News Bulletin
The Friends of Cuban Libraries
Date: November 15, 2000
LIBRARIAN BESIEGED AND THREATENED
Recent news reports indicate an intensification of government efforts
to halt the expansion of Cuba's independent library movement, especially in
the eastern provinces of the island. In an innovative challenge to a
government monopoly on sources of information, more than sixty independent,
uncensored libraries have now opened their doors throughout Cuba, offering
public access to reading materials which reflect all points of view, not just
the officially-approved ideology. The government's persecution of Cuba's
beleaguered independent librarians has been condemned by the International
Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), Amnesty International, and a
growing number of library associations and human rights groups throughout the
world. This news bulletin will focus on events in the eastern city of
Santiago, where the security forces have been especially active in recent
weeks.
On Thursday, November 9, the independent Antonio Maceo Grajales
Library, located at 14 Escudero Street in Santiago, was scheduled to be the
site of a seminar conducted by a non-government teachers' organization. The
theme of the seminar was "Pre-University Education and a Point of Departure
for Democratic Education in Cuba." Before the event could took place,
however, a detachment of State Security police blocked off nearby streets and
banned public access to the library, forcing a cancelation of the seminar.
This news is contained in report filed by Ricardo Gonzales and published in
the Nov. 13 issue of the CubaNet database (www.cubanet.org).
Later the same day, at about nine o'clock at night, the director of the
Antonio Maceo Grajales Library, Marcia Perez Castillo, was accosted by an
unidentified man while walking in a street near the library. The man,
dressed in civilian clothes, reportedly threatened Ms. Perez Castillo,
telling her: "If you continue using your house and telephone to carry out
counterrevolutionary activities, you're going to have big problems." This
news is contained in a report filed by Milagros Beaton of the APLO press
agency (CubaNet, Nov. 15, 2000). This incident is not the first time
independent librarians have been threatened in Santiago. As confirmed in a
landmark report published by IFLA in Septmber, 1999, a children's
librarian, Alfredo Dennis Camps, was the target of death threats by
unidentified persons. On two occasions, also confirmed by IFLA, Santiago's
Eduardo Rene Chibas Library was surrounded by groups of uniformed men who
fired volleys of gunfire into the air as an act of intimidation.
In other recent events, the director of Santiago's independent Jose
Mayia Rodriguez Library, Zocima Simoneau Vidal, was questioned by the State
Security police on November 7. After an interrogation recorded on videotape,
she was released with a warning that she could be charged with "defamation."
In September two other independent librarians were arrested in Santiago.
Edel Jimenez was fined after being convicted of "disobedience," while unknown
charges are still pending against Rolando Bestart. In in early 1999 Mr.
Bestart was arrested for allegedly "selling illegal drugs," although he was
not prosecuted. On December 24, 1999, Mr. Bestart was removed from Christmas
Eve mass in Santiago's cathedral and beaten by agents of the State Security
police.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN: The Friends of Cuban Libraries ask you to send
courteous e-mail messages to Cuban officials requesting an end to the
persecution of the independent librarians. Judging from an unprecedented
flurry of responses from government officials, your message WILL have an
impact. President Fidel Castro may be contacted via the following e-mail
address: [log in to unmask] Please send any responses received to the
Friends of Cuban Libraries.
MEDIA COVERAGE: The government is showing a heightened sensitivity to
negative publicity by the international mass media. For example, please read
a new Associated Press article ("Independent Libraries Crop Up in Communist
Cuba") published on CNN.COM at
(www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/11/12/reading.freedom.ap/index.html).
BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, founded in June, 1999, is an
independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit support group for the independent
librarians. We are concerned exclusively with intellectual freedom issues,
as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, regardless of
whatever government may be in office in Cuba. We are funded entirely be our
members and do not seek or accept funding from other sources. For more
information, contact us by e-mail ([log in to unmask] or telephone (USA)
718-340-8494. Mailing address: Robert Kent, 4-74 48th Avenue, #3-C, Long
Island City, NY 11109 USA.
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