Cuban police arrest independent journalist
August 12, 1997
Web posted at: 10:37 p.m. EDT (0237 GMT)From Havana Bureau Chief Lucia Newman
HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) -- Popular Cuban journalist Raul Rivero was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Havana, according to his wife. Rivero, considered one of the most prominent dissidents in Cuba, was taken away by members of the Cuban Intelligence Police.
Rivero is the founder and director of Cuba Press, one of several fledgling independent journalist organizations now springing up on the island. His opposition news agency is illegal; it gets its message out primarily through the U.S. government-funded Radio Marti and several American and Spanish-language newspapers.
CNN's Lucia Newman reports
2 min. 34 sec. VXtreme video
He has also reported for the Miami Herald and Radio Marti.
State security agents arrived at his home around 9 a.m. and spent much of the day searching every item in Rivero's apartment. They said the search was totally legal and maintained that they were just doing their job.
But they declined to allow CNN's reporters into the apartment during their search, and gave no explanation as to why Rivero had been taken away to intelligence police headquarters earlier in the morning.
By the time the agents left, little more than the furniture remained.
"They took a sack full of books, a cordless phone, a radio, his typewriter and all the files of Cuba Press, as well as tons of personal documents that have nothing to do with the news agency," said his wife, Blanca Rivero.
Police detained Rivero briefly two weeks ago, warning he would be prosecuted if he and his colleagues, including dissident journalist Ana Luisa Lopez, continued their activities.
"They went so far as to tell him how long the sentence would be, and what prison he'd be sent to, the Taco Taco prison in Pinar del Rio," Lopez said. "Which shows just how much Cuba's justice system is at the service of the state."
Government crackdown against dissidents
Rivero's arrest is the latest in a widening government crackdown against its opponents, a crackdown Lopez blames on increasingly difficult conditions for the Castro regime.
Even Cuba's notoriously efficient intelligence services have been unable to prevent a series of explosions in tourist hotels in Havana over the last few months -- acts of sabotage that have authorities seriously worried.
But common wisdom in Havana is that when the going gets tough, Cuba's communist authorities get tougher with their opponents.
Four other prominent dissidents last month were accused of carrying out counter-revolutionary activities. And last week two dissident journalists went into exile in the United States.
Sources close to Rivero believe he faces a long prison sentence unless he, too, bows to pressure and leaves the country in exchange for his freedom.
Related stories:
- Cuba's Communist proposal ignores other voices - June 27, 1997
- Cuba cracks down on dissidents - June 10, 1997
- Cuba accuses U.S. of hiding Helms-Burton changes - May 30, 1997
Related sites:
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- CubaWeb
- Cuba - Latinworld.com
- Amnesty International
- Political Database of the Americas
- Peri—dico La Campana (Spanish Language)
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