Republic of Cuba: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 14:37, 18 August 2005

Revision as of 06:54, 19 August 2005

Line 82:

===Censorship===

Some groups claim that the Cuban government restricts the books that are available in the country. They claim books considered counter-revolutionary (such as ''[[Animal Farm]]'') are neither sold nor available in public libraries. Castro claims that "In Cuba there are no prohibited books, only those we do not have money to buy." The US embargo makes the purchase of many books prohibitively expensive as well as restricting Cuban purchase of paper from the US to print books at Cuban printing presses. There exists, however, a movement of pro-American underground libraries, supported financially by the US, with the intention of spreading US propaganda in Cuba. The Cuban government alleges it was organized and financed by the head of the U.S. Interests office in Cuba, James Cason. In 2003, Cuban undercover intelligence agents discovered the movement and several participants were prosecuted and imprisoned. The story of related events are detailed in ''Los Disidentes'' ([http://dissident www.ain.cubasi.cu/libro]), a book sponsored by the Cuban government. The Castro government has leveled such charges before; in a 1988 interview with [[Maria Shriver]], Castro denied the existence of any human rights organizations in Cuba, saying that "liars and cheats" of the dissident group CCPDH were "...counterrevolutionaries being manipulated by the American Interests Section." [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/castro/timeline/timeline2.html]

Today, there are approximately 80 oppositional libraries in Cuba.

In [[2001]] an attempt was made by [[Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas]] and others, operating as the [[Varela Project]], to have a national [[plebiscite]] using provisions in the [[Constitution of Cuba]] which provided for [[initiative|citizen initiative]]. If accepted by the government and approved by public vote, the amendments would have established such things as [[freedom of association]], [[freedom of speech]], [[freedom of press]], as well as starting private businesses. The [[petition]] was however refused by the National Assembly on the grounds that a citizen initiative could not be used to change the constitution.