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NEWS
CUBA - 30 September 2003
Reporters
Without Borders and Sin Visa set up support committee for jailed Cuban
poet and journalist Raúl Rivero
Paris, 30 September 2003
More than 1,000 people attended an evening of solidarity with the Cuban
people at the Rond-Point Theatre in Paris on 29 September during which a
support committee was set up for jailed poet and journalist Raúl Rivero.
The meeting, called Cuba Si, Castro No, organised by Reporters Without
Borders and Sin Visa and chaired by Spanish writer Jorge Semprun,
highlighted the human rights situation in Cuba and called for solidarity
with 75 dissidents imprisoned a few months ago for criticising President
Fidel Castro's regime.
The gathering included intellectuals, writers, historians and
journalists from several countries (including Laure Adler, Michel Broué,
Louis Joinet, Eduardo Manet, Robert Ménard, Edgar Morin, Christine
Ockrent, Edwy Plenel, Benjamin Stora and Zoé Valdès) and show business
personalities (including Pedro Almodovar, Pierre Arditi, Ariane
Ascaride, Catherine Deneuve, Sophie Marceau and Barbara Schulz). The
meeting was arranged by producer Jean-Michel Ribes, who runs the
theatre.
After film of the 1989 drugs and subversion trial of Cuban Gen. Arnaldo
Ochoa was shown, actress Deneuve opened the evening by reading an
excerpt from a January 1959 speech by Castro in which he said "the time
has come for guns to go on bended knee before public opinion."
Semprun added that "more than 40 years have passed and the people are
still on bended knee before guns. We are here to demand that Castro keep
his promise," he said, denouncing the left for playing down the truth
about the Cuban regime for so long.
Cristina, the oldest daughter of Rivero, founder of the news agency Cuba
Press, travelled from Miami to speak to the meeting about her father,
who was sentenced to 20 years in prison. She called on people to "open
your eyes" about the situation In Cuba.
Film director Almodovar issued a challenge to the Cuban leader, saying:
"Mr Castro, 44 years ago, the democratic world admired you for
liberating the Cuban people from a terrible dictatorship. As a humble
Spanish filmmaker, may I advise you to once again behave like a
revolutionary and free your people from another dictatorship - your
own."
The meeting heard an update on developments in Cuba and the conditions
of detention of the jailed dissidents. At the proposal of Reporters
Without Borders and Sin Visa, a committee was set up to support Rivero,
who won the Reporters Without Borders - Fondation de France Prize in
1997 and is an internationally-regarded symbol of Cuban dissidence.
The first members of the support committee, chaired by Jorge Semprun,
include:
Laure Adler, Pedro Almodovar, Pierre Arditi, Ariane Ascaride, Philippe
Augier, Michel Broué, Pascal Bruckner, Elizabeth Burgos, Daniel
Cohn-Bendit, Ileana de la Guardia, Catherine Deneuve, Christophe Girard,
Romain Goupil, Michel Granger, Bernard Henri-Levy, Jack Lang, Louis
Joinet, Bernard Kouchner, Noël Mamère, Eduardo Manet, Sophie Marceau,
Jorge Masetti, Robert Ménard, Carlos Monsivais, Edgar Morin, Christine
Ockrent, Edwy Plenel, Hugues Quester, Jean-Michel Ribes, Cristina
Rivero, Alain Rossinot, Barbara Schulz, Jorge Semprun, Yves Simon,
Benjamin Stora, Zoé Valdés and Marisela Verena.
The committee, monitored by Reporters Without Borders and Sin Visa, will
shortly act to support the dissidents by:
… Bringing out a "black book" on Cuba, containing documents and reports
by human rights organisations.
… Making a film about press freedom in Cuba before and after the 1959
revolution.
… Launching a media campaign aimed at tourists going to Cuba (to be done
by the Les Ouvriers du paradis agency).
… Lobbying of the European Union by Reporters Without Borders to demand
sanctions against top Cuban officials.
… Launching an appeal by Reporters Without Borders for more media
outlets to adopt Rivero under its sponsorship programme.
Last March, while all eyes were on Iraq, Fidel Castro jailed nearly 80
dissidents for between 14 and 28 years each. Writers, journalists, human
rights activists and regime opponents were thrown in prison as
"counter-revolutionaries," often hundreds of kilometres from where they
lived.
They were bullied, humiliated and not allowed visitors and their
sentences have since been confirmed. Rivero got 20 years after a secret
and hasty sham trial, where defence rights were flouted, undercover
agents took the stand, long-concocted evidence (some from neighbours)
was presented and where the charges were based solely on opinions
expressed.
We invite people to look at the Reporters Without Borders website,
www.rsf.org, and send donations to help the committee to operate and
regularly come up with new ideas for action. Please make cheques payable
to Reporters Without Borders, which is creating a special unit for the
committee.
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