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Castro Divides U.S.,
Independent Journalists
Washington's decision
to revote the political asylum granted to
journalist Bernardo Arévalo Padrón
symbolizes the suspicion Cuba has sewn about
independent journalists.
By Mark Fitzgerald. Editor
& Publisher, NY. August 4, 2004.
(August 04, 2004) -- For years, the few
Cubans who dared to practice independent
journalism could count on two things --
repression from Fidel Castro's State Security
agency, and support from the United States.
That support was rarely stronger or warmer
than it was during the first years of the
Bush administration. James Cason, the chief
of the Interests Section in Havana, invited
dissidents to his official residence, met
with them in their own homes, provided tape
recorders and writing materials to independent
journalists, and allowed some to use the
computers at his office. President Castro
threatened to close the Interests Section
that operates out of the Swiss embassy,
and frequently singled out Cason for derogatory
remarks.
Then in March 2003, Castro ordered mass
arrests of 75 dissidents, among them private
librarians, independent economists -- and
27 journalists. The journalists were run
through trials that usually lasted just
a day, and were sentenced to prison terms
ranging from 14 to 27 years.
Castro's Stalinist show trials of the dissidents
had one surprise: several of the most celebrated
figures turned out to be State Security
agents assigned to infiltrate the opposition.
Among them was an undercover operative who
was given access to U.S. computers.
Bernardo Arévalo Padrón was
not swept up in that 2003 mass arrest because
he was already in prison. The founder of
the independent news agency Línea
Sur Press was nearing the end of a six-year
sentence for calling Castro and Vice President
Carlos Lage "liars." During his
time in the Ariza Prison in Cienfuegos,
Arévalo Padrón said he was
beaten and tortured.
Last April, soon after Arévalo Padrón
was released from jail, the U.S. Interests
Section in Havana granted him a visa to
travel to the U.S. as a political refugee.
In a call to the Inter American Press Association
(IAPA) in Miami last month, the elated journalist
thanked the group for its support, and laid
out his plans. He would leave Cuba on Aug.
25, stopping first in Cancun, then flying
on to Miami. His final destination was to
be Fort Worth, Texas, where he had scheduled
surgery and other treatments for medical
problems he developed while in prison.
On July 14, however, the U.S. suddenly
revoked its offer of asylum. Washington
had come to believe that he was a Cuban
State Security agent.
Arévalo Padrón denied the
accusation in interviews with reporters
from Agence France Press (AFP) and The Associated
Press (AP). "'I believe it was State
Security that transmitted that information
through its agents, who have infiltrated
the dissident movement and the Interests
Section, to try to neutralize me,'' he told
AFP.
Other dissidents told the AP's Andrea Rodriguez
that they had suddenly been denied visas,
and barred from using computers at the U.S.
Interests Section. "I am very surprised
and worried about the possibility that the
United States' immigration service is adopting
unjust measures in the midst of a certain
paranoia," the Cuban human rights activist
Elizardo Sanchez told Rodriguez.
The IAPA expressed "concern and surprise"
about the denial of Arévalo Padrón's
visa in a letter to the Cuban Affairs Desk
at the State Department. "Mr. Arévalo
Padrón is the journalist who has
spent the most years in prison in Cuba,"
wrote Rafael Molina, chairman of IAPA's
Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information.
Molina said a journalist asked by the IAPA
to go to the U.S. Interests Sections and
inquire about the reasons for the visa denial
"was treated rudely and was not provided
any answers."
"We kindly request that you reconsider
this decision considering that Mr. Arévalo
Padrón has been one more victim of
intolerance by the Cuban government, and
as a result, is in a state of limbo that
could give rise to unforeseen consequences,"
Molina wrote.
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