RECENT NEWS
STOCKHOLM, March 7, 2002 (Liberal Party press release) - The Liberal Party of Sweden has decided to award its Lars Leijonborg Democracy Prize to Berta Mexidor and Gisela Delgado, as representatives of independent libraries in Cuba....Police seize books donated by Spanish embassy (Feb. 11, 2009)
Cuba's independent libraries: books that refuse to die (Feb. 8, 2009)
Eliades Acosta purged, reports claim (Jan. 9, 2009)
Czech group asks IFLA to take action on Cuba (August 5, 2008)
Allard fails to cover up Eliades Acosta's "heresy" (July 31, 2008)
Dowling's Cuba Update: more "invisible book burning" (June 25, 2008)
"Invisible book burning" re-ignites ALA controversy (June 22, 2008)
Eliades Acosta CENSORED (April 17, 2008)
War declared on Library of Congress by Venezuela (April 10, 2008)
ALA censoring guest speaker, critics say (March 8, 2008)
LEAKED MEMO: "Invasion of the Library Snatchers" (Dec. 12, 2007)
Laura Bush meets Cuban librarians in video conference (Nov. 28, 2007)
Gisela Delgado and Hector Palacios Arrive in Spain, Ordeal Described (Nov. 6, 2007)
Thirty books seized in Morón (Oct. 10, 2007)
Nat Hentoff: Castro's useful idiots (March 4, 2007)
Miami censorship opposed by Friends, Freadom (Feb. 22, 2007)
Open Letter: The ALA's book burning scandal (Jan. 17, 2007)
Photos: Librarians injured by mob (Oct. 31, 2006)
Swedish aid flows to Cuban libraries (Sept. 11, 2006)
New wave of library raids in Cuba (August 17, 2006)
Library visitor threatened by police (August 11, 2006)
Cuba attacks Albright for ALA speech (July 2, 2006)
Crisis Among "Internet Police" Revealed in Video (June 1, 2006)
Cuba rebukes Gorman, makes "Dracula" charge against Codrescu (March 19, 2006)
Friends respond to Gorman's "defamation" charge (Feb. 8, 2006)
U.S. librarians fail to speak out for oppressed peers (Feb. 1, 2006)ALA convention shocker: Keynote speaker Codrescu slams Cuba policy scandal (Jan. 22, 2006)
Labor library confiscated (Dec. 14, 2005)
Cuba, Iran lash out at Internet freedom (Nov. 18, 2005)
Two libraries raided, librarian sentenced for "dangerousness" (Oct. 27, 2005)
Saving a life: Open letter to ALA president (Oct. 20, 2005)
Oslo: Secret documents inspire librarians' revolt on Cuba policy (August 10, 2005)
Ray Bradbury warned of bookburning cover-up in Chicago (June 20, 2005)Polish librarians add Cuba to IFLA agenda (June 5, 2005)
Librarians convicted of being "dangerous" (May 6, 2005)
Che Guevara's grandson endorses uncensored libraries (April 26, 2005)
New library defies censorship (March 2, 2005)
Benjamin Franklin Library raided (Feb. 28, 2005)
New York Times: A Cuban revolution, in reading (Feb. 22, 2005)
Freedom To Read! - A new movement to send a caravan of uncensored books to the people of Cuba (Feb. 14, 2005)
More Spanish support for Cuban libraries (Jan. 26, 2005)
Czechs join protest against library repression (Jan. 19, 2005)LIBRARIAN RELEASED: "We're not going to retreat a single millimeter..." (Jan. 13, 2005)
Regime enraged by Latvian backing for independent librarians (Jan. 12, 2005)Wall St. Journal: Castro's jailed librarians (Dec. 23, 2004)
Polish librarians demand release of jailed Cuban colleagues (Dec. 15, 2004)
Vermillion, South Dakota, Library sponsors a Cuban library (Dec. 7, 2004)
Nat Hentoff: Castro's Gulag and American librarians (Oct. 10, 2004
Librarian accused of espionage and terrorism (Sept. 28, 2004)
Commentary on a commentary (Sept. 28, 2004)
East Europeans protest library raids in Cuba:
call on world’s librarians to challenge Castro (Aug. 10, 2004)
Text of letter to IFLA signed by Vaclav Havel, Elena Bonner, et al (Aug. 10, 2004)
Cuban librarians in need - where's ALA? (June 24, 2004)Appeal for jailed librarians sent to ALA (June 21, 2004)
Colás and Mexidor receive People for American Way award (June 3, 2004)
"Digital apartheid" - Cuba tightens access to the Internet, e-mail, telephones (May 19, 2004)Paris sponsors the independent libraries of Havana (March 26, 2004)
French city sponsors Cuban libraries (March 19, 2004)
Pinar del Río family besieged: mother, child require medical care (March 5, 2004)
CUBA CAGES LIBRARIANS: But there's still not a dissenting word from America's book publishers and literati (March 5, 2004)CENSORED: the Havana Book Fair, Cuban officials and German "dissidents" (Feb. 13, 2004)
Two more libraries raided: "They aren't going to get away with it" (Jan. 29, 2004)
Nat Hentoff renounces ALA award in protest over Cuba (Jan. 29, 2004)
Cuba says Internet ban deters "satanic cults" (Jan. 27, 2004)
IFLA protests Cuban Internet crackdown (Jan. 19, 2004)
U.S. librarians 'fail' jailed Cubans (Jan. 16, 2004)
Call to conscience: Library group is shamefully silent on Cuba (Jan. 9, 2004)
The ALA: "Castro's favorite librarians" (Dec. 24, 2003)
Nat Hentoff: The ALA's "shameful silence" (Dec. 8, 2003)
Library books burned by court order (Sept. 28, 2003)
Le Monde: "If you travel to Cuba, take a book" (July 24, 2003)
The forgotten 14: The American Library Association embraces Castro (July 22, 2003)
ALA hypocrisy slammed: "It's always 1984 in Cuba" (June 29, 2003)ALA leaders to New York Times: Repression in Cuba? What repression? (June 28, 2003)
Library Association excludes Cuban independents from meeting (June 20, 2003)
CUBA'S JAILED LIBRARIANS GET NO SUCCOR FROM THE ALA (June 20, 2003)Nat Hentoff Blasts ALA on Persecution of Librarians in Cuba (June 5, 2003)
Angry Cuba expresses contempt for FAIFE critique (May 10, 2003)
OUTRAGE: librarians sentenced to 196 years (April 30, 2003)
List of convicted librarians and their sentences
CRACKDOWN: Librarians targeted in massive sweep (April 6, 2003)
Librarian identified as secret police agent (April 6, 2003)
List of detained librarians (April 6, 2003)
Cuban book seizure furor continues (March 9, 2003)
Librarian assaulted, others threatened (Feb, 22, 2003)Internet is "instrument of the devil:" student leader (Feb. 5, 2003)
Uncensored reading: the 2002 Annual Report of Cuba's independent library movement (Jan. 16, 2003)
Angry response as Cuba disrupts book fair event (Dec. 12, 2002)
Bookburning in Havana: another chapter (Sept. 21, 2002)BBC program features Cuban libraries (August 27, 2002)
Journalist/Librarian awarded Hellman-Hammett prize (June 14, 2002)
Jimmy Carter promotes uncensored libraries in Cuba (May 30, 2002)
"Tiny, renegade libraries offer view of world:" Atlanta Constitution (May 15, 2002)
ABC broadcasts interview with Cuban librarian (May 13, 2002)
Library director assaulted
Libraries raided, blind activist beaten and arrested (March 17, 2002)
Cuban librarians win Swedish human rights award (March 7, 2002)
Czech group asks IFLA to take action on Cuba
PRAGUE, August 5, 2008 (People in Need) - [Introduction: The
Czech human rights organization People in Need has sent an open letter to IFLA
president Claudia Lux, asking her to initiate a review of the world library
association's Cuba policy.]
Open Letter to IFLA
Dear Ms. Lux:
[August 5, 2008]
On August 10, 2004, People in Need sent a letter to IFLA's intellectual freedom
committee (FAIFE) regarding the situation of Cuba's independent library
movement. The group letter, signed by Vaclav Havel, Markus Meckel, Elena Bonner,
Adam Michnik and other leaders, concerned IFLA's commitment to defend freedom of
_expression_ and expressed appreciation for IFLA's landmark 1999 report which
condemned the repression of Cuba's independent librarians.
But our letter also noted a slackening in IFLA's response to library repression
in Cuba after 1999 and asked IFLA to once again focus on the deteriorating
situation on the island. Unfortunately, our 2004 letter did not receive a
substantive response, and since then the repression of Cuba's independent
librarians has intensified. Numerous reports continue to be received from Cuba
of the repression of library workers, including threats, mob assaults, police
raids, physical attacks, arrests, 20-year prison terms, and the seizure or
burning of library collections.
While we recognize IFLA's limited resources, every organization has a need to
prioritize, and Cuba's status as the only nation in the world where library
workers are being systematically persecuted merits a long-term focus on the part
of IFLA. Numerous human rights groups, such as Amnesty International,
International PEN and Human Rights Watch, speak out against the repression of
Cuban library workers on an ongoing basis, but IFLA's silence on this topic is a
matter of concern. Regrettably, IFLA's integrity as an impartial defender of
freedom of _expression_ is called into question by FAIFE's continuing silence
and inaction regarding Cuba.
With a view to correcting this situation, we would like to respectfully ask IFLA
to name a commission to study and correct FAIFE's silence and inaction with
regard to ongoing library repression, censorship and book burning in Cuba. The
assistance of IFLA's leadership in conducting such an inquiry would go far to
correct this unfortunate situation.
Thank you for IFLA's consideration of this urgent request for action, and
appended below are specific questions to which we would be pleased to receive a
detailed response, leading to concrete actions by IFLA to impartially defend
everyone's right to freedom of _expression_.
Sincerely,
Jiri Knitl
Head of Cuban projects section
People in Need
****************************************************
Questions Regarding IFLA's Handling of the Cuban Library Issue
* (1) What has FAIFE done, on an ongoing basis, to implement its 1999 report
which established IFLA's policy of opposing the Cuban government's systematic
repression of library workers?
* (2) Consistent with the unprecedented nature of Cuban library repression and
book burning in today's world, why hasn't IFLA introduced a resolution on this
subject at any of its annual conferences?
* (3) What action has FAIFE taken since 1999 to investigate numerous reports of
library repression in Cuba? An example would be the alarming photos of injuries
inflicted on two Cuban librarians, Orestes Suárez and Nancy González, who were
allegedly attacked by a government-led mob in October 2006. See: (http://bitacoracubana.com/desdecuba/portada2.php?id=3166)
* (4) Even if IFLA does not have the resources to thoroughly investigate all
complaints, how often does it take the minimal action of making inquiries to
government officials and Cuban library associations, both the official and
independent ones, when reports of human rights violations are received?
