There are no longer any journalists in prison in Cuba. The last one was Albert Santiago Du Bouchet, who arrived in Spain Friday along with 36 other Cuban dissidents who were released on condition that they agree to go into exile, according to Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF).
The head of the independent Habana Press agency, Du Bouchet had been detained since April 18, 2009 and was serving a three-year jail sentence on a charge of “disrespect for authority.” His landmark release comes one month after the last dissident journalists still held since the March 2003 “Black Spring” crackdown were freed.
“Although Du Bouchet has had to go into exile, his release takes on particular significance when you remember that just a year ago Cuba was still one of the world’s biggest prisons for journalists, alongside China, Iran and Eritrea,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We welcome this important step and we will keep it in mind.
“However, this conciliatory gesture does not in any way exempt the Cuban authorities from the requirement to honour the international undertakings they gave in 2008 by signing two UN conventions on civil and political rights, which are still pending ratification. To fulfil these obligations, they must accept pluralism, allow media to operate outside state control, stop suppressing free speech and grant all Cubans access to an unfiltered Internet.”
