JOURNALIST HOSPITALIZED AFTER FOUR MONTHS ON HUNGER STRIKE
GUILLERMO FARIÑAS DEMANDS CUBAN GOV'T PERMIT INTERNET ACCESS FOR INDEPENDENT PRESS
12 June 2006

Independent Cuban journalist, Guillermo Fariñas Hernández, is now hospitalized in critical condition, after 4 months on hunger strike, which led to his needing emergency surgery. Fariñas has said he would follow through with the hunger strike until the last, facing possibly deadly consequences in hopes of spurring reform that would allow reporters to gather information and to report on and criticize government activities.

On 2 June 2006, Fariñas was hospitalized in order to undergo an emergency procedure to save his life, as his condition worsened to a near lethal state. His condition worsened on the morning of the 3rd, but his condition stabilized by late morning. On 23 May, he had undergone an emergency surgery "to drain excess blood from inside the thoracic wall", according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

On the 25th, he wrote to the UN's new Human Rights Council, on which Cuba sits, urging the Council to condemn his nation's government for violating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. His complaint is not only that he was denied access to the Internet, a vital tool for conducting sound research in contemporary journalism, but that the press is censored and suppressed, and dissidents are persecuted.

On 8 June, RSF reported "Armando Betancourt, an independent contributor to Nueva Prensa Cubana, was placed in preventive detention at Cerámica Roja de Camagüey prison, on 5 June 2006, accused of 'public disorder'." This type of persecution of the press is not uncommon in Cuba, and has come in waves during recent years, and a series of crackdowns has led to the principled stand taken by Fariñas in the name of Cuban journalism.

Betancourt was arrested while covering a police operation against squatters the government was evicting from the city of Camagüey. He was then placed in solitary confinement for 8 days, after which he was allowed to visit with family.

According to RSF, "His mother, Guillermina Reyna, said afterwards that her son was in good health and strongly defended his principles and his position." While Betancourt remains in detention, RSF has called his detention "abusive and unjustified" and called for his "immediate release".

It is unclear what the Cuban government plans to do with regard to Guillermo Fariñas, who reportedly runs a serious risk of suffering permanent harm or even death. He is being treated, but not force-fed, and to date, there appears to be no action to loosen controls of the press. [s]

• Reporters sans Frontières (RSF): "Guillermo Fariñas “critical” after more than four months on hunger strike"
• RSF: "Independent journalist [Betancourt] put in preventive detention on “public disorder” charge"