* (5) Recognizing IFLA's limited resources, and in accordance with IFLA's policy
of working with other human rights organizations, has IFLA failed to act upon
the results of investigations conducted by groups such as Amnesty International,
which since 2003 has campaigned for the release of jailed Cuban library workers
whom it has named as prisoners of conscience?
* (5) In 2003, following a crackdown on the island, IFLA expressed "deep
concern" for jailed Cuban librarians. But since 2003, has IFLA fulfilled it duty
to follow up this statement by publicizing the unjust imprisonment of the Cuban
librarians now serving 20-year terms?
* (6) During his term in office, ex-IFLA president Alex Byrne attended a library
conference in Cuba. In keeping with IFLA's commitment to human rights and
transparency, will IFLA make public details of his visit, such as his response
to requests to discuss library repression during encounters with Cuban
officials, and to visit imprisoned Cuban librarians or their families?
* (7) Pending the release of the jailed Cuban librarians, what has IFLA done to
publicize, and call a halt to, inadequate health care and mistreatment which
have imperiled the lives of several of the prisoners?
* (8) In keeping with IFLA's principle of transparency, will IFLA release the
details of FAIFE's yearlong study of the situation of one of the imprisoned
librarians, Dr. Jose Luis Garcia Paneque, whose health is reportedly failing due
to inadequate health care and beatings by common criminals placed in his cell to
punish him?
* (9) The Cuban court documents on the trials of numerous dissidents, including
several librarians, were removed from the island and published on the Internet
(http://www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu). What action has IFLA taken to publicize
the contents of these alarming documents, such as their confirmation that Cubans
are being imprisoned for the alleged crime of opening uncensored libraries and
the court-ordered burning of entire library collections? Doesn't the scale and
intensity of these alarming human rights violations merit intensive actions by
IFLA?
Human Rights and Democracy
People in Need
Sokolska 18, 120 00 Praha 2
Czech Republic, Europe Telephone: +420 226 200 469
Fax: +420226 200 401
http://www.peopleinneed.cz http://www.icdcprague.org
http://www.cubaprison.org http://www.cubalog.eu
Police seize
books donated by Spanish embassy
HAVANA, Feb. 11, 2009 (www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/Mario
Hechavarria Driggs) - [Introduction: Books donated to Cuba's independent library
movement by the Spanish Embassy have reportedly been confiscated. Judging from
the Embassy's website, the Spanish diplomat identified as "Sr. Javier" in the
article below, translated by the Friends of Cuban Libraries, may be Francisco
Javier Hergueta Garnica, the Councilor for Cultural Affairs.]
Frank Delgado Macías, a delegate of the Corriente Martiana in the capital,
complains that agents in patrol car number 461 forcibly confiscated a box of
books from him which had just been donated by the Embassy of Spain.
"I was intercepted by the car about two blocks from the Embassy on the morning
of Tuesday, Feb. 10. The agents threatened to take me to the police station if I
did not give them the books I was carrying."
The books, a donation to the Independent Libraries, were provided by Sr. Javier,
the embassy official for Press and Culture. Our source assures us that no
warrant was issued for the seizure, an act which he considers a theft.
Cuba's
independent libraries: books that refuse to die
SANTIAGO DE CHILE, Feb. 8, 2009 (El Mercurio/ VÍCTOR M. MANDUJANO) - "In a brave
challenge to censorship, about 200 independent libraries operate throughout
Cuba. They are located in private houses and possess between 250 and 6,000
books, many of them banned, which can be read in the library or taken from the
homes of the librarians, who are harassed, threatened and in some cases
imprisoned after one-day trials. Ten of them are now serving sentences, and
their books were burned or destroyed under the pretext of recycling the paper,"
says Robert Kent, a librarian in New York who traveled about 10 times to Havana
until, in 1999, he was arrested on a charge of being a CIA agent. Today he is
co-director of the Friends of Cuban Libraries, an organization that supports
these private institutions with books that, fundamentally, are delivered by
volunteer tourists "because Cubans [returning to the island] are subject to
rigorous inspections, while the government isn't interested in harassing
tourists, since tourism is a source of income which is indispensable to the
country."
Question: If a directory of these libraries exists, with addresses and the names
of the staff, why doesn't the government shut them all down to prevent the
circulation of prohibited books?
Answer: "The librarians are proud to operate in an open and public manner, as if
they lived in a free society, and the government [doesn't shut them all down
because it] is sensitive to bad publicity. The government is afraid that the
entire world will find out about the system of censorship there. Foreigners who
visit the libraries do not have problems, but Cubans do. Although the National
Library holds copies of banned books, they are kept in closed shelves and access
to them is restricted to trustworthy persons."
Kent adds that several countries support the Independent Libraries in Cuba (the
U.S., Spain, Sweden, Mexico, Holland, France and the nations of Eastern Europe),
"and the books sent to the island are transformed into true jewels
for the Cubans. Visitors to the humble but important libraries are welcome at
any hour of the day," concluded Kent.
This panorama is reminiscent of the novel "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
(1953), converted into a film in 1966, and the movie "The Lives of Others"
(2006) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (Oscar 2007), which reveals the crude
repression applied by the secret police against intellectuals in the former East
Germany.
Necessary complements
On the website www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org one can find a listing of the
main Independent Libraries of Cuba, their addresses and the names of the
directors. Also, at www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu/documents-santiago-6s.cfm one
can read the unusual sentence pronounced by a People's Court against a librarian
in Santiago de Cuba, Julio Antonio Valdés Guevara (tried in April 2003), whose
books, personal belongings and medicines were confiscated. He was imprisoned
until recently freed "for reasons of health."
An authorized voice
Teresita Castellano García (a technician in Economics and Law) maintains the
Julio Castellés Independent Library, containing 350 volumes, in the Playa
district of Havana. "Although I would like to have some, I do not hold books by
Chilean authors. The most requested books here are works in the areas of
politics, society, education and religion." She adds that "although some
librarians are not harassed, they are always kept under surveillance. Today a
certain tolerance exists, but that is not to say this is an activity welcomed by
the government, especially when we circulate books not issued by government
publishers. On this island the people are required to consume what the
government gives them. For this reason we [the independent librarians]
constitute an alternative. I do not receive a salary; I carry out this
activity because it is a necessity, and I am open to receive help that anyone
can offer because a library should hold books by as many authors as possible."
"My house is not well-equipped [for many visitors]; for this reason I loan out
books for a period of 15 days, which can be extended."
Source: http://diario.elmercurio.cl/2009/02/08/actividad_cultural/noticias/756f0132-1fd0-4767-9fce-f2a554cea1_38.htm
Translation by the Friends of Cuban Libraries
Eliades Acosta purged,
reports claim
NEW YORK, January 9, 2009 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Two news reports offer
additional evidence of former National Library director Eliades Acosta's fall
from official grace, indicating he is the victim of a slow motion purge or may
face legal problems related to funds allegedly missing from Havana's National
Library. After leaving the library in 2007, Mr. Acosta was promoted to preside
over Cuba's cultural affairs as the head of the Communist Party's cultural
department.
Mr. Acosta's problems apparently began on Nov. 27, 2007, when he published a
startling interview in Cubarte, a government-owned journal, which condemned
Cuban censorship and called for greater freedom of expression in his homeland.
(See "Eliades Acosta CENSORED" on the Friends of Cuban Libraries website, April
17, 2008.) Previous to this interview he had adamantly denied the existence of
censorship in Cuba and the persecution of the island's independent librarians,
whom he condemned as "informational terrorists" and "foreign agents." On the day
following its publication, Acosta's interview disappeared from the
government-owned Cubarte website. Soon afterwards, Mr. Acosta became unemployed
after abruptly resigning from his position as the ruling Party's cultural
secretary.
According to a report by Guillermo Fariñas, Eliades Acosta is once again being
subjected to censorship. Fariñas writes that authorities in the province of
Villa Clara have removed from sale a recent book by Acosta entitled "The
Apocalypse According to St. George," even though the publication expresses
orthodox views on foreign policy issues. Fariñas cites sources who claim that
government authorities have gradually withdrawn Acosta's book from sale to
disguise the former official's fall from favor. Fariñas also says that for more
than two months Acosta has not appeared in public, even though previously he had
often been invited to speak at public events.
Soon after his abrupt departure from power, some analysts attributed Acosta's
slow motion purge to his public adoption of dissident views, as expressed in the
censored Cubarte interview. But a different interpretation of his apparent
downfall has been presented by Raymundo Cerero in the Madrid-based journal "Encuentro
en la Red." According to Mr. Cerero, for several months operations at Havana's
National Library have been hampered by a broken booklift and a lack of resources
to replace it. Mr. Acosta's former colleagues at the National Library are said
to hold Eliades Acosta accountable for a lack of funds to fix the problem. "[U]nder
the leadership of Eliades Acosta," wrote Raymundo Cerero, "embezzlement at the
Library was major and systematic. It is even said that the dismissed official
(i.e., Eliades Acosta) built himself a house in Havana... with resources
assigned to improving the National Library.... To summarize, the proof was such
and the scandal was so great that the indicted person felt obligated to resign
from his position as Cultural Secretary of the Party...."
Sources: ("Book by Communist Leader Removed from Sale," http://www.miscelaneasdecuba.net/web/article.asp?artID=18466,
Nov 11, 2008)
("Eliades Acosta and the Booklift," http://penultimosdias.com/2008/11/13/eliades-acosta-y-el-montacargas/],
Nov.. 13, 2008)
Allard fails to
cover up Eliades Acosta's "heresy"
NEW YORK, July 31, 2008 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - We in the Friends of
Cuban Libraries are honored by the Cuban government's latest attempt to
discredit our work, an article by Jean-Guy Allard published in Cuba's main
newspaper, Granma ("'INDEPENDENT' LIBRARIANS FINANCED BY CIA," July 30). Past
attacks on us were usually confined to less prominent venues, so Jean-Guy
Allard's error-filled article in Granma is another sign of the government's
realization that it is losing ground in its effort to slow Cuba's process of
change.
Mr. Allard's latest attack is an effort to distract attention from growing
external and internal support for intellectual freedom in Cuba. The most notable
example of the latter, unreported by Allard, is the startling public repudiation
of Cuban censorship by Mr. Eliades Acosta, the former director of Havana's
National Library, followed by his resignation from his job with the
Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, of which Mr. Allard's newspaper
proudly proclaims itself to be the "official organ."
As evidenced by Allard's Granma article and his conspicuous silence on Mr.
Acosta's "heretical" turnaround, the Cuban government is being compelled to go
public with its failing effort to persuade defenders of intellectual freedom
around the world, ranging from Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein to Ray Bradbury and
Vaclav Havel, that their support for Cuba's independent librarians is part of a
uniquely sinister "CIA plot" to "overthrow the government" by, of all things,
reading books.
