has steadily increased since 1959 and suicides have more than doubled from 1,011 figure for 1970 to 2,220 in 1989. Also there were many imprisoned activists who have asked Castro for permission to meet publicly earlier in 1996 about the detention and harassment, the forced exile of independent journalists, the mistreatment of independent lawyers, the withholding of medical care from seriously ill political prisoners as punishment and about the negative impact on labor rights and the environment of some foreign investment in Cuba. Technically, when it comes to the media and communications, Castro has full control about what the journalists can or cannot write, who can come into his country and who is allowed to make public interviews either on television or in the newspapers. Castro himself has done an interview with the United States of America on the show Dateline NBC in which Maria Shriver discussed his role in his country and the relationship between Cuba and the States. For what it is known, there are very few radio stations in Cuba and most of them are either approved by him, funded by him or even created by him meaning that he has full say about what is about to be broadcasted on the air.During the 40s and the 50s, Cuba was in desperate state of the economy. Since then Castro has had tight control over the economy. Cubas economy is known as the worlds least free.FREEDOM TO HOLD PROPERTYCitizens do not have private property rights. Agricultural cooperatives have limited independence from state oversight, but the state owns the land and all decisions must fall within parameters determined by the state. Small land parcels are leased on a long-term basis to families who must fulfill a quota to the state before selling their excess in farm markets.FREEDOM TO EARN A LIVINGWorkers who have attempted to organize independently are subject to persecution like blacklisting, arbitrary arrest and attacks by government including organized mobs...
