Form Reporters Without Borders 2008 report on Cuba:
The handover of power to President Castro’s brother has not seen any improvement in human rights. The form of repression has changed from political trials to daily brutality. Twenty journalists held since the “black spring” crackdown of March 2003 continue to serve sentences of between 14 and 27 years in prison. Three others have been jailed since Raúl Castro took over.Twenty of the 27 journalists arrested in the “black spring” crackdown of March 2003 continue to serve their sentences of between 14 and 27 years in prison.
…the number of journalists in jail stands at 24, ensuring the country remains the world’s second biggest prison for journalists after China. Raymundo Perdigón Brito, of the Yayabo Press agency, had already been imprisoned for four years on 5 December 2006 for being a “pre-criminal danger to society.” Ramón Velázquez Toranso, of the Libertad agency, was sentenced on 23 January 2007 to three years in prison for the same offence. This accusation, often used against dissidents, allows them to be arrested and jailed as a “potential risk” to society. Oscar Sánchez Madán, a regular correspondent for the website Cubanet, was arrested by state security police and sentenced on 13 April in the absence of a lawyer to four years in prison for the same reason. He was the third journalist imprisoned since Raúl Castro took over and staged a hunger-strike in January 2008.