Jean-Guy Allard doesn't want the world to know that moral and material aid for
the island's free library movement is being sent to Cuba from many nations, not
just the U.S. Regarding his claim that Cuba's independent librarians are the
paid agents of a foreign government, this charge has been examined and dismissed
by Amnesty International, which has named all of Cuba's jailed library workers
as prisoners of conscience. And to the alarm of the Cuban regime, publicity on
the mistreatment of imprisoned librarians, such as José Luis García Paneque, is
gaining worldwide attention.
Veterans of IFLA's 2005 conference in Oslo, where Eliades Acosta teamed up with
Mr. Allard to vehemently deny the existence of Cuban censorship, are aware of
the latter's unusual brand of "journalism" and his attacks on reputable human
rights groups such as Reporters Without Borders. On the eve of the Oslo
conference, Allard published a fictional claim that U.S. customs agents had just
confiscated books being sent from the U.S. to Cuba, including classics such as
Saint-Exupéry's "Little Prince." Mr. Allard's report of this alleged book
seizure was a figment of his imagination.
Now, in an effort to distract attention from growing internal and external
support for intellectual freedom on the island, including Eliades Acosta's
abrupt repudiation of Cuban censorship, Mr. Allard is trying the same tactic in
advance of IFLA's 2008 conference in Quebec City. As for the substance of
Allard's charges regarding corruption in a Cuban aid program administered by
Frank Calzon, people reading this press release are free to conduct a Google
search to discover the truth of the matter, which is far removed from Mr.
Allard's erroneous account. Such a Google search, taken for granted elsewhere,
is almost impossible in Cuba, where surfing the Web is a criminal offense.
Thanks to international aid programs and the courage of the independent
librarians, hundreds of uncensored libraries opened throughout Cuba are
thriving, and their influence is growing. Opposition to Cuba's system of
censorship has spread to the island's "official" library workers, as confirmed
in a recent newspaper article on the dismissal of Yuricel Pérez Rodríguez
(http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0725/p01s02-woam.html).
It appears that in Cuba, as occurred in South Africa under the apartheid regime,
the enforcers of orthodoxy are themselves being converted by the very people
they have been assigned to repress.
A prime example of this turnaround is Eliades Acosta, the former director of
Havana's National Library and spokesperson for the repression of the independent
library movement. In early 2007, as a reward for his diligence in this role, he
was named the head of the Cuban Communist Party's Cultural Department.
But in November 2007 Mr. Acosta broke with his past orthodoxy in a startling
interview published on a government-run website, Cubarte. In the interview, he
denounced Cuban censorship and advocated passionately for "a society that speaks
openly of its problems without fear, in which the news media report on life as
it really is, without triumphalism, in which errors are publicly ventilated in
order to explore problems, in which people can express themselves honestly..."
On the day following its publication, Acosta's interview was abruptly removed
from the Cubarte website. Extended excerpts ("Eliades Acosta Censored," April
17, 2008) can be read in the Recent News section of our website (http://www.friendsofcubanlibaries.org).
On July 17 the Penúltimos Días weblog reported that Mr. Acosta has "resigned"
from his position as head of the Communist Party's Cultural Department and may
be leaving Cuba to live abroad. Mr. Acosta's apostasy, in conjunction with
growing worldwide support for Cuba's embattled independent library movement,
marks another setback for Jean-Guy Allard's clumsy efforts to distract attention
from the Cuban people's progress toward a civil society in which intellectual
freedom is honored and respected.
Dowling's Cuba Update: more "invisible book burning"
NEW YORK, June 25, 2008 (Friends of Cuban
Libraries) -
For ALA members, dedicated to defending intellectual freedom as the core
principle of our beliefs, the only thing worse than burning books and
persecuting library workers is trying to ignore it.
In keeping with its mandate to defend intellectual freedom around the world, the
ALA has studied the Cuban library issue for many years. Now, in June 2008, a
resolution has been introduced in the ALA Council which condemns the repression
of Cuba's independent library movement, calls for the release of imprisoned
Cuban library workers, takes note of the court-ordered burning of library
collections on the island and calls for the return to their lawful owners of
confiscated library books which have not been burned.
Soon afterwards, Michael Dowling, director of the ALA International Relations
Office, hurriedly published a "Cuba Update for ALA Annual 2008." This document
claims to be an accurate summary of the ALA's handling of the Cuban library
issue. As an employee of the association, Mr. Dowling has a duty to provide
information on international library issues to the ALA Council which is fair,
accurate and principled.
The conclusion of the Friends of Cuban Libraries, after examining its contents,
is that Michael Dowling's "Update" is a continuation of a decade-long effort by
a faction within the ALA to ignore, distort and cover up a grim reality: Cuba is
the only country in the world where library workers are being systematically
persecuted.
In a nation where access to the World Wide Web is effectively criminalized,
Cuba's independent librarians are engaged in an innovative effort to challenge
government control of information by founding libraries offering public access
to uncensored books. Their goal is to provide reading materials which reflect
all points of view, from Marx to Orwell. They are being subjected to harassment,
mob attacks, 20-year prison terms and the court-ordered burning of confiscated
library collections.
Continuing a sad tradition of flawed ALA committee reports which ignore or
distort these realities, the first page of Michael Dowling's Cuba Update chooses
to stress, with highlighted text, selective information on U.S. aid for Cuba's
independent librarians, as if there is something sinister about open, publicly
announced government programs to defend intellectual freedom in a nation where
libraries are being raided and burned. Mr. Dowling chooses to ignore the U.S.
programs funding libraries in other countries around the world, nor does he seem
to regard as "sinister" U.S. funds for the ALA. In fact, both of Cuba's library
systems - the harshly censored state-run institutions as well as the independent
libraries - receive aid from abroad, a reality which is omitted from Dowling's
report.
Below are a few of the more glaring errors and omissions in Dowling's
chronological account of Cuba's independent library movement and the ALA's
handling of this issue:
* Regarding IFLA/FAIFE's pioneering 1999 report on Cuba, Mr. Dowling omits any
mention of the fact that IFLA's investigation confirmed every instance of
library repression reported by the Friend of Cuban Libraries. In a letter to
President Castro, FAIFE condemned this campaign of repression and urged other
library associations around the world to do likewise. The ALA's International
Relations Committee (IRC) ignored the IFLA report, as if it does not exist. It
was only after people such as Al Kagan, the ALA's representative to FAIFE, began
charging that the independent librarians are a "CIA conspiracy" that IFLA began
to take a less rigorous stand on the historically unprecedented library
persecution occurring in Cuba.
* Mr. Dowling notes the ALA's first effort, made by the IRC in 2001, to inquire
into this issue. Testimony was given on both sides of the issue. One group
presented to the subcommittee evidence from respected sources such as Amnesty
International and the Washington Post. Contrary testimony was given by people
who made the absurd claim that there is "no censorship in Cuba." Saying it could
not make up its mind which side to believe, the IRC subcommittee tried to end
any future ALA consideration of this issue, as if it is not important to find
out whether or not there really is a nation in the world where library workers
are being systematically persecuted.
* The Update notes that in 2002 the founders of the library movement, Ramon
Colas and Berta Mexidor, "emigrate[d] from Cuba to Florida." But Mr. Dowling
fails to mention that, before going into exile, members of this family had been
subjected to repeated arrests, firing from their jobs, a beating, the
confiscation of their library collection, eviction from their home and internal
exile to a remote village. The family endured all of this repression until
forced to leave their homeland when their daughter was subjected to Orwellian
"struggle sessions" at her school.
* Mr. Dowling notes that at the ALA's 2003 conference in Toronto his office
obtained a grant to bring five "official" Cuban librarians for a panel
discussion. He fails to mention that his office crafted the grant to
specifically exclude any of Cuba's independent librarians from the panel. The
exclusion of anyone who did not possess a library degree was the pretext for
this censorship. When it was brought to the attention of ALA president Mitch
Freedman that Eliades Acosta, one of the "official" librarians invited to be on
the panel, also lacked a library degree, he decided to go ahead with Acosta's
inclusion anyway, even as he maintained the ban on participation by Ramon Colas,
who was also in Toronto.
* The Update notes the joint IRC/IFC investigation of the Cuba library issue,
resulting in the reformulation of the association's Cuba policy in 2004. When
the committee began its work, the chair publicly promised to evaluate Cuban
court documents on the one-day trials of Cuban librarians held in 2003; the
documents had been removed from the island and published on the Internet. These
court records prove in the words of the Cuban government itself that the library
workers were convicted, among other spurious charges, for the "crime" of opening
uncensored libraries. The court documents also ordered the burning of
confiscated library collections. Among the burned library books catalogued in
these court documents are classics of freedom such as "Animal Farm," a biography
of Martin Luther King and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But Mr.
Dowling omits any mention of the fact that the completed IRC/IFC committee
report ignored the existence of these crucial court documents, as if they do not
exist.
* Despite repeated efforts within the ALA to minimize or ignore the repression
and book burning in Cuba, the issue has been kept alive by renowned icons of
freedom who have issued public appeals during ALA conferences for the ALA to
honor its own ideals regarding the situation in Cuba. At the ALA's most recent
conference, held in Philadelphia, Anthony Lewis told his audience: "I think
there can't be anything worse than putting librarians in prison because of their
being librarians and giving people books to read.... Cuban librarians who have
been in prison are entitled to the utmost support from this organization." Yet
this clarion call from Anthony Lewis to the ALA is ignored in Dowling's Update,
just as he ignores similar appeals made during ALA conferences by Madeleine
Albright, Andrei Codrescu and Ray Bradbury.
* Mr. Dowling ignores, as if it does not exist, photographic evidence of
government-directed mob attacks against Cuban library workers. To see the
evidence which Mr. Dowling doesn't want the ALA Council to see, go to: (http://bitacoracubana.com/desdecuba/portada2.php?id=3166)
In conclusion, Michael Dowling's Cuba "Update," like the flawed ALA committee
reports which precede it, ignores key facts and principles related to the Cuban
library issue. The Cuba resolution, to be voted on at the upcoming Anaheim
conference, offers an opportunity for the ALA Council to finally declare
principled support for intellectual freedom by condemning the repression of
Cuba's brave independent librarians. As Nat Hentoff declared before renouncing
the ALA's Immroth Award for intellectual freedom: "It would be astonishing and
shameful if the American Library Association does not support - and gather
support for - the courageous independent librarians of Cuba, some of whom have
been imprisoned by Castro for very long terms for advocating the very principles
of the freedom to read and think that the American Library Association has so
long fought for in this country."
