MADRID, Spain.- The Inter-American Press Association (SIP) denounced this Tuesday, during its Mid-Year Meeting, the violation of freedom of expression and the repression of independent journalists, with Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela being the most affected in the region because of their governments.
In it inaugural address of the event, which takes place on April 25, 26 and 27, the president of the IAPA, Michael Greenspon, considered that freedom of the press and freedom of expression “are decapitated” in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
“The deterioration of these freedoms corrodes the rest of human rights, weakens institutions and kills hope and dreams of living in a dignified manner,” Greenspon said.
?? Greenspon: There are also high levels of contempt for press freedom in countries with free elections.
?️ The president of the SIP inaugurated this Tuesday the organization’s mid-year meeting to be held from April 25 to 27.
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— SIP • IAPA (@sip_oficial) April 25, 2023
“It is enough to look at Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to put a face to the tragedy of what it is to live without freedom of the press and without democracy. These countries are the ones that have expelled, persecuted and imprisoned critical journalists and citizens the most, and closed down media outlets.” added.
Regarding these three countries, he pointed out that they are exporters of the best heritage that a country can have: its citizens.
Just as he assured that “today we have unequivocal symptoms that we are going through one of the worst moments for democracy in our Americas.”
In the specific case of Cuba, he recalled that “there are journalists and citizens imprisoned for criticizing the government, meanwhile the majority of journalists were expelled or decided to flee the country.”
For his part, the president of the Committee on Freedom of the Press and Information of the Inter-American Press Association (SIP), Carlos Jornet, stressed that “in Cuba, the blockade to access the Internet continues, there are fewer and fewer independent journalists, and those who remain in the country survive in precarious material and mental conditions”.
“The repression of the press and independent activists continues, and for this reason there are more than a thousand political prisoners,” he denounced.
In the same way, he mentioned that they continue in prison two journalists and nine others They are prohibited from leaving the Island.
With this panorama, the IAPA stressed that it is convinced that journalists and the media should work the most to raise awareness about press freedom as a fundamental value of democracy.
