Americas

New York, July 12, 2010—Imprisoned Cuban journalists are expected to be among a group of political prisoners to be released tonight and put on a flight to Spain, where they are due to arrive on Tuesday morning, according to international press reports and CPJ interviews. The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes news of their scheduled release and urged Cuban authorities today to free all journalists who remain in jail.

While the Cuban government remains silent over Antonio Villarreal, Léster González Pentón, Luis Milán, José Luis García Paneque, and Pablo Pacheco Ávila—the five imprisoned Cuban journalists and dissidents to be released soon—the media are filled with headlines declaring victory for many.

New York, July 9, 2010—Structural changes meant to broaden the authority of Mexico’s special prosecutor’s office to investigate crimes against journalists are still insufficient to address the grave free expression crisis in Mexico, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Take a look at this story in The New York Review of Books—it gets inside the challenges bloggers face as they are considered a “threat to the Cuban government’s international image,” and cites CPJ’s findings about imprisonment (Cuba has 22 journalists in jail, more than anywhere in the world except China and Iran). Read “Can the Internet Bring Change to Cuba?” here.

New York, July 7, 2010—The Catholic Church in Cuba said today that the government of President Raúl Castro has agreed to release dozens of political prisoners over the next several weeks, raising hopes that numerous imprisoned journalists could be freed. 

“If imprisoned journalists are freed, as suggested by the church’s announcement, it cannot come a moment too soon. These journalists and their families have experienced the anguish of unjustified imprisonment and cruel treatment,” said Carlos Lauría, CPJ’s senior program coordinator for the Americas. “We call on President Castro to release all jailed journalists and to allow freedom of expression for all Cuban citizens.”

On July 2, 2010, photographer Lance Rosenfeld was detained by police and released only after authorities reviewed his images and collected his personal identification information, which they then shared with BP, the company responsible for the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Rosenfeld was on assignment for the non-profit media outlet ProPublica and the PBS television program "Frontline" when he was detained near BP's refinery in Texas City, Texas.

CPJ’s Joel Simon will be live on Wednesday on “The Kojo Nnamdi Show,” a daily news public radio show in Washington. Joining Simon will be Iraqi journalist Haider Hamza, who has covered the war in Iraq for Reuters and ABC News, and Alfredo Corchado, the Mexico bureau chief for The Dallas Morning News, in a discussion on how violence against journalists ends up influencing media coverage in countries such as the Philippines and Honduras. Listen in at noon in Washington on WAMU 88.5 FM or simultaneously on the show's site. The segment on global threats to journalists will begin at 1:06 p.m.