"Invisible book
burning" re-ignites ALA controversy
NEW YORK, June 22, 2008 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) -
Cuba has once again been catapulted to the
top of the American Library Association's agenda. On the eve of the ALA's annual
conference in Anaheim, California, three members of the ALA's governing Council
have introduced a resolution condemning Cuba's repression of the
island's independent library movement and urging the release of Cubans serving
20-year prison terms for the "crime" of opening uncensored libraries. The
resolution, introduced by Councilors Barbara Silverman, Shixing Wen and Cristina
Ramirez, also takes note of the court-ordered burning of library collections in
Cuba and urges the return to their lawful owners of confiscated library books
which have not yet been destroyed.
According to critics, a "pro-Castro" faction within the association which denies the existence of repression or censorship in Cuba has controlled ALA policy on this issue over the past decade, resulting in a series of "seriously biased" ALA investigations and Council resolutions which failed to condemn, or even acknowledge the existence of, systematic library repression on the island, including government-led mob attacks against libraries, 20-year prison terms for library workers and the court-ordered burning of library collections confiscated by the secret police.
The introduction of the Cuba resolution by Councilors Silverman, Wen and Ramirez mobilized vigorous countermeasures from ALA members who oppose any change in the association's policy on Cuba. The first barrage in this effort (actually published before the new Council resolution was made public) is an article by Peter McDonald ("ALA's Stand on Cuba's Independent Libraries") in the June/July issue of "American Libraries," the association's primary magazine. As the showdown over the proposed Cuba resolution draws near at the Anaheim conference, members of the association's alleged pro-Castro faction, who have reportedly dominated the ALA's Cuba policy for the past decade, praised McDonald's article as a "nuanced" review of this "complex" issue.
When the editor of "American Libraries"
declined to publish an article responding to McDonald, the Friends of Cuban
Libraries posted an analysis of his article on listservs. Printed below is the
text of our response to McDonald's article:
Response to Peter
McDonald's Article in "American Libraries"
by the Friends of Cuban Libraries
June 12, 2008
Peter McDonald ("ALA's Stand on Cuba's Independent Libraries," June/July 2008)
seems puzzled as to why this controversy continues. He asserts that the ALA's
"nuanced" reports and resolutions on Cuba show an "abiding understanding" of
this "complex" issue.
In reality, there is nothing "nuanced" about the decade-long effort within the
ALA to ignore the appalling truth: Cuba is the only country in the world where
library workers are being systematically persecuted.
There is nothing "complex" about the burning of library collections, mob attacks
against librarians and 25-year prison terms for the alleged crime of operating a
library, all of which the ALA and Mr. McDonald are trying to ignore. If Mr.
McDonald doesn't believe reports by Amnesty International, People for the
American Way and other human rights groups protesting these outrages, he can
refer to the Cuban government's own court records on the one-day trials held in
2003. Mr. McDonald, like the ALA's Cuba researchers over the past decade,
ignores these damning documents as if they do not exist, even after copies were
obtained by Amnesty International and published on the Internet.
Sadly, until now the well-meaning but complacent majority on the ALA Council has
been maneuvered into passing resolutions blaming other nations for Cuba's human
rights violations while expressing vague regret over the arrest of unnamed
Cubans for unnamed offenses, in the platitudinous style of beauty contestants
who "want the whole world to be happy." In sharp contrast, 76% of respondents to
the only ALA membership poll on Cuba called for a condemnation of the repression
in Cuba. When will the Council begin to listen to the evidence-based concerns of
the membership?
Celebrated speakers at ALA conferences have repeatedly urged the association to
honor its principles with regard to Cuba. At the ALA's most recent conference,
speaker Anthony Lewis told the audience: "I think there can't be anything worse
than putting librarians in prison because of their being librarians and giving
people books to read.... Cuban librarians who have been in prison are entitled
to the utmost support from this organization." And Mr. McDonald is wrong in
implying that Anthony Lewis has retracted his comments. After the event, he told
Nat Hentoff that he was "proud and happy with what he had said."
Mr. McDonald claims that the Friends of Cuban Libraries engage in "politics."
Like the anti-racism activists around the world who organized to oppose
apartheid in South Africa, we in the Friends of Cuban Libraries believe the
unprecedented repression of library workers in Cuba deserves international
attention. Our members hold a range of views on many issues, but we are united
in believing it cannot be a crime to oppose censorship or to open a library, in
Cuba or any other country. Our efforts to defend intellectual freedom and to
oppose book burning are a matter of principle, not partisan politics.
We continue to defend Cuba's brave and innovative independent library movement,
a uniquely Cuban contribution to the worldwide struggle for human rights. As for
the ALA's failure to oppose book burning and library repression by the Castro
regime, we agree with the statement Nat Hentoff made before renouncing the ALA's
Immroth Award for intellectual freedom: "It would be astonishing and shameful if
the American Library Association does not support - and gather support for - the
courageous independent librarians of Cuba, some of whom have been imprisoned by
Castro for very long terms for advocating the very principles of the freedom to
read and think that the American Library Association has so long fought for in
this country."
Robert Kent
Co-chair
The Friends of Cuban Libraries
Eliades Acosta CENSORED
NEW YORK, April 17, 2008 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - On November 29 a
government website, Cubarte, published a startling interview with Eliades
Acosta, the former director of Havana's National Library, in which he called for
tolerance and greater freedom of expression in Cuba. Until now, Acosta has
vehemently denied the existence of censorship in his homeland, even while
serving as the spokesperson for the repression of Cuba's independent librarians,
whom he has long denounced as mercenaries, traitors and "informational
terrorists."
But in an apparent turnaround, Acosta used his Cubarte interview to point out
serious problems in Cuban society, comparing them to "red lights indicating a
need for changes," and declared: "We aspire to a society that speaks openly of
its problems without fear, in which the news media report on life as it really
is, without triumphalism, in which errors are publicly ventilated in order to
explore problems, in which people can express themselves honestly..."
On the day following its publication, however, the article was removed from the
Cubarte website, causing whispered speculation among readers as to why it had
vanished down the Memory Hole in the style of "1984," the famous novel by George
Orwell which is banned in Cuba and, for this reason, one of most popular titles
in the island's network of independent libraries.
By way of context, in July 2007 Raúl Castro approved
a series of limited workplace debates on the subject of Cuba's failing economy,
aiming to generate support for modest reforms which deviate from the Soviet
model enacted decades ago by his ailing brother. But as Acosta noted in the
now-vanished Cubarte article, "when you introduce change in one sector, it
reverberates throughout the entire system." Instead of limiting their comments
to economic matters, Cubans impatient for change have begun to broaden their
complaints to forbidden topics such as censorship, free elections, independent
trade unions and the ban on Internet access. At present only a small number of
people, including the independent librarians, dare to voice dissenting views in
public. But increasing numbers of Cubans, some of whom even use their real
names, evade official censorship by e-mailing messages to foreign websites such
as the Madrid-based Kaosenlared (http://www.kaosenlared.net/cuba), where lively
debates take place regarding human rights, future reforms and the achievements
and failures of the Cuban Revolution.
Four months after the disappearance of Eliades Acosta's interview (fortunately
copied abroad before its early demise), questions are still being asked about
his motives. In making an appeal for open debate and pluralist reforms, was he
acting as an opportunist who merely went too far while implementing the new
Party line? (See the article below, "Secret Memo: 'Invasion of the Library
Snatchers,'" Dec. 12, 2007) Or, during the course of the long, one-sided battle
he has waged with Cuba's brave independent librarians, has Acosta been quietly
converted to their vision of a free society? The censorship of his interview
offers evidence that another Cuba is possible and that Cubans, regardless of
their views in the past, are capable of peaceful reconciliation and the
realization of Jose Martí's long delayed dream of a
free, sovereign and prosperous homeland, where everyone's right to freedom of
expression is honored.
Printed below are translated excerpts from Eliades Acosta's interview :
"Cuban Intellectuals Support Revolutionary Changes," interview with Eliades
Acosta by Isachi Fernández, November 29, 2007 (Cubarte)
Full Spanish text re-printed at: (http://www.kaosenlared.net/noticia.php?id_noticia=46585)
"One in a while it is healthy to re-think what has been done, to calibrate how
society has evolved, because when you introduce change in one sector, it
reverberates throughout the entire system."
"Criticism can help to resolve our problems, silence never solves anything.
Given a choice, we should opt for criticism. We should leave behind this
practice of silencing problems, which isn't always aimed at helping the
Revolution but rather is aimed at protecting jobs or positions, accomodationist
positions that are harmful to the ethical climate of a society."
"A kind of self-censorship syndrome was created in Cuba: 'I'm going to get into
trouble if I talk about a sensitive subject;' 'To avoid problems, I'll just go
along with the majority.' This has caused a very dangerous vacuum, and although
society can grow economically [under these conditions], it decreases morally.
Silences are are fatal in a society...."
"Raúl [Castro] himself... has told the people that
this is the moment to discuss our problems... but what do we find? There is
reluctance, there is inertia, the people aren't prepared [to engage in
criticism] because many years have gone by and it is hard for them to overcome
the psychological barrier. But if we read the press and also the great
non-institutional press, e-mail messages, which are here to stay, we see that
the people are participating. One notes the very healthy activation of the civic
spirit in Cubans."
"We aspire to a society which openly speaks of its problems without fear, in
which the news media report on life as it is, without triumphalism, in which
errors are publicly ventilated in order to explore problems, in which people can
express themselves honestly, where the economy functions, where public services
function, where Cubans do not feel themselves to be second class citizens in
their own country because of some measures that once were essential but are not
obsolete or unsustainable, a society where there is much and varied information,
with products of a high cultural level, where we can be in communication with
the world in a natural manner..."
"We are in a moment which all Cuban society is crossing which requires a leap to
another level. We are dealing with that moment of collapse and revolutionary
transformation, which is dialectic. The world isn't going to come to an end
because people make lots of complaints. There is a feeling of share disquiet
which is temporary in the sense that the molds which imprison us are being
broken and we are finding new expression for what we ourselves have created."
"There are many material problems relating to salaries and law which are like
red lights, and they indicate a need for change."
"It is necessary for people to do a lot of listening in order to carry out these
policies [leading to change.] The first step in making an honest decision
concerning human beings is to know how to listen and to be humble; if you begin
with this premise, the people will contribute, participate, and any errors
[resulting from this process] will be minor."
War
Declared on Library of Congress by Venezuela
NEW YORK, April 10, 2008 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Historian Fernando Báez,
appointed on April 1 as the director of Venezuela's National Library, has
declared war on the Library of Congress.
In a speech delivered to staff of the National Library soon after
taking office, Báez gave assurances he has a "blank check" from Venezuelan
president Hugo Chávez to launch a global campaign against the influence of the
Library of Congress, located in Washington, D.C. Under his leadership, declared
Báez, Venezuela's National Library will "assume a leading role in Latin America
and the world because the U.S. Library of Congress has been converted into one
of history's greatest enemies of libraries."
