Para Una Prensa Libre: A Special Report From The Committee To Protect Journalists

In her kitchen overlooking Havana’s crumbling skyline, Julia Núñez Pacheco recalls the day five years ago when plainclothes state security agents, pistols on hips, stormed into her home. They accused Adolfo Fernández Saínz, her husband of three decades and an independent journalist with the small news agency Patria, of committing acts aimed at “subverting the internal order of the nation.” Over the course of eight long hours, agents ransacked the apartment, confiscating items considered proof of Fernández Saínz’s crimes: a typewriter, stacks of the Communist Party daily Granma with Fidel Castro’s remarks underlined, and outlawed books such as George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. As Fernández Saínz was hauled away, Núñez Pacheco remembers one of the agents turning to her and saying, “You know, we’ve been told you are decent, quiet people. No fighting, no yelling. It’s a shame you’ve chosen this path.”

Real it all here.

How messed up do you have to be to ban George Orwell?

I love Cuba. I will always love Cuba. But I would love Cuba a lot more if its decrepit government did this:

• Immediately and unconditionally release all imprisoned journalists.
• Vacate the convictions of the nine journalists who were released on medical parole since the 2003 crackdown.
• Ensure the proper care of all journalists in government custody. We hold the government responsible for the health and welfare of those incarcerated.
• Fully meet its commitments under the recently signed International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by allowing journalists to work freely and without fear of reprisal.