Freedom of the Press

Fidel Castro
Presidente de los Consejos de Estados y de Ministros
Le Habana, Cuba

Via fascimile: 011-53-7-333-085

Your Excellency,

The National Press Club is deeply concerned about the health of imprisoned journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe and respectfully asks you to release him immediately for humanitarian reasons. At the very least, Espinosa Chepe must be treated for his severe medical conditions which, according to Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, include cirrhosis, hepatitis, liver failure and high blood pressure.

Espinosa Chepe was one of 28 independent journalists whom the Cuban government imprisoned during a clampdown in March. In April, Espinosa Chepe was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his reporting on economic and other issues. Since then, the 62-year-old journalist has been in and out of the hospital. His wife, independent journalist Miriam Leiva, fears imprisonment may kill her husband, and has lobbied Cuban authorities to allow him to serve his sentence at home, a proposition the National Press Club supports.

The National Press Club, an organization of more than 3,000 journalists, public information officers and regular news sources in Washington, D.C., is also alarmed that 27 other Cuban journalists also were rounded up in March and given sentences ranging from 14 to 27 years in prison. They are Ricardo Gonzalez Anfonso, Victor Rolando Arroyo, Pablo Pacheco Avila, Ivan Hernandez Carrillo, Jorge Olivera Castillo, Jose Gabriel Ramon Castillo, Carmelo Diaz Fernandez, Julio Cesar Galvez, Edel Jose Garcia, Normando Hernandez Gonzalez, Hector Maseda Gutierrez, Miguel Galvan Gutierrez, and Omar Ruiz Hernandez.

Also Juan Carlos Herrera, Jose Ubaldo Izquierdo, Fabio Prieto Llorente, Alfredo Pulido Lopez, Mijail Barzaga Lugo, Mario Enrique Mayo, Pedro Arguelles Moran, Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, Lester Luis Gonzalez Penton, Manuel Vazquez Portal, Alejandro Gonzalez Raga, Raul Rivero, Adolfo Fernandez Sainz, and Omar Rodriguez Saludes.

We appeal to you to release these imprisoned journalists and allow them to continue their work even if criticism of you or your government results. A free society cannot function in an atmosphere where journalists are imprisoned, intimidated, harassed or otherwise kept from doing their jobs.

Sincerely,

Tammy Lytle