THE FREEDOM TO BLOG

I am free as a journalist and blogger to write my views without fear that they’ll be censored, blocked or indeed that I will be imprisoned, tortured or even killed for stating my beliefs.

My views, of course, may not be your views but it is the essence of the ethic of freedom of speech, so greatly valued by Britons, that I should have the liberty to state my beliefs even if others disagree with them.

I write my words in Spain where within my lifetime such freedoms have not always existed and many paid in blood or exile for giving voice to beliefs and ideas that were at odds with those of the Franco regime.

There are also today in the world, those on the left of politics, who believe that Cuba can do no wrong. I have written here in the past in support of the campaigns to have the US embargoes of the Caribbean Island lifted. However I am not looking so far left that I cannot see the injustice staring me in the face.

I add my voice to those of the Federación de Asociaciones de Periodistas de España (FAPE) that has called on the Cuban authorities to respect freedom of expression and human rights after the death of Orlando Zapata.

Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International’s Caribbean researcher stated: “The tragic death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo is a terrible illustration of the despair facing prisoners of conscience who see no hope of being freed from their unfair and prolonged incarceration. A full investigation must be carried out to establish whether ill-treatment may have played a part in his death.”

Currently three political prisoners and the dissident journalist Guillermo Coco Fariñas (photo above) are on hunger strike following the news of Zapata’s death on February 24.

This is not the first experience Fariñas has had of a hunger strike. He started another in 2006 to demand free access for Cubans to the internet. He has called for a cession to “the governmental violence against our people, against the bloggers and the independent journalists.”

FAPE, an organization that represents over 14,500 journalists in 48 federated associations and 13 associations who are linked offers its solidarity to Fariñas and the rest of his Cuban colleagues who are restricted in their freedom of expression.

In its annual report Reporteros Sin Fronteras classified Cuba only after China and Eritrea for the numbers of journalists it imprisoned. Since the Primavera Negra of March 2003 19 of the 27 journalists detained there are still behind bars.

This is of concern not only to me as a journalist and blogger but also to you as a reader – who may or may not take the opportunity to express your opinions here – because my freedom to write and yours to read and comment are what are at risk in Cuba and other totalitarian regimes.

Please take action by signing the Amnesty International España petition by clicking here.

MR PRESIDENT – A CUBA LIBRE PLEASE!

By the time I was born World War II was finished by a couple of years so I had to wait to the Cuba crisis before I had the very real sense of fear of pending war.

At the time I was at boarding school in Lancashire and I remember standing outside in the dark getting some air after the evening meal. We were all fully aware of the pending nuclear Armageddon as we scanned the night sky wondering if the small light passing overhead was an aircraft or the first of the missiles that would signal our end. Would our world still be there in the morning?

Well that was a long, long time ago - for it was in 1962 that the USA imposed stinging sanctions against the Castro regime under the Trading with the Enemy Act and they are still in place to this day. They totally failed to bring down the Cuba government and in 2009 do more political harm to the USA than the Caribbean Island. Indeed given the evils we face in this modern world there can be no justification for the on-going crusade against Cuba.

On September 14 President Barack Obama is due to renew these sanctions. Amnesty International is calling on the president to take the first step towards dismantling the US embargo against Cuba by not renewing them.

Amnesty has just published a report – “The US embargo against Cuba: Its impact on economic and social rights”. In it the human rights group concludes that the sanctions are particularly affecting Cubans’ access to medicines and medical technologies and endangering the health of millions.

Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Irene Khan said:

“This is the perfect opportunity for President Obama to distance himself from the failed policies of the past and to send a strong message to the US Congress on the need to end the embargo.

“The US embargo against Cuba is immoral and should be lifted. It's preventing millions of Cubans from benefiting from vital medicines and medical equipment essential for their health.”

Amnesty International states that Cuba faces severe restrictions in importing medicines, medical equipment or technologies from the USA or from any US company abroad because of the embargo. The sanctions also limit other imports to the island and restrict travel and the transfer of money.

Products patented in the USA or containing more than 20 percent US-manufactured parts or components cannot be exported to Cuba, even if they are produced in third countries.

Further more according to data from the United Nations, Cuba’s inability to import nutritional products for consumption at schools, hospitals and day care centres, is contributing to a high prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia. Some 37.5 per cent of Cuba’s children under three years old are affected according to UNICEF.

Children's health was also put at risk by a decision from US syringe suppliers to cancel an order for three million disposable syringes made in 2007 by UNICEF’s Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation when it became known that the units were destined for the implementation of a programme in Cuba.

Similar situations have affected the implementation of UN programmes to prevent and fight HIV/AIDS on the island.

Irene Khan continued:

“Although responsibility for providing adequate health care lies primarily with the Cuban authorities, governments imposing sanctions such as embargoes need to pay special attention to the impact they can have on the targeted country's population.”

Amnesty International in Spain, where for historic reasons the plight of Cuba has a higher profile than in the UK, is asking people to urgently add their signature to a letter to President Obama. You can do that by clicking on this link:

http://www.es.amnesty.org/actua/acciones/levantamiento-embargo-cuba

As a human rights organisation Amnesty International is not blind to nor has it been silent on the abuses that have taken place on the Caribbean island. However two wrongs do not make a right and viewing Cuba as “the enemy” has no place in the modern world.

(Photo of medicine rationing queue in Cuba - Amnesty International)