Journalist stops drinking and eating to demand unrestricted Internet access

Journalist stops drinking and eating to demand unrestricted Internet access

Country/Topic: Cuba
Date: 03 February 2006
Source: Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Person(s): Guillermo Fariñas
Target(s): editor(s)
Type(s) of violation(s): hunger strike
Urgency: Threat

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced support for Guillermo
Fariñas, the editor of the Cubanacán Press independent news agency, who
has consumed no water or food since midday on 31 January 2006 and has
told President Fidel Castro in an open letter he will pursue his hunger
strike "to the death" if he and his fellow journalists are not allowed
the Internet access they need for their work.

Fariñas told Reporters Without Borders: "I want all Cuban citizens to
have the right to an Internet connection, but also for the independent
press to be able to report on the government's activities, and if I must
be a martyr for Internet access, so be it." In his open letter, he
points out that the overwhelming majority of Cubans have no Internet access.

Expressing its solidarity with Fariñas, Reporters Without Borders said:
"The authorities use the US embargo as a pretext for a repressive policy
towards the Internet. The chief reason for keeping citizens away from
the Internet is to prevent them from being well-informed."

Until 23 January, journalists working for Cubanacán Press were able to
send their dispatches from a public Internet access centre in the
central city of Santa Clara, but since then they have been prevented
from doing so. Cubanacán Press concentrates on covering human rights
violations in Cuba and on reflecting viewpoints that are excluded from
the official media.

During the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in
November 2005, a Cuban government representative claimed that all Cubans
would have unrestricted access to the Internet if the US embargo were
lifted. Fariñas insists that this is a lie.

Cuba is on the list of 15 Internet enemies that Reporters Without
Borders drew up for the WSIS. It is one of the world's most repressive
countries in regards to online free expression. Internet access is a
privilege to which very few have a right and which requires express
authorisation from the ruling Communist Party. Even if one manages to
connect, often illegally, one only gets access to a highly-censored
Internet.

More information on the Internet in Cuba:
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10611

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/72001/