In outlining his campaign against
the renowned Washington institution, Baez dismissed the Library of
Congress as a "dangerous influence" for allegedly sowing cultural imperialism
throughout the world.
In the process of shaping Venezuela's National Library into "the axis of a
struggle... against the cultural imperialism of the U.S.," said Báez, it will be
necessary to transform the role of Venezuela's librarians by means of a "a
social revolutionary commitment" consistent with "the extraordinary project
being carried out by Hugo Chávez."
A key part of Fernando Báez's plan is the establishment of numerous "popular and
community libraries" in heavily populated areas of Venezuela. Báez visits Cuba
frequently, and to some observers his effort to establish mini-libraries throughout Venezuela is similar to a confidential plan enacted by the
Cuban government to eradicate and supplant the island nation's pioneering independent
library movement, created in 1998 to challenge government control of
information (see below: "Leaked Memo: 'Invasion of the Library Snatchers'")
In 2003 the repression of Cuba's independent libraries was stepped up, and a
number of the volunteer librarians were sentenced to 20-year prison terms. All
of them have been named as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International,
which is demanding their release. Following the 2003 library raids, entire
library collections, including classics such as George Orwell's "Animal Farm,"
were burned by order of the Cuban courts.
At a time when President Chávez is silencing or shutting down
opposition newspapers and television stations, some critics suspect that
Venezuela's newly declared animosity toward the Library of Congress is actually
aimed at the Washington institution's World Digital Library, available to anyone
in the world with access to the Internet.
In response to Baez's declaration of hostilities, Matt Raymond of the Library of
Congress stated: “The purposes of the World Digital Library are to promote
international and inter-cultural understanding and awareness, to provide
resources to educators, to expand non-English and non-Western content on the
Internet, and to contribute to scholarly research. Nations that share these
goals will benefit from a remarkable body of knowledge that will be made
available to people everywhere around the globe. It is Jeffersonian in its
truest sense, and it is the antithesis of imperialism.”
Sources: http://www.bnv.bib.ve/desplegar_noticia.php?id=114
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6551558.html
ALA censoring guest
speaker, critics say
NEW YORK, March 7, 2008 (Friends of Cuban
Libraries)
- Critics
charge that comments by Anthony Lewis, a distinguished guest speaker at the
American Library Association's January conference in Philadelphia, are being
censored by the ALA. At a sold-out ALA conference event held at the National
Constitution Center on Jan. 14, Lewis spoke about his long career defending
civil liberties and his new book, "Freedom for the Thought That We Hate."
A notable feature of Anthony Lewis's speech was his call for the ALA to defend
members of an independent library movement who are imprisoned in Cuba. In a
challenge to government control of information, since 1998 volunteers in Cuba
have opened more than 200 libraries offering public access to uncensored books.
Following secret police raids and one-day trials, several of the librarians are
serving 20-year jail terms. Cuban courts have ordered the burning of book
collections seized from the independent librarians, including classics such as
Orwell's "Animal Farm."
"I just urge you not to take that lightly," Anthony Lewis told his ALA audience.
"I think there can't be anything worse than putting librarians in prison because
of their being librarians and giving people books to read. So please don't
ignore the issue. That's from my point of view, even if you don't like the
librarians or you don't like Cuba or whatever it is you don't like, its 'freedom
for the thought that we hate.'" In a question-and-answer period following his
speech, Lewis added: "Cuban librarians who have been in prison are entitled to
the utmost support from this organization."
Human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and
International PEN are demanding the release of the jailed library workers.
In contrast, the ALA has refused to condemn the repression of the Cuban
librarians or the court-ordered burning of their books. Critics say the ALA,
which often takes a stand on international issues concerning intellectual
freedom, is guilty of hypocrisy on the Cuba issue. The critics assert that the
ALA's "refusal to take meaningful action" on Cuba is due to the seizure of key
ALA offices by a pro-Castro faction which refuses to condemn or even acknowledge
the existence of censorship, library raids, book burning and a ban on Internet
access in Cuba.
In post-conference coverage of the Philadelphia event, no ALA publication has
mentioned Anthony Lewis's criticism of the library group's Cuba policy. Two ALA
journalists were present at Anthony Lewis's Jan. 14 speech, and according to a
witness they promised to report on Lewis's Cuba-related comments. But the only
mention of Cuba in ALA publications since the conference has been a link in "AL
Direct," the ALA's online magazine, to a reprint of a 2-year old article
attacking Cuba's independent librarians and their defenders abroad. Critics
question the accuracy of the article's author, John Pateman, who was awarded a
medal by the Cuban government for his past denials of human rights violations on
the island; Pateman also denies that the Khmer Rouge were responsible for mass
killings in Cambodia.
In addition to Anthony Lewis at the January conference, other speakers at past
ALA conferences have spoken out on the ALA's Cuba controversy. Andrei Codrescu,
Ray Bradbury ( the author of "Fahrenheit 451") and Madeleine Albright have also
used ALA conferences as a venue to call for an end to library repression in
Cuba. But critics complain that "entrenched pro-Castro zealots" in the ALA have
steadfastly ignored appeals on behalf of Cuba's embattled independent library
movement.
"It is sadly ironic," said Robert Kent, a spokesperson for the Friends of Cuban
Libraries, a support group for the jailed Cubans, "that zealots within the ALA,
an organization which upholds opposition to censorship as its highest ideal, are
suppressing comments made by Anthony Lewis at, of all places, an ALA conference.
Sadder still, many rank-and-file ALA members are completely oblivious to this
travesty of justice and the need to restore the ALA's damaged honor and
integrity."
LEAKED MEMO:
"Invasion of the Library Snatchers"
NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2007 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Many fans of science
fiction are familiar with a classic movie from the 1950's, "Invasion of the Body
Snatchers," involving a nefarious scheme by space aliens to take over a remote
town by replacing the inhabitants, one by one, with cloned replicas.
But at the end of the film justice triumphs when the awakened townsfolk foil the
plans of the alien evildoers. A variation on this theme, which could be entitled
"Invasion of the Library Snatchers," is unwinding in Cuba.
Javier Gómez, a correspondent for the Madrid-based publication "Encuentro en la
Red," has obtained details of a secret memo written by the island's Ministry of
Culture, known as "MINCULT" in Cuba's Orwellian terminology. The memo outlines a
plan to forcibly shut down branches of Cuba's thriving independent library
movement and replace them with government-run clone libraries stocked with
censored books. For
understandable reasons, the MINCULT official who provided this information to
Gómez wishes to remain anonymous.
The MINCULT memo calling for a "confrontation with the independent libraries"
was devised at the urging of the newly-created cultural department of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party, headed by Eliades Acosta. Mr. Acosta
is the former director of Havana's National Library, in which post he served as
the spokesperson for the repression of Cuba's pioneering independent library
movement, founded by volunteers in 1998 to offer public access to uncensored
reading materials not available in the island's official library system. A heavy
blow was struck against the indie libraries in 2003 when many of them were shut
down during police raids. The detained librarians were sentenced to 20-year
prison terms, and their library books were burned by court order. Additional
indie libraries closed during this period when frightened directors bowed to
government pressure to abandon their work.
But in recent years the movement has undergone a resurgence, resulting in the
creation of more than 200 independent libraries. Javier Gómez was told by his
MINCULT source that the Castro government is once again "worried by the spread
of independent libraries throughout the country" and wants to intensify police
raids against them to "replace every one of the independent libraries after they
have been shut down." Funds for new books and electronic games have been
appropriated to found a network of new government-run libraries and programs in
the neighborhoods where indie libraries formerly existed.
"Statistics on the number of independent libraries now functioning in Cuba as
well as details on the libraries already dismantled by the secret police, the
names of their directors and even a listing of the books confiscated from them,
are included in the document being discreetly circulated among government
officials," emphasized the source. Internal memos written by MINCULT staffers in
2008 have focused on young people who are unemployed and not attending school,
"a category which exactly describes the kind of people who patronize the
independent libraries and encourage their growth," emphasized the anonymous
MINCULT official.
"The pretext given for this plan by the government is the promotion of reading
through innocuous-sounding programs with names like 'Let's Read More' and
'Friends of Reading Clubs,' said the source, "but the real purpose for
orquestrating the plan is to counter the growing influence of the independent
libraries."
Source: http://www.cubaencuentro.com/es/encuentro-en-la-red/cuba/noticias/el-gobierno-pone-en-marcha-un-plan-de-enfrentamiento-a-las-bibliotecas-independientes/(gnews)/1197396360
Laura Bush meets Cuban librarians in video conference
NEW YORK, Nov. 28, 2007 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - On
November 27 Laura Bush held a video conference with members of Cuba's
independent library movement. Since the founding of Cuba's independent library
movement in 1998, volunteers on the island have established more than 200
uncensored libraries in an innovative challenge to government control of
information. According to human rights monitors, the Cuban government has
responded to the free library movement with police raids, arrests,
confiscations, mob attacks, physical assaults and the court-ordered burning of
entire library collections. Several Cuban librarians arrested during a 2003
crackdown are serving 20-year prison terms. All of them have been adopted as
prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, which is calling for their
immediate release.
The Cuban librarians in Havana who conversed with Mrs. Bush by video conference
on November 27 were Noelia Pedraza Jiménez, Roberto
de Miranda, Iraida Rivas and Nereida Rodríguez.
According to a White House statement, during the conversation Mrs. Bush "spoke
of her admiration for the work of the independent librarians in Cuba who provide
a source of uncensored information to their countrymen at great personal risk,
and expressed solidarity with them and their cause."
A photo of Mrs. Bush during the video conference can be seen at: (http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/11/images/20071127-3_p112707sc-0344-515h.html).
Laura Bush is the only First Lady who has chosen librarianship as her career. In
April 2005 she was honored by the American Library Association for promoting
reading and libraries. ALA president Carol Brey-Casiano praised Mrs. Bush as a
"tireless supporter of libraries and library workers during her tenure in the
White House.... Librarians and library users everywhere owe her thanks."
In contrast to Laura Bush, however, the ALA has declined to speak up in defense
of Cuba's independent librarians or to acknowledge their persecution by the
Castro government. Human rights groups such as The Friends of Cuban Libraries
complain that key ALA offices are dominated by pro-Castro activists who ignore,
deny and cover up library repression and documented book burning in Cuba.
Critics of the ALA say the library association has "contemptuously ignored"
appeals on behalf of Cuba's embattled independent librarians by human rights
groups and celebrities such as Ray Bradbury (author of "Fahrenheit 451"), Vaclav
Havel, Elena Bonner, Nat Hentoff, Andrei Codrescu and former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright.
