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NEWS
CUBA - 19 December 2003
Concern about Reporters Without Borders correspondent on hunger strike
in prison
Reporters Without Borders today
voiced concern about its correspondent in Cuba, Ricardo González
Alfonso, who began a hunger strike in prison on 8 December to press his
demand not to be held in a cell with non-political detainees.
"We hold the Cuban government responsible for our correspondent's
health," the organisation said, noting that several journalists have
recently been transferred to cells with non-political detainees where
they risk being the victims of violence from their cell mates, sometimes
instigated by the authorities.
With 29 journalists detained, Cuba is the world's biggest prison for the
press, ahead of Burma with 16 and Eritrea with 14. González is serving a
20-year sentence handed down on 7 April.
González's wife Alida Viso Bello told Reporters Without Borders she
found him a lot thinner when she visited him on 17 December in "Kilo 8"
prison in the central province de Camagüey, located more than 500 km
from his home in Havana.
She said he did not want to continue sharing a cell with non-political
detainees or, at least, to be put with detainees who were less violent.
Since 6 November, he has been held in various cells in the prison's
block 7 with non-political detainees, including one convicted of murder.
Cell mates have twice stolen personal belongings from him.
A prison official who attended the meeting between González and his wife
said he was moved to a poorly-lit cell on 14 December as a punishment
for "lack of discipline." The prison official added that it was not up
to him whether González was transferred to another cell.
González was the president of the Manuel Márquez Sterling Association of
independent journalists and the editor of De Cuba, the first independent
magazine published in Cuba since Fidel Castro came to power. He was
arrested on 18 March 2003 and convicted of "actions against the
independence and unity of the state."
He was detained in a crackdown in which a total of 26 independent
journalists and some 50 other dissidents were rounded up. The
journalists were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 14 to 27 years.
Over 13 years ago, Reporters Without Borders created its "Sponsorship
Programme" and called upon the international media to select and support
an imprisoned journalist. One hundred and twenty news staffs around the
globe are thus sponsoring colleagues by regularly petitioning
authorities for their release and by publicising their situations so
that their cases will not be forgotten.
Currently, Ricardo González is sponsored by Le Ligueur, Radio Nostalgie
(Belgique), Ici, La Tribune, Cambio 16, Le Télégramme de Brest et de
l'ouest, PACA Informations économiques.
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