Predator of Press Freedom Reporters Without Borders Predators List
Raúl CASTRO Cuban president Aged 85 Predator since 2008
Raúl Castro succeeded his brother Fidel as President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers in 2008. Since 2011, he has also been First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.
Attack technique: soviet-style totalitarianism
The media have no freedom in Cuba. The state keeps a tight grip on TV channels, radio stations and newspapers. When bloggers and citizen journalists try to use the very limited freedom that exists online, they do so at their own risk. Independent journalists who want to practice their profession have to choose between prison and exile.
Kill tally: There were 428 attacks against the media from June 2015 to August 2016, according to the Cuban Institute for Free Speech and Press Freedom (ICLEP) • 249 arbitrary arrests • 85 threats and acts of psychological aggression • 33 cases of confiscation of journalistic material • 2 journalists are currently detained: Yoeni de Jesús Guerra García (Yayabo Press), since 13 March 2014, and José Antonio Torres (a Santiago de Cuba-based reporter for the government daily Granma), since 1 May 2011.
Enforcers: Cuban State Security officers
Favourite targets: • Independent media, opposition media, all dissidents • Journalists and bloggers who were prevented from operating during the recent visits by Barack Obama and the pope • Journalists who try to cover the street protests every Sunday in Havana by the “Ladies in White” (a movement launched by the relatives of political prisoners and former political prisoners)
Official discourse: Illiberal communism “We cannot allow misunderstandings of any kind to obstruct the gigantic task we are facing and for this reason freedom of expression is needed in our party and in Cuba. (Referring to Cuba’s ruling Communist Party in a speech to the first annual ordinary session of Cuba’s National Assembly in 2011)
Country score: Ranked 171st out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2016 World Press Freedom Index, Cuba is by far the western hemisphere’s most hostile country towards media freedom.
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