PRESS RELEASE
From the Friends of Cuban Libraries
Date: July 5, 2000 FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AMNESTY DENOUNCES REPRESSION OF CUBAN LIBRARIANS
Amnesty International recently published its "Annual Report 2000"
summarizing the organization's concerns regarding human rights violations
throughout the world. The section of the report dealing with Cuba declares:
"Dissidents, who included journalists, political opponents and human rights
defenders, suffered severe harassment during the year.... Prisoners were
sometimes subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."
According to the report issued by the world's leading human rights
organization, Cuba's independent librarians are among the groups targeted for
repression by the government of the island nation. As an illustration of
Amnesty's concerns, the report cites the case of Ramon Colas and Berta
Mexidor, the co-founders of Cuba's independent library movement, which is
dedicated to the goal of offering public access to uncensored books. In
August, 1999, government agents evicted Colas, Mexidor and the couple's two
children from their apartment in Las Tunas, which also served as the location
of Cuba's first independent library; the government took this action after
claiming the family, which had lived in the apartment for thirteen years,
were illegal occupants. Ramon Colas was temporarily arrested during the
course of the eviction. (In November, 1999, after he was arrested again,
Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action Appeal demanding the immediate
release of Ramon Colas and other detainees on the grounds that they were
"prisoners of conscience detained solely for peacefully attempting to
exercise their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly.")
Amnesty International concludes this section of its "Annual Report 2000" by
noting: "Other independent librarians were also subjected to threats,
short-term detentions and the confiscation of their books."
In spite of denials by the Cuban government, the persecution of the
independent librarians has been documented in reports issued by the Friends
of Cuban Libraries, Amnesty International and the intellectual freedom
committee of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA). A
growing number of human rights organizations and library associations around
the world have expressed support for the embattled independent librarians,
who have now opened approximately fifty uncensored libraries in defiance of
what IFLA has denounced as "a campaign of threats, intimidation, harassment,
eviction, short-term arrests, and the confiscation of incoming book donations
or book collections." As an example of this growing support, Kathleen De
Long, the president of the Canadian Association of College and University
Libraries, wrote a letter to President Fidel Castro declaring: "Your
government's response to The Independent Libraries in Cuba Project clearly
violates basic human rights to intellectual freedom.... In persecuting and
harassing members of the Cuban library community, your government is striking
at the heart of the principles espoused and acted upon by librarians
worldwide."
The Friends of Cuban Libraries encouage other individuals and
organizations to express solidarity with the independent librarians by
sending courteous letters to: President Fidel Castro, Consejos de Ministros y
el Estado, Havana, Cuba.
BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libaries, founded in June, 1999, is
an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for the independent
librarians. We oppose censorship and all other violations of intellectual
freedom, as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regardless
of whatever leader or political party may be in office in Cuba. We are
funded entirely by our members and do not seek or accept contributions from
other sources. CONTACT: For more information, send e-mail to: Robert Kent
([log in to unmask]) or telephone: (USA) 718-340-8494. Mailing address: 474
48th Avenue, Apt. 3-C, Long Island City, NY 11109 USA.
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