During its mid-year meeting, condemned violations of freedom of expression and repression of independent journalists, with Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela among the most affected in the region. Because of their dictatorship, reports web portal Kubanet
In the opening address of the event, which will take place on April 25, 26, and 27, Michael Greenspun, president of the IAPA, acknowledged that press freedom and freedom of expression have been “decapitated” in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
“The erosion of these freedoms erodes the rest of human rights, undermines institutions, and kills hope and dreams of living with dignity,” Greenspan said.
“It is enough to look at Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela to see the tragedy of what it is to live without press freedom and without democracy. These are the countries that expelled, persecuted and imprisoned important journalists and citizens. have done, and shut down media outlets,” he said.
The president of SIP inaugurated the half-yearly meeting of the organization to be held from 25 to 27 April this Tuesday.
About these three countries, he said that they are exporters of the best heritage a country can have: its citizens.
As he assured that “today we have clear symptoms that we are living through one of the worst moments ever for democracy in our America.”
In the specific case of Cuba, he recalled that “journalists and citizens have been imprisoned for criticizing the regime, meanwhile, most journalists have been expelled or have decided to flee the country.”
On his part, Carlos Jornet, president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the Inter-American Press Association (SIP), insisted that “in Cuba, as the blockade to access the Internet continues, there are fewer and fewer free journalists. , and those who remain in the country survive in precarious physical and mental conditions”.
“The repression of the press and independent activists continues, and for this reason, there are more than a thousand political prisoners,” he denounced.
Similarly, he noted that two journalists are still in jail and another nine are barred from leaving the island.
With this panorama, IAPA stresses that it is convinced that journalists and the media must do the most to raise awareness of press freedom as a fundamental value of democracy.