Gisela Delgado and Héctor Palacios arrive in Spain, ordeal described
NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2007 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Gisela
Delgado and her husband, Héctor Palacios, have arrived in Spain on a 3-month
medical pass. Ms. Delgado is the director of the Independent Libraries Project,
the largest group of non-state libraries on the island. Her husband is a
prominent dissident who was arrested in March 2003 during a police raid on their
home, which also serves as the site of the Dulce María
Loynaz Library. After a one-day trial, Héctor Palacios received a 25-year
sentence and was named as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He
was released early due to health problems arising from the harsh conditions
endured during his imprisonment.
At the request of the Spanish government, the Cuban authorities have permitted
the couple to leave the island so that Hector can receive medical treatment.
They plan to return to the island when their 3-month permit expires, assuming
they are allowed to do so by the Cuban regime.
Here is a portion of an article by Carlos Alberto Montaner, one of the first
journalists to interview the couple after their arrival in Spain, describing
Héctor's ordeal in prison:
"What did they do to him in prison? Héctor Palacios is 6 feet 3 inches tall, a
corpulent man. For two years, he was kept in a metal-and-concrete box, 5 feet 4
inches high, 5 feet 10 inches long, and 4 feet wide. The cell, a kind of
catafalque shaped like an igloo, built by the Russians in the 1960s, sits in the
yard of a prison known as Kilo 5.5 in Pinar del Río province. It has no windows
and the Cuban sun turns it into an oven. Héctor lived semi-recumbent and in
semi-darkness. He lost 88 pounds. He breathed through the door slit. His company
were the rats and the cockroaches that emerged from the hole into which he
defecated. Eventually, he became indifferent to these vermin. In effect, he
became indifferent to life and several times thought he was dying.
"Once a day, for a few minutes, his jailers ran a water hose inside, so he could
drink and flush the unsanitary toilet hole. Héctor was able to mentally resist,
because he is a psychologist and was prepared for that calvary. Physically,
however, his organism shattered; the immobility, thirst and bad food destroyed
his circulatory system. When he left that hell, he suffered from cardiac
insufficiency and his weakened leg veins could barely pump blood. All the valves
in his return circulation were damaged. When I saw him, I asked: 'Did you think
you would pull through?' Without boasting, he answered something else: 'What's
important is that they couldn't crush me.' I didn't know what to say."
Source: (http://www.firmaspress.com/834.htm)
Thirty books seized in Morón
MORÓN, Cuba, Oct. 10, 2007 (Félix Reyes Gutiérrez/ Cubanacán Press) - On October
7 the secret police seized about thirty books from the William Morgan
Independent Library in Morón, Ciego de Avila Province. Celina Casadebal Carabeo,
the mother of the Morgan Library's director, Rolando García Casadebal, said that
at about 6:00 P.M. three members of the secret police, dressed in civilian
clothing, appeared at the family's home at 102 Margarita Street in Morón, which
also serves as the location of the independent library.
When the police, who refused to identify themselves, entered the house, they
went to Rolando's room and confiscated about 30 library books. Among the seized
titles were "How the Night Arrived" by Huber Matos and "The Cubans: A History of
Cuba in One Lesson" by Carlos Alberto Montaner. They also confiscated volumes
such as "Open Eyes," published by the independent libraries project, the manual
of librarianship also produced by the library movement, and copies of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Before leaving the house, the police agents warned Ms. Casadebal that her son
would be arrested if he did not cease his dissident activities. The William
Morgan Library was inaugurated in June 2006 and held about 300 volumes before
the raid.
Nat Hentoff: Castro's useful idiots
WASHINGTON,
D.C., March 4, 2007 (Nat Hentoff/Washington Times) - Although the American
Library Association proclaims its commitment to the "Freedom to Read"
everywhere, its leadership abandons Cuba's independent librarians whom Fidel
Castro had locked into his gulags, under brutal conditions, because of their
courageous insistence that the people of Cuba should also have the freedom to
read books the dictatorship has banned. A majority of the ALA's rank-and-file
members disagree with their leadership.
Among the many organizations demanding that Castro and his successors release
these courageous Cubans -- who have opened their homes and libraries to offer
books censored in the Cuban state libraries -- are such groups as the library
associations of the Czech Republic, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. All these
librarians, finally freed from communism, agree with their colleagues in the
Polish Library Association, who say in their declaration: "The actions of the
Cuban authorities relate to the worst traditions of repressing the freedom of
thought and expression." Also calling for the liberation of Castro's many
prisoners of conscience, including the librarians, are the Organization of
American States, Amnesty International and Freedom
House.
However, the top officials of the American Library Association -- as well as the
majority of its Governing Council -- speak derisively of these "so-called
librarians" in Castro's gulags.
It's true that these prisoners, many brutalized and in failing health,in their
cells, don't have master's degrees in Library Science; but as
poet-novelist-educator Andrei Codrescu told last year's ALA Midwinter
Conference: "These people have been imprisoned for BEING librarians!" Why
dismiss them "as 'so-called librarians' when clearly there is no one (in that
dictatorship) to certify them." So bizarre is the ALA leadership (along with a
cadre of Castro admirers on the Governing Council) in its abandonment of their
fellow librarians that it refuses to post on its "Book Burning in the 21st
Century" Web site the extensive, documented court transcripts of the "trials"
that sent the librarians to prison. Those judges ordered the "incineration" of
the prisoners' libraries, including works by Martin Luther King Jr. and George
Orwell's "Animal Farm." But these sentencing documents are verified on the Web
sites of Amnesty International, the organization of American States and Florida
State University's Center for the
Advancement of Human Rights. Officials of the ALA -- conjuring up a fake
conspiracy by the Bush administration to overthrow Castro by using the
independent librarians -- disdain this verification of the book burnings. They
insist, for example, that the Florida State University Web site is funded by
grants from the U.S. government.
Yet, that Rule of Law and Cuba Web site project doesn't get a dime from the U.S.
government. Says director Mark Schlakman: "We place a premium on our
independence." Recently, I left a long, non-adversarial, detailed message for
the president of the ALA, Leslie Burger, director of the Princeton, N.J., public
library. I asked for her reasons and the ALA's for this refusal of support for
the imprisoned librarians. (Some are in cage-like enclosures.) I have received
no response from her; but, indicating she will not speak to me, Michael Dowling,
director of ALA's International Relations Office, fielded my call by referring
me to the ALA's 2004 expression of "deep concern" for Castro's prisoners, which
carefully omitted any mention of the independent librarians among them.
But, acting out of "a moral obligation," the small Vermillion, S.D., public
library has made the independent Dulce Maria Loynaz Library in Havana a sister
library -- sending books to it, including a collection of freedom writer Mark
Twain. (Other libraries and readers around the world send books to the
independent libraries.)
As for rank-and-file American librarians: In January 2006, American Libraries
Direct -- an online newsletter of the ALA's own magazine, American Libraries --
published a poll of its members in which 70 percent answered "Yes" to the
question: "Should ALA Council pass a resolution condemning the Cuban government
for its imprisonment of dissident 'independent librarians?'" A key ALA official,
Judith Krug, heads its office of Intellectual Freedom. In my many years of
reporting on the ALA's sterling record of protecting American librarians from
censorship, I often quoted her in admiration. But now, she said at an ALA
meeting about supporters of the caged librarians, "I've dug in my heels... I
refuse to be governed by people with an agenda." The Cuba issue, she continued,
"wouldn't die," though she'd like to "drown it."
The agenda, Miss Krug, is freedom. "Every burned book," wrote Ralph Waldo
Emerson, "illuminates the world." But ALA's leadership refuses to bring light to
the cages of these Cuban prisoners of conscience. The ALA's membership booklet
proclaims "the public's right (everywhere) to explore in their libraries many
points of view on all questions and issues facing them." An issue facing all
members of the ALA is their leaders' shameful exception of the Cuban people's
freedom to read.
Miami censorship opposed by Friends, Freadom
MIAMI, Feb.
22, 2007 (Ketty Rodriguez/El Nuevo Herald) - National organizations that condemn
the "kidnapping" of the books Discovering Cultures, Cuba and Vamos a Cuba will
send a copy of each to the school library from which they were taken, along with
others which, according to them, will serve as a counterweight to the challenged
facts in the books being held by the Cuban exile organization in Miami.
The groups, Freadom and The Friends of Cuban Libraries, which defend libraries,
human rights and intellectual freedom in
Cuba, strongly criticized the actions of the Committee of Concerned Cuban
Parents of Miami (CCPP), which removed a copy of the books from the Norma Butler
Bossard elementary school.
The CCPP has stated that it will keep the books in "a legal limbo," and it will
not return them to the school.
At the same time, these organizations, which said they are not connected to
political groups, want to replace the removed books and also contribute others,
such as the latest book by Armando Valladares, Los Niños de Cuba, and the
classic Animal Farm, by George Orwell, which criticize communism and [other]
totalitarian systems.
"The best way to counter books considered objectionable is to offer library
patrons access to books expressing diverse points of view, and in this manner
the readers can examine the evidence and draw their own conclusions," affirmed
[Robert Kent], a co-chair of the Friends of Cuban Libraries.
Nevertheless, the spokesperson for the Miami-Dade public school system, Felipe
Noguera, noted that any person or organization that wants to add a book to the
school libraries should follow established procedures.
"Just as no one should take away books without following the rules, neither can
we permit the introduction of books without following the rules," declared
Noguera.... In this respect, the two organizations that want to replace the
texts assured the Nuevo Herald that they will comply with the established
procedures.
"We will be pleased to follow the rules of the system to replace the books,"
assured Robert Kent, co-president of The Friends of Cuban Libraries, an entity
which has its headquarters in New York.
The activist stated that he was "saddened" by the manner in which the CCPP
removed the books, and he noted: "They are doing the same as the Castro regime."
On the other side, Kent explained that the efforts of some Cuban Americans who
censor books found in school libraries are "distracting attention from the sad
situation in Cuba, where the secret police attack [independent] libraries, burn
thousands of books and condemn librarians to 20-year prison terms."
Emilio Izquierdo, of the CCPP stated: "Any action which doesn't result in the
removal of lying books, which distorts reality and is used as a message of the
enemy, constitutes a [political] maneuver." Also, Izquierdo urged other parents
to go "into school libraries, to remove [challenged] books and to place them in
a legal limbo."
The Freadom group will send a copy of Animal Farm, for which it gave assurance
that it had been in contact with the librarian of the Norma Butler Bossard
elementary school.
Nevertheless, Noguera indicated that although Animal Farm is a classic..., "it
is not necessarily appropriate for the students of elementary schools."
Skold, and activist and librarian, stated that Animal Farm is a book "easily
read and adequate for elementary school students," and that many primary schools
in the U.S. have a copy of the book in their libraries.
"It is important for American children to know that in Cuba books like Animal
Farm have been burned in recent years, and that no freedom exists there to
protest the censorship imposed by the government," said Skold.
