Cuban Book Burning Page

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If Not Censorship, Then What?
Here is the Documentation, Mr. Wood and Mrs. Krug. How long will you ignore it?

Here are three articles from award-winning papers in Florida, as well as one editorial, which confirm the accounts of book burning in Cuba. They are being posted for public review, since the officials at ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom refuse to add the documented cases of Cuban book burning to a webpage maintained, it is claimed, for the public benefit.

The ALA’s Mr. Don Wood has refused to answer e-mails and certified return receipt letters in relation to these documents, which he himself asked to be sent to him (See e-mails) in order to help him document the book burning in Cuba. What other reasons, except outright censorship and/or ideological bias, can be deduced from his silence. All the other members of the OIF office were sent original PDF documents of these articles as well. If Mr. Wood is going to say that these papers are not legitimate sources, then can he explain why he has quoted from them before at IFACTION, when the topic suits him?

Besides these documents, the ALA has refused to accept the help or the testimony of the leading Cuba researcher for Amnesty International in the USA, herself a research librarian (See details ). By what library or journalistic principle are they continuing to ignore the evidence???  Is that really the kind of professional behavior librarians should expect from official who often represent librarians with regards to intellectual freedom issues to the press? How long will the censorship continue? 

1. Posted on Wed, Sep. O3, 2003 Tallahassee Democrat (Online)

Web site looks at Cuban trials

The lengthy sentences of some recent Cuban political prisoners are highlighted on a new Web site launched by Florida State University's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights.

"We want to draw attention to the egregious human-rights abuses last spring in the nation of Cuba," said Terry Coonan, the center's executive director, during a news conference Tuesday. "While the public's focus was on Iraq, people were undergoing severe Draconian human-rights abuses."

According to the center's Web site, on March 18 -just days before u.s. and British forces launched the war against Iraq -the Cuban government began the roundup and arrest of 75 people critical of the Cuban government. After their trials, the dissidents received prison sentences ranging from six to 28

years. About a third of those imprisoned were journalists, the others were opposition party leaders, prodemocracy activists and human-rights activists, Coonan said.

Cuba's government has said the trials were necessary to protect itself from U.S.-funded attacks. The Web site includes detailed sentencing documents for the 75 prisoners, Cuban government news articles and the Cuban penal code.

The sentencing documents detail how the defendants received money, computers, recording equipment and other help in Havana from the u.s. Interests Section, Washington's diplomatic outpost. The dissidents set up Web sites, talked on U.S.-funded radio stations and published articles to criticize the Cuban government, the documents said.

The Web site also provides facts about the executions of three Cuban people who attempted to hijack a ferry and escape to the United States in April.

"For many of the dissidents, their crime was nothing more than reporting on the politics and political future of their countrY," said Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero III, who spoke at the news conference.

Cantero, grandson of former Cuban President Fulgencio Batista who was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959, said the Web site's inclusion of the prisoners' court documents will allow public analysis. Coonan said the center worked with the U.S. Interests Section along with other groups to obtain copies of the

documents.

"There is a lot of rhetoric about what is going on in Cuba and the Web site allows people to determine on an objective basis, based on the documents themselves, whether the system is just," Cantero said. Coonan said it cost the center about $25,000 to launch the Web site.

Students from disciplines such as law and education researched and translated the documents and articles.

Carlos Rev, a Cuban American and FSU law student, was among the translators.

"What kind of government would allow this to happen?" he said of the prison sentences. "That's why it's so timely to get the national and international community's attention and to let these individuals know that their actions were not in vain."

The 3-year-old center has helped to create human-rights advocacy courses at FSU and sponsors student human-rights internships.

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2. Rationality Needed

South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board

Posted September 6 2003

There is a word that needs to immediately enter the U.S.-Cuban diplomatic dictionary: rationality…

The charges, not the dissidents' actions, are what is criminal. No human being, in any country on this planet, should be jailed for one second, let alone decades, for voicing an opinion.

…This week, Florida State University launched a Web site t:hat posted the sentencing documents from the dissidents' trials. The Web address is: www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu.

The summaries of the evidence from the trials on the Web site suggest the imprisoning of the dissidents had something to do with the overt and public support they received from Americaln diplomats at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. It stands to reas;on that the crackdown on the dissident movement was at least partly designed to slap U.S. officials in Havana for allegedly meddling in internal Cuban government issues.

In addition to the crackdown, Havana has severely restricted the movement of U.S. diplomats when they travel to and from their offices. Washington struck back by expelling 14 Cuban diplomats in May after accusing them of spying.

This ongoing and tense game of chicken must stop. It is a reckless and counterproductive standoff that has now put the lives of 75 brave individuals at risk. Reports out of Cuba suggest thi3t more than a score of the dissidents are being held in deplorable conlditions, and as many as a handful may now be on hunger strikes.

International outrage over their treatment continues to tluild –the European Parliament this week condemned the "persistent and flagrant" violation of human rights in Cuba and called for the release of jailed opposition leaders.

Havana needs to reconsider its stance toward the dissidents. One option could be to permit them to leave the country for safe haven elsewhere. Another could be to grant clemency, or if a legal avenue exists, to overturn the convictions.

Washington and Havana should start talks aimed at resetting the rules of the game for their diplomats.

It's in both countries' best interests to do a little talking, and a lot less finger pointing, before things get even worse.

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3. The Miami Herald

Officials: Cuban documents show dissidents received no justice

MIAMI -The sentencing documents of the 75 Cuban dissidents convicted in the Castro government's craqkdown on opposition earlier this year show the lack of basic freedoms, human rights and !impartialjustice on the communist island, supporters of a university project said Tuesday.

