The dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who spent four months on hunger strike to demand the release of political prisoners, was released from the hospital and said he wants to continue writing articles, BBC reports.
Cuban authorities have blocked Yoani Sanchez, author of Generation Y, from traveling to Brazil to see a documentary on censorship in Cuba and Honduras, EFE reports.
Omar Rodríguez Saludes, Normando Hernández González and Mijail Bárzaga, who had been arrested in a crackdown on dissidents in March 2003, bring to nine the number of imprisoned journalists released by the Cuban government, reported the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The first seven political prisoners released by the Cuban government landed in Madrid Tuesday, July 13. The prisoners are part of the 75 dissidents who were arrested during a crackdown in 2003, reported The Associated Press and ABC.
Three journalists are among the first political prisoners to be released in Cuba, the Committee to Protect Journalists is reporting.
The Cuban government has said it will release 52 political prisoners, including opposition activists and journalists, The New York Times reported.
Dissident Cuban journalist Guillermo Fariñas, on a hunger strike for more than four months to demand the release of political prisoners on the island, said he is aware his death is approaching and that brothers Fidel y Raúl Castro are responsible for his future death, reported the news agencies EFE and AFP.
The official voice of Cuba's Communist party, the newspaper Granma, reported that Guillermo Fariñas is at risk of dying after nearly 130 days of a hunger strike. In an extensive interview, the chief of the intensive care unit of the hospital where Fariñas is staying said doctors have done just about all they can to save his life.
Dissident Cuban journalist Guillermo Coco Fariñas, on a hunger strike for four months, is in critical condition and risks death, reported the website Cubanet.
Amnesty International reported that Cuba's repressive legal system has resulted in an atmosphere of fear for journalists, dissidents and activists, "putting them at risk of arbitrary arrest and harassment."
At a time when independent journalists continue to fear state police harassment for publishing criticisms of the government, and others remain in prison for their work, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, Granma, appears to be increasingly willing to air critical ideas. In recent months, the paper – Cuba’s largest – has published letters to the editor critical of the country’s economic policies, Juan Tamayo writes for The Miami Herald.
Independent journalist Guillermo (Coco) Fariñas has refused food for nearly three months to protest treatment of political prisoners on the island. His story has been widely reported by English- and Spanish-language media. But on Saturday, he was the source of stories in foreign media that said the Havana regime had agreed to transfer ill prisoners to hospitals and to move prisoners being held far from their hometowns.