[Translated by The Friends of Cuban Libraries]
Open Letter: The
ALA's Book Burning Scandal
NEW YORK, January 17, 2007 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) -
Dear Ms. Burger: January 17, 2007
The midwinter meeting of the American Library Association in Seattle (Jan.
19-24) is the first conference at which you will serve as ALA president. The
conference will also provide an opportunity to take decisive action to restore
the ALA's principled role as an unbiased defender of intellectual freedom in the
U.S. and around the world.
Since 1998 the ALA has been mired in a profound ethical crisis due to the
efforts of a small, militant pro-Castro faction to ignore, deny, cover up, and
lie about the systematic persecution of Cuba's independent library movement, an
innovative challenge to government censorship which has opened hundreds of
libraries offering public access to books reflecting all points of view. The
Castro regime has responded to the independent library movement, founded by
Ramón Colás and Berta Mexidor, with an unceasing campaign of persecution. The
ALA has now conducted three (3) official investigations of the cruelties being
inflicted upon Cuba's volunteer librarians. All three (3) of the ALA
investigations have been dominated by a small faction which has tried to ignore,
cover up and lie about the repression of Cuban library workers, including the
Castro regime's use of threats, mob attacks, secret police raids, 20-year prison
terms and the court-ordered BURNING of thousands of library books.
During a meeting with a representative of the Friends of Cuban Libraries in June
2006, you were presented with information on Cuban sentencing documents proving
the court-ordered burning of thousands of books seized from the independent
librarians. As noted during the meeting, the existence of these damning
documents, along with reports by Amnesty International and other reputable human
rights groups which were based on these key documents, has been studiously
ignored by the persons conducting the ALA's three (3) investigations of Cuba.
In their zeal to deny, ignore, cover up and lie about the repression in Cuba,
the ALA's pro-Casto faction insists '''there is no censorship in Cuba," just as
it contemptuously ignores appeals for justice on behalf of Cuba's independent
librarians made by living icons of freedom such as Ray Bradbury, Nat Hentoff,
Andrei Codrescu, Vaclav Havel and Madeleine Albright.
As pyres of burning library books have blazed more intensely in Cuba, as library
workers are assaulted by government-directed mobs, and as reputable human rights
groups such as Amnesty International vigorously condemn the persecution and
demand the release of the jailed volunteer librarians, all three (3) of the
ALA's fraudulent investigations have failed to condemn, or even acknowledge the
existence of, these outrages. Instead, the ALA's three (3) investigations have
limited themselves to brief and vague expressions of general concern, without
even deigning to note the names of any of the Cuban library workers enduring
life prison terms for the alleged crime of opposing censorship. Sadly, the
well-intentioned but unfocused majority on the ALA governing Council has
accepted, virtually without question, the fraudulent reports stage-managed by
the ALA's pro-Castro faction, despite an ALA membership poll in which 76% of the
respondents called on the ALA to condemn the repression in Cuba.
Ms. Burger, you did not create the book burning scandal in which the ALA has
become embroiled, but as ALA president you now have not only an opportunity but
a duty to put an end to this scandal. You did not create the current ALA policy
toward Cuba, founded on lies and deception, but you are under no obligation to
defend the ongoing cover up or to repeat the pro-Castro faction's lies as if
they are the truth. On the contrary, you have not only a right but a duty to
tell the truth and to defend victims of injustice. In the 1930's ALA members
forthrightly condemned the Nazi regime for hurling thousands of library books
into the flames, and we can do no less today when the Castro regime commits the
same outrage.
Accordingly, we in the Friends of Cuban Libraries respectfully ask you to use
your authority as ALA president to restore the ALA's reputation as an honest,
impartial and principled defender of intellectual freedom in the U.S. and the
world. We specifically ask you to:
* Declare the paramount duty of the ALA to impartially defend intellectual
freedom everywhere, with an emphasis on those nations where governments are
committing the ultimate outrage of burning books and persecuting library
workers,
* Remind the well-meaning but distracted majority on the governing ALA Council
of their responsibility to safeguard the honesty of investigations conducted
under ALA auspices,
* Order the ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom to quit stalling and post on its
anti-book burning website the Cuban court documents which ordered the burning of
confiscated library books,
* Use the president's authority to re-focus the ALA's annual conference by
mandating speakers, panel discussions and other events centered on book burning
in the contemporary world,
* Organize an unbiased ALA committee which will restore the ALA's integrity by
telling the truth about book burning, censorship, the repression of library
workers, and the criminalization of computer ownership and Internet access in
Cuba.
Sincerely and respectfully yours,
Robert Kent
Co-chair, The Friends of Cuban Libraries
Photos: Librarians injured
by mob
NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2006 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) -
On October 10 the Assembly to Promote a Civil Society (APSC), a dissident
organization in Cuba, began a series of meetings at independent libraries
affiliated with APSC. Cuba's award-winning independent library movement
challenges government control of information by offering public access to
uncensored books. The Friends of Cuban Libraries have received reports of a
major campaign launched by the Cuban government to prevent the APSC library
meetings from taking place. Actions to block the meetings have included threats,
interrogations, police raids, arrests, the confiscation of library collections
and acts of violence. Photographs of injuries inflicted on two people who
attended one of the library meetings have been published on the Internet:
http://bitacoracubana.com/desdecuba/portada2.php?id=3166
Pictured in the photos are facial injuries inflicted on Orestes Suárez and his
wife Nancy Suárez García, directors of the Diosdado Manrique Independent
Library. According to news reports, on October 10 the couple attended an APSC
library meeting held in Santa Clara at the house of Noelia Pedraza Jiménez. The
house was besieged by a group of government supporters known as a "Rapid
Response Brigade." The leader of the mob was Yormany Junco, a martial arts
instructor. Rapid Response Brigades are government-organized mobs assigned the
task of harassing and sometimes assaulting dissidents.
When the ten persons assembled at Noelia Pedraza Jiménez's house tried to leave
at the end of the library meeting, they were attacked by the pro-government mob.
Accompanied by several of their persecutors, Orestes and Nancy Suárez were
forced into a taxi and driven to their home in Ranchuelo. During the taxi ride
they were again assaulted by members of the Rapid Response Brigade, inflicting
cuts and bruises on the victims. Orestes Suárez also suffered three cracked
ribs. Upon arrival in Ranchuelo, members of the Rapid Response Brigade refused
to allow Orestes and Nancy Suárez to leave their home or to receive medical
attention. The photographs of their injuries were taken a week after the attack.
The October campaign launched against the APSC-sponsored meetings marks the
first major offensive against Cuba's independent library movement since 2003,
when numerous libraries were raided, thousands of books were seized or burned by
court order, and about a dozen librarians were sentenced to 20-year prison
terms. The independent librarians jailed during the 2003 crackdown have been
named as Prisoners of Conscience by Amnesty International, which is calling for
their immediate release. Cuba's innovative independent library movement also
receives the support of Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders,
International PEN and Pax Christi. With the goal of providing public access to
uncensored books, the first of a network of independent libraries was formed in
Cuba in 1998 by Ramon Colás and Berta Mexidor.
Despite ongoing harassment and persecution, hundreds of independent libraries
have been established on the island.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: The Friends of Cuban Libraries are asking people around the
world to express concern over the brutal attacks on Orestes Suárez and Nancy
Suárez García. Please send messages protesting the repression of Cuba's
independent librarians to Mr. Felipe Pérez Roque, the Cuban Minister of Foreign
Affairs. His e-mail address is: (cubaminrex@minrex.gov.cu) with COPIES to (martat@loynaz.cult.cu)
and (rkent20551@cs.com).
Sources:
(http://www.nuevoaccion.com/octubre2006.html)
(http://www.PayoLibre.com), Oct. 12, 2006
Swedish aid flows to Cuban libraries
STOCKHOLM, Sept. 11, 2006 (www.miscelaneasdecuba.net) -
Introduction: On Sept. 2 Erik Jennische, the secretary general of the Swedish
International Liberal Center (SILC), was interviewed on a cultural program
broadcast by Swedish National Radio. Much of the program dealt with SILC's
support for Cuba's independent library movement. Printed below are excerpts from
the interview, translated from the Spanish version published by Alexis Gainza,
editor of the online journal Miscelaneas de Cuba:
The power of literature consists of opening the eyes of people and making them
aware of the situation in which they live. In totalitarian countries it is
impossible to obtain uncensored books and magazines. For this reason, reading
materials have to be brought into the country clandestinely. SILC, the Swedish
International Liberal Center, dedicates itself to this purpose. SILC helps to
send books to Cuba clandestinely. The secretary general of SILC is Erik
Jennische....
Erik Jennische is showing me books written by [Cuban exiles]. For Cubans living
on the island, it is in principle impossible to have access to them. The books
are not necessarily of a political nature; they can be any type of literature,
says Erik, and he believes the intention of these authors is not to criticize
Cuba, but rather their goal is to freely describe the country and what is
happening there. In Cuba there are two types of libraries: the [state-run]
public ones and the illegal ones, free libraries, also known as independents.
The books by authors whose works are sent to Cuba by SILC wind up on the shelves
of the independent libararies. In the public libraries it is impossible to find
works by authors who question the ideology of the Cuban regime, he says....
"The independent libraries in Cuba and our collaboration with them," says Erik
Jennische, "began with a statement made by Fidel Castro at the Havana
International Book Fair in 1998. He said that there are no prohibited books in
Cuba, only a lack of money to buy them. We took him at his word.... We have
plenty of books, and we send them to Cuba. We have gathered hundreds of books in
Sweden through donations, and we have collected a lot of money to buy even more;
we send them with tourists and other persons traveling to Cuba, who then deliver
them to the independent libraries. The Cuba regime claims that it alone has the
right to describe what is happening in Cuba. Only one version of the truth is
allowed in Cuba, the image put forward by the regime, and it is this version
which is being challenged by the dissident literature [supplied to the
independent libraries]...."
The word "smuggler" isn't used very often these days. We say we are "supplying
books," says Erik Jennische, who thinks "smuggling" is a crime, but that in a
country like Cuba... there is nothing wrong with violating laws [which make it a
crime to read uncensored books].
In principle, anyone can take books to Cuba. They make a telephone call to SILC,
say they are traveling to the island, and then pick up between 15 and 20 books
and magazines. They also receive a list of addresses indicating where the books
can be delivered. Of course, one can run into problems in Customs. The Customs
officials may ask why the books are being brought into the country and how they
are going to be used; in such a case, one can reply that they will be given to a
friend....
Interviewer: "I am very curious about this because I know that people going to
Iran have hidden compact discs or other things of this kind; but you're talking
about simply placing books in your suitcase and entering the country with them."
Jennische: "I believe that after tourism began to expand enormously in Cuba in
the early 1990's, the Customs officials have been much less active, which means
they are searching luggage less thoroughly...."