The documents were obtained by Florida State University, which launched a Web site Tuesday containiljlg the hundreds of pages of court records.

The university's Center for the Advancement of Human Rights worked with the U.S. Interests Section in Havana to get the documents but the center funded the Web site independently, university officials said.

"As a Cuban-American whose family escapeda totalitarian regime ...I know the price a society pays when it lacks freedom to speak, freedom to worship and freedom to dissent," Florida Supreme Court Justice Raoul Cantero said before a news conference at the university in Tallahassee.

The 75 defendants including independent journalists, were sentenced in April for receiving money from the U.S. government and working with Washington to undermine the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro. They received anywhere from six to 28 years in prison. None of the trials lasted more than a day.

"People are really getting arrested simply for disagreeing with their government," Cantero said at the news conference.

The goal of the Web site is to draw attention to the "very, very severe and we think draconian human rights abuses,"according to Terry Coonan, the center's executive director. The site is also intended to invite people to advocacy, he said. Carlos Rey, a law student from Miami, was one of the students who worked on developing the Web site this summer.

"This is not simply a Cuban issue,"Rey said." It's not simply a Cuban-American issue. It's a human issue."

Katia Tchourioutanova, who came to the United States from Russia six years ago, is studying education at Florida State. She also worked on the Web site.

"You don't have to be a political science major or a lawyer or a diplomat to become involved in the field of human rights and to try to make some difference," she said.

Lazaro Herrera, a spokesman with the Cuban Government Interests Section in Washington, declined comment Tuesday. Cuba's government has said the trials were necessary to protect itself from U.S.-funded attacks.

The sentencing documents detail how the defendants received money, computers, recording equipment and other help in Havana from the U.S. Interests Section, Washington's diplomatic outpost. The dissidents set up Web sites, talked on U.S.-funded radio stations , published articles to criticize the Cuban government, the documents said.

One journalist, Jutio Cesar Galvez Rodriguez, was convicted of "trying to plant the seeds of uncertainty and distrust in the population about the revolutionary functioning of our social system." He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, said the documents give a clear picture of the faults of the Cuban justice system.

"There is no actual process of reaching evidence and establishing fact," he said. "These are accusatory documents that are often ratified by the prosecution and defense attorneys."

"At the expense of the 75 political prisoners, the Castro regime has provided the world with an unfortunately tragic view of the state of affairs in Cuba today," said Mark Schlakman, program director of the university's center.

ON THE NET II Rule of Law and Cuba: www.ruleoflawandcubafsu.edu

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4. Success Stories: (an online publication of the Florida Dept. of Education)

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

FSU Project Portrays Plight of Political Prisoners in Cuba

While the world was focused on the war in Iraq last spring, the Castro regime moved quickly to detain, qonvict and imprison 75 political dissidents in Cuba in one of the most severe crackdowns on that country's struggling democracy movement in decades;

….Terry Coonan, the center's executive director, and Jane Robbins, dean of FSU's SCHOOI of Information Studies, launched the Web site,

http:// ww.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu/, September 2. Florida Suprem Court Justice Raoul G. Cantero III, grandson of former Cuban president Fulgencio Batista, who was overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1959, also took part in the announcement. An FSU alumnus, Cantero earned his bachelor's degree in 1982 followed by a law degree from Harvard in 1985.

"These dissidents received extraordinarily harsh sentences of anywhere between six and 28 years for simply expressing democratic ideals," Coonan said. "We are launching this Web site to promote a greater understa,nding of the laws and proceedings under which these political dissidents were convicted."

The Castro regime arrested the first group of dissidents, including many independent journalists, on March 18, 2003, for "disrespect" of the revolution. After more arrests and subsequent trials, many of the dissidents were sentenced on April 7. Cuba's highest court upheld the convictions in June.

"As a Cuban-American whose family escaped a totalitarian regime, I have learned to appreciate and defend democratic values and the rule of law," said Cantero. "I know the price a society pays when it lacks freedom to speak, freedom to worship and freedom to dissent."

The Web site includes a list of all 75 dissidents and the sentences they received, the laws used to convict them, various reports from international human rights organizations and other official government reports relating to the crackdown, including a report from the U.S. Department of State. The Web site also includes, to the best extent possible, the Castro regime's response to the international criticism of the crackdown.

"We are determined to avoid the rhetoric often associated with the debate over U.S.jCuba policy," said Mark Schlakman, the center's program director. "These issues transcend the current status of U,S.jCuba relations. Official documentation from the regime, which is now accessible through this Web site, provides compelling evidence of the Cuban government's disdain for the rule of law,"

The creation of the site was both a valuable learning experience for the information studies students involved as well as a good example of the importance of the work that information studies scholars and professionals do, said Robbins.

"Experiential learning is an essential part of how we teach our students," she said. "When we can give them a real-life experience where the stakes are so high for humanity at large, that's really exciting. We have always been interested in working with the human rights center because we believe that documentation and access to information is a critical part of human freedom."

The Center for the Advancement of Human Rights is an interdisciplinary, non-partisan center established in 2000 to create human rights courses at the university to sponsor student internships at home and abroad and support human rights advocates and non-governmental organizations throughout the world.

Copyright Florida Department of Education @2005

(There are some spelling errors and small sections of the articles missing – marked with …. – because these documents were originally in PDF format, and the copy/paste function is not working well on the machine used to edit them.)

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