be dropped."
Today, Cuba is the only country in the Americas where journalists are in
jail because of their work.
Since October 1999, González Bridón has been writing articles
for the Miami-based Cuba Free Press Web site (www.cubafreepress.org). An
electronics engineer by trade, he also serves as the secretary general of the
Confederation of Cuban Democratic Workers (CTDC), an illegal trade union.
In the case report, González Bridón is accused of joining
counter-revolutionary groups, meeting with antisocial elements, and giving
distorted information to Miami-based radio stations, according to local sources.
The journalist has also been accused of spreading false information
regarding the death of a fellow labor activist in a domestic abuse case. An
article by González Bridón, posted to the Cuba Free Press site on
August 5, 2000, alleged that Joanna González Herrera, CTDC's national
coordinator, had died as a result of police negligence.
The first oral hearings in the trial were scheduled for May 11 at a
Municipal People's Court in Havana, but were cancelled 12 hours before they were
set to begin. State Security Department (DSE) authorities told González
Bridón's family that it had been unable to notify witnesses.
Political observers in Cuba, however, believe González Bridón's
trial and that of another dissident were postponed because President Fidel
Castro Ruz was touring Asia and the Middle East at the time, and Cuban
authorities feared that foreign journalists might bring up the two trials at
President Castro's press conferences overseas. The trial is now scheduled to
begin on May 25.
Another Cuban independent journalist, Bernardo Arévalo Padrón,
remains jailed. Arévalo Padrón, founder of the Línea Sur
Press news agency in the central province of Cienfuegos, has been imprisoned
since 1997 for showing "lack of respect" for Castro and Cuban State
Council member Carlos Lage. The journalist is currently in the labor camp El
Diamante, in Cienfuegos, despite being eligible for parole. His health has
suffered as a result of his prolonged imprisonment.
For more information about press conditions in Cuba, visit <www.cpj.org>.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom around the world.
For more information:
Contact Marylene Smeets or Sauro González
Rodríguez at 212-465-1004.
Read more about press freedom conditions in
CUBA
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