Interviewer: "What risks are run by the persons who clandestinely take books to
Cuba?"
Jennische: "In my opinion, they run very little risk. Nevertheless, we can't say
that there is no risk. In theory, for example, it could happen that the books
are prevented from being allowed into the country. This is more likely when a
person has traveled to Cuba many times. But until now no one has gone to jail
for this reason, and no one has even been expelled from the island [for bringing
in books]....
The independent libraries are in the houses of people who take on great risks.
For example, they can be sentenced to 25 years in prison, their children can be
denied entrance to a university, and their relatives can lose their jobs, says
Erik. In the summer of 2003, a wave of arrests took place in Cuba in which 21
libraries were raided and 20 librarians were arrested, according to Erik
Jennische.
"All of the books," says Erik, "from children's literature to dictionaries and
political works, were carried away in large plastic bags. Many of the libraries
were destroyed; and when scarce books are destroyed, especially when they have
an important role in cultural life, when these are destroyed a kind of cultural
assassination is taking place, which has a powerful symbolic impact in Europe,
where there are persistent memories of books being thrown onto bonfires in
Germany in the 1930's."
Interviewer: "The people who take books to Cuba: Are they smugglers or
visionaries? What do you say?"
Jennische: "Of course they are visionaries. They are defending the vision that
Cubans also have a right to read any book they want. This is primarily a
visionary act."
An
open letter to library associations
NEW YORK,
August 12, 2006 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) -
Dear colleagues:
The Secretary General of IFLA is inviting library associations to join FAIFE-L,
the listserv of IFLA's intellectual freedom committee.
FAIFE-L is the main forum where IFLA members can read discussions of the
resolutions on Cuba placed on the agenda of the IFLA 2006 conference in South
Korea. Subscribing to FAIFE-L is one way for IFLA delegates to become
well-informed on this important issue in preparation for deciding how to vote on
the Cuba resolutions.
The organization of which I am co-chair, the Friends of Cuban Libraries, invites
IFLA delegates to subscribe to FAIFE-L, and we would be pleased to answer your
questions and comments regarding this important issue on the IFLA 2006 agenda.
In 1999 IFLA/FAIFE published a report which documented and condemned the
repression of Cuba's independent library movement. The report can be read at:
(http://www.ifla.org/faife/faife/cubarepo.htm). Unfortunately, however, the
FAIFE committee has had little to say on this issue since 1999, even though the
repression of library workers and book burning have become more severe in Cuba
since 2003.
The proposed IFLA resolution on Cuba sponsored by the Latvian Library
Association concerns the persecution of the island's independent library
movement and the court-ordered seizure or burning of thousands of library
books.The Latvian resolution is based on two forms of evidence: (1) Reports by
human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders and
Amnesty International, which has declared the jailed Cuban library workers to be
prisoners of conscience, and (2) Cuban court documents on the one-day trials
which sentenced the library workers to 20-year prison terms and ordered the
seizure or burning of thousands of library books, including classics such as
George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and copies of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights.
The Cuban government is trying to ignore the existence of reports by respected
human rights groups such as Amnesty International, just as it is trying to
ignore the shocking Cuban court documents, removed from the island and published
on the Internet (http://www.ruleoflawandcuba.fsu.edu) which prove, in the words
of the government itself, that Cuban citizens are being imprisoned for the
alleged crime of opening libraries to challenge censorship. The Cuban court
documents also reveal that the Cuban government is ordering the confiscation and
burning of thousands of library books. Despite the documentation of human rights
groups such as Amnesty International and the government's own court documents,
the Cuban government claims that intellectual freedom already flourishes in Cuba
and that the independent library movement is "a tool of the CIA." At the same
time, the Cuban government is trying to ignore the moral and material aid sent
to the independent libraries from countries all over the world. Instead, the
Cuban government is focusing exclusively on aid openly sent to the independent
libraries from the U.S., as if the desire of Cubans to read uncensored books is
some kind of crime or conspiracy.
For translations of the Cuban court documents and reports by groups such as
Amnesty International, please see the website of our organization: (http://www.friendsofcubanlibraries.org).
New wave of library raids in
Cuba
NEW YORK, August 17, 2006 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - The Friends of Cuban
Libraries have received information on a new wave of repression being directed
against Cuba's independent library movement since early 2006. Juan Carlos González
Leiva, a librarian, lawyer and human rights activist in Ciego de Avila, provided
information on the heightened repression to the Independent Libraries Project,
directed by Ramón Colás and Berta Mexidor.
According to a preliminary report issued by the Independent Libraries Project,
Mr. González Leiva states that since early 2006 "the Cuban government... has
been carrying out a wave of violent and arbitrary raids on independent libraries
and peaceful dissidents throughout Cuba. On repeated occasions, these raids have
been conducted by paramilitary mobs during 'acts of repudiation' and at other
times by the combined forces of the National Revolutionary Police and the State
Security police."
Cuba's independent library movement, founded in 1998, challenges government
control of information by opening libraries offering public access to uncensored
books. In addition to loaning books, the nationwide network of independent
libraries, operating out of private homes, offer public space for uncensored
classes, debates, art exhibits, video programs, literary contests and children's
programs. The volunteers who staff the libraries have been the target of
harassment, threats, raids, assaults, confiscations and arrests.
In a major crackdown against Cuban dissidents in 2003, about ten of the
librarians were arrested, subjected to one-day trials and sentenced to 20-year
prison terms. According to trial documents taken off the island and published on
the Internet, many of the library books seized during the 2003 raids, including
classics such as George Orwell's "Animal Farm," were ordered to be burned. The
jailed Cuban librarians have been adopted as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty
International, which is demanding their immediate and unconditional release.
In the preliminary report issued by the Independent Libraries Project on the new
wave of repression begun in early 2006, details of raids on thirteen independent
libraries are presented. Among these incidents was a mob invasion of the library
operated by Dr. Arturo Pérez Gómez in Cienfuegos, resulting in vandalism of the
library's interior and the confiscation of more than 200 books, many dealing
with the subject of medicine. Another raid was reportedly conducted on February
23 against the El Mayor Library in Camagüey. During this incident numerous books
were confiscated and the library director, Eduardo González Vásquez, was
arrested and held in a darkened, unventilated cell before being sentenced on
March 10 to a term of two years under house arrest.
Other institutions reportedly raided in 2006 include the Abraham Lincoln and
José de la Luz y Caballero Libraries in Camagüey, the Ernest Hemingway Library
on Isla de Juventud, the Félix Varela, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Calixto García
Iñiguez and Gastón Baquero Libraries in Holguín, and the Guillermo Cabrera
Infante Library in Ciego de Avila.
Library visitor threatened by police
HOLGUIN, Cuba, August 11, 2006 (Liannis Meriño Aguilera,
www.cubanet.org) - One of the patrons who visits the Gastón Baquero Independent
Library, located in the city of Banes, was intercepted by the police on August
5, according to the library director, Martha Díaz Rondón.
The officials asked the patron for his identity card and made a note of it; they
told the library visitor that this information would be sent to the chief of his
zone of residence, so that an official warning would be issued, and that he
would be prosecuted for the crime of "social dangerousness" if he continues
visiting the library.
The Gastón Baquero Library is well-established in the community, and a large
number of people visit it to find reliable and uncensored information, but the
secret police send agents to harass people visiting the library.
Cuba's independent libraries have developed into a source of information for
members of the civil society. In the libraries readers can enjoy literature
without restrictions or censorship, and for this reason the government
confiscates their books and uses repressive measures to try to prevent people
from visiting them.
The library director, Ms. Díaz Rondón, stated that this isn't the first time
such intimidation has occurred. On previous occasions readers have been
photographed and videotaped while entering and leaving the library. She said
this is a maneuver used by the secret police to prevent people in Banes from
accessing this kind of information; the police intimidate patrons in an effort
to prevent them from returning to the library.
Díaz Rondón declared: "The Gastón Baquero Library is located at 2007 Céspedes
Street, between Cárdenas Avenue and General Marrero St., in the city of Banes,
and it will continue offering services to the public whether the current
government likes it or not."
Cuba attacks Albright for ALA
speech
NEW YORK, July 2, 2006 (Friends
of Cuban Libraries) -
The June 30 issue of Librinsula, a weekly magazine published in Havana, contains
an article by Cuban National Library director Eliades Acosta attacking Madeleine
Albright for a speech she delivered on June 24 at the American Library
Association conference in New Orleans. Acosta serves as Cuba's spokesperson on
library issues.
In her speech at the New Orleans conference, former Secretary of State Albright
called on libraries to be "laboratories for freedom" and defended the right of
Cubans to loan books and to open independent libraries free of government
control.
Some observers believe Albright's June 24 comments implicitly criticized the ALA
for failing to condemn the Castro government's repression of a citizens'
movement to establish libraries offering public access to uncensored books. Many
of the independent libraries founded in Cuba have been raided by the secret
police. According to Cuban court documents, the existence of which has not been
acknowledged in ALA reports on the situation, among the library books seized and
ordered to be burned in Cuba are classics such as George Orwell's "Animal Farm"
and copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. About a dozen of the
Cuban librarians, condemned to 20-year prison terms, have been named as
prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International.
Critics of the ALA, such as the Friends of Cuban Libraries organization, charge
that the ALA's governing Council has inattentively approved reports by ALA
committees, allegedly controlled by a pro-Castro faction, which ignore library
repression and book burning in Cuba. Some ALA members accuse the independent
librarians of being agents of the CIA.
When Madeleine Albright ("this bitter and elegant woman") presented her speech
at the library conference in New Orleans, Acosta reported, she spoke "with a
scornful grimace, in the style of Betty Davis" [sic], which the author reports
she had acquired during her term as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations,
before being named Secretary of State by President Bill Clinton.
Albright's speech before the ALA, Acosta charged, was intended to "convince
American librarians, traditionally friendly toward their Cuban colleagues, that
they should 'convert their institutions into laboratories for freedom.'" While
discounting Albright's criticism of the Bush administration, dismissed by Acosta
as "a hypocritical fig leaf designed by Versace," the author said Albright then
"launched directly toward her objective: a call to support the misnamed
'independent libraries', a delicious euphemism with which the CIA has
denominated this particular version, in the Imperial style, of the battle of
ideas [to overthrow the Castro government.]"
Acosta also charged Albright with a commercial motive for delivering her speech
at the ALA conference in New Orleans: "Waving her pedigree as an anti-Communist
Czech emigre, Ms. Albright concluded her performance by making astute propaganda
for her latest book [on religion and politics] before an audience which has,
among its other functions, precisely the task of acquiring books.... I leave it
to the readers' sagacity," continued Eliades Acosta, "to imagine the manner in
which this pious personage concluded her speech, elevating her eyes toward
heaven, as if her well-