The Institute for War and Peace Reporting has published a new bilingual book compiling several reports from independent Cuban journalists on different social aspects of life in the island. "With Open Voices" gathers articles in Spanish and English on Cuba's isolated society, which continues to suffer from constant attacks against human rights.
Click here to download the book.
The book acknowledges the Cuban government's recent efforts to expand economic freedom, open doors to foreign travel and increase the access to internet and information. At the same time, however, "With Open Voices" highlights Cuba's need for change and describes the authorities' repressive side to show that, despite several efforts, Cuban society is still extremely constrained in its political and civil rights.
Cuba is considered one of the countries in the Americas with the most restrictive laws on freedom of speech and press freedom. All traditional media is owned by the government without any editorial independence.
Recently, award-winning blogger, Yoani Sánchez compared Cuba to "an enclosed house with iron walls, inside which people live a life isolated from the outside world."
"Through a text, an image or the work of a whole lifetime, they have demonstrated that the pain of knowing is preferable to not knowing", the Cuban blogger said.
The emerging group of journalists started to give voice to Cuba's problems more actively since last year, IWPR said. Twelve of the book's contributors were subject to unjustified and arbitrary detentions during the nine-month period covered by the book.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
