Conde) Their aim is to carve out a livelihood that is independent of state-controlled media yet a comfortable distance from organized dissident factions at home and abroad. (Conde) To be an independent journalist in Cuba is illegal, a dissident. The Cuban government not only uses mass organizations, but also uses its security and courts to threaten, intimidate, detain, and prosecute independent journalists. (Human Rights Watch, 152) The Government subjects independent journalists to internal travel bans, arbitrary and periodic (overnight or longer) detention, harassment of friends and relatives, seizures of written manuals and computer and office equipment, and repeated threats of prolonged imprisonment. (US State Dept.) To compound the problems of the independent press, there is the obstacle of just sitting down to write. The Communist regime controls all that is published, while access to the Internet is also strictly regulated. Journalists lack computers or fax machines and basics such as writing paper, typewriters and ribbon and even pens and pencils. Typewriters must be registered; owning a fax machine or photocopier without authorization is punishable by imprisonment. (Conde) Phone calls are monitored and often interrupted and lines severed. Articles are usually phoned in (collect) to a couple of European contacts, to Mexico or to Miami agencies, such as Radio and TV Marti. The Government does not allow criticism of the revolution or its leaders. Laws against antigovernment propaganda and insults against officials carry penalties of three months to one year in prison, with sentences of up to three years if President Castor or members of the National Assembly or Council of State are the object of criticism. (US State Dept) In December 1997, the National Assembly of Popular Power approved the Law of National Dignity, which establishes that The weight of the law will fall on anyone who, in a direct or indirect form, collaborates with...
