07/08/07
Liars, Damn Liars and Reporters

In a recent article (07/05/07 - Miami Herald - "Cuba keeps more political prisoners than any other nation") it is claimed that Cuba has 246 "documented cases of people imprisoned for political causes." Since the Cuban population is at least 11.2 million people, a simple mathematical calculation shows that the percent of people who are in prison for political causes in Cuba comes to 0.0021%. This is hardly a percentage that could be construed at placing the island at the top of any list on prisoners per population.

Assume that the "Five" are political prisoners in the US. Consider that the Cuban exile population is approximately 1.2 million. Then, the percentage of political prisoners within the Cuban American population would be 4.16%. That, of course, is a higher percentage than the figure for all of Cuba.

Let us compare the total prison population of Cuba, the United States and the State of Florida. The International Centre for Prison Studies at King's College, London, reports that the United States has 737 prisoners for every 100,000 persons. The state of Florida has 835 prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants. Cuba, on the other hand, has 531 prisoners per 100,000 persons. Thus, the state of Florida - where the Miami Herald is located - surpasses the number of prisoners per population in Cuba as well as the national figures for the United States.

Is the responsibility of US reporters to report the opinion of biased and ill-informed people and accept their wrongheaded assertions at face value?

Nelson P. Valdes
Director
Cuba-L Direct

 

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Fri, Jul. 06, 2007
http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/161853.html
CUBA

Cuba holding fewer political prisoners

A human rights report said the number of political prisoners in Cuba has dropped by 37 in the past six months, but its significance was minimized.

BY FRANCES ROBLES

frobles@MiamiHerald.com

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The number of political prisoners in Cuba dropped by 37 in the past six months, but the island still has the highest number of such prisoners per capita in the world, according to a new report by the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

The report of a decrease comes as Defense Minister Raúl Castro completes nearly a year as the country's acting president, and experts look for signs of new policies. But human rights activists warn against reading too much into the drop, because it was largely a result of the release of prisoners who completed long sentences.

Others were freed for medical reasons ''because the Cuban government simply didn't want them to die in jail,'' said Juan Carlos Acosta, director of the Miami-based Acción Democrática Cubana, which distributed the report.

''We consider that the situation of civil, political, economic rights and certain cultural rights has continued being the same of the last decades, that is to say, a situation highly unfavorable for the Cuban people,'' the commission report said.

Cuba now has 246 documented cases of people imprisoned for political causes, down from 283 at the start of the year, according to the commission, tolerated but not officially recognized by the Cuban government.

Among them is José Carlos Montero, who hijacked a plane to Cuba and later lost his parole when he dared to testify before a United Nations commission about his experience in prison.

Others include: American citizen Walter Van Der Veer, who sneaked into Cuba to foment a counterrevolution; Maikel Delgado, serving a life sentence for hijacking a ferry in an attempt to break out of Cuba; and El Salvador's Raúl Ernesto Cruz, on death row for Havana bombings allegedly masterminded by exile Luis Posada Carriles.

Others include journalists, librarians and civic activists.

Last month, one political prisoner, Manuel Acosta, died in police custody. The government said he committed suicide, but his family said Acosta's cadaver was covered in bruises.

The report also estimated the number of ''common criminals'' jailed in Cuba to be from 60,000 to 80,000.

Cuba's government has repeatedly denied having any political prisoners and insists the inmates cited are U.S.-financed mercenaries trying to topple the government.

''The only place in Cuba where very gross violations of human rights are taking place is at the Guantánamo Bay area, the only part of Cuba that is not under our effective jurisdiction,'' National Assembly speaker Ricardo Alarcón said on CNN.

The Cuban Commission report also urges U.S. authorities to shut down its detention camps at Guantánamo Bay -- as soon as there is no risk of the Cuban government using them.