A News Bulletin
From the Friends of Cuban Libraries
Date: July 16, 2000
ART EXHIBIT SEIZED, LIBRARIAN ARRESTED
On July 6 agents of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, accompanied by
uniformed police and members of the Committee for the Defense of the
Revolution, confiscated ten paintings being prepared for an exhibit at the
independent Grito de Baire Library, located in Havana. On July 13 the
director of the library, Rolando Monteagudo, was arrested by the State
Security police and interrogated for several hours about the planned exhibit.
This information is contained in a news article written by Alida Viso Bello
and published in the July 14 edition of CubaNet (www.cubanet.org).
According to the reporter, Ms. Viso Bello, the ten art works in
question were painted by Raimundo Garcia Parras, an award-winning Cuban
artist who now lives abroad. His paintings have been the subject of
exhibitions in Spain, Italy, France and Venezuela. After being questioned
for several hours about the planned exhibit, Rolando Monteagudo was released
from custody, at least on a temporary basis. He was reportedly informed by
the State Security police that the seized paintings would be returned to the
Grito de Baire Library only if Mr. Monteagudo was not prosecuted, although it
was not made clear on what grounds he could be subject to prosecution.
According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, defendants in Cuba
are sometimes sentenced to prison terms after being convicted of
vaguely-defined offenses such as "disrespect," "dangerousness" and "spreading
false news harmful to world peace." The Cuban government's campaign of
repression being directed against Cuba's expanding independent library
movement has been the subject of numerous protests by human rights
organizations and library associations around the world.
BACKGROUND: The Friends of Cuban Libraries, 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. For details on the repression of the independent librarians,
refer to reports by Amnesty International
(http://64.21.33.164/CNews/y99/nov99/15e25.htm) and IFLA
(http://www.faife.dk, in the "news and events" section"). 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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