Predators of Press Freedom: Cuba - Raúl Castro
| Publisher | Reporters Without Borders |
| Publication Date | 3 May 2011 |
| Cite as | Reporters Without Borders, Predators of Press Freedom: Cuba - Raúl Castro, 3 May 2011, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4dc2b532c.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Raúl Castro, President of the Council of State and Council of Ministers, Cuba
Fidel Castro passed the reins of power to his younger brother Raúl, the defence minister, five days after falling ill on 26 July 2006 and undergoing a major operation. Formally confirmed as President of the Council of State on 24 February 2008, Raúl has behaved little better than his brother as regards human rights, and the harassment of independent journalists and bloggers has never stopped. It includes police brutality, summonses and searches by State Security (the political police) and detention for short periods.
The page has nonetheless been turned on the "Black Spring" crackdown of March 2003. From July 2010 to March 2011, the regime freed a total of 52 dissidents jailed during the crackdown, a third of who had been running or working for small independent news agencies. Most of them had to agree to forced exile (in most cases in Spain) in exchange for their release. Long one of the world's biggest prisons for journalists, Cuba ceased to have any journalists in detention in April 2011 when it released Albert Santiago Du Bouchet on condition that he take a one-way ticket to Spain. He had been held for two years.
