Censorship in Cuba - International Attention

International Attention

Sanctions, imposed by the European Union in 2003 as a response to a crackdown against dissidents (Black Spring), were lifted in 2008, in spite of a finding by the EU council that "the state of human rights had deteriorated" since sanctions were initially imposed.

In 2001 and 2003 the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions and its Committee of Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression expressed their deep concern about the continuing violations of the basic human right to freedom of access to information and freedom of expression in Cuba.

In November 2006 the U.S. State Department's Office for Cuban Affairs issued a statement praising the Global Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations for their efforts to bring attention to the “unjust jailing of journalists” in Cuba.

In 2006 the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named Cuba one of the ten most censored countries in the world. In 2009 CPJ ranked Cuba as the world's fourth worst place for bloggers, stating that "only government officials and people with links to the Communist Party have Web access" and "only pro-government bloggers can post their material on domestic sites that can be easily accessed".

In June 2007 the Inter American Press Association, a nonprofit organization devoted to defending freedom of speech and freedom of the press in the Americas, stated how disgraceful it is that "Not only are these individuals being denied their right to free speech, but their very lives are being endangered by denying them adequate health care." For example, imprisoned journalist Omar Ruiz Hernández had tuberculosis and a chronic parasitic infection, and weighed only 45 kilograms (about 100 pounds).