PEN International is delighted to report the release from prison of independent journalist Pedro Argüelles Morán on March 4, 2011. Argüelles, who has been allowed to stay in Cuba under a special parole program, is the last of the many writers arrested in March 2003 government crackdown on dissidents to be freed, two weeks before the eighth anniversary of the “Black Spring.” However, journalist Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, detained in 2009, remains in prison. PEN calls for Du Bouchet’s immediate and unconditional release, and for the release of the “Black Spring” writers to be made unconditional.

Background Information

Pedro Argüelles Morán, former director of the Cooperative of Independent Avileña Journalists (Cooperativa Avileña de Periodistas Independientes, CAPI), based in Ciego de Ávila, was released on March 4, 2011, and returned to his family home in central Cuba. He had served almost eight years of a 20-year sentence.

Argüelles, 63, is the last to be freed of the 35 writers and independent journalists and librarians who were arrested as part of a crackdown on alleged dissidents that began on March 18, 2003, and in which 75 people in total were detained and tried. All were sentenced during one-day trials held on April 3 and 4, 2003, under laws governing the protection of the Cuban state.

Argüelles has been allowed to remain in Cuba under a special parole program, like journalists Iván Hernández Carrillo and Héctor Fernando Maseda Gutiérrez, who were released on February 19 and February 12, 2011, respectively. The 18 writers and independent journalists and librarians freed between July and September 2010 under a deal brokered by the Catholic Church and the Spanish foreign ministry were all forced to accept exile in Spain (three have reportedly since relocated, two to the USA and one to Chile).

Local human rights activists have expressed concern that the special parole program under which Argüelles, Hernández and Maseda have been freed will be used as a way to maintain control over political prisoners after their release. None of the freed "Black Spring" writers have had their prison sentences lifted.

One more independent journalist remains in prison. Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, director and reporter for the Havana-based independent news agency Habana Press was imprisoned in April 2009 after being given a three-year prison sentence for “disrespect for authority.”

Pedro Argüelles Morán is an Honorary Member of English PEN.

Write A Letter

  • Welcoming the release of the independent journalist Pedro Argüelles Morán and the Cuban government’s decision to allow him to remain in Cuba;
  • Expressing concern, however, that Argüelles has been released on parole and calling for the immediate overturning of his prison sentence and that of all other writers arrested in March 2003;
  • Calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the independent journalist Albert Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, detained since April 2009 in violation of his right to freedom of expression.

Send Your Letter To

Raúl Castro Ruz
Head of State and Government
Presidente
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +537 833 3085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Or (212) 779-1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Email: [email protected] (c/o Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Su Excelencia/Your Excellency

General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra
Interior Minister
Ministro del Interior y Prisiones
Ministerio del Interior, Plaza de la Revolución
La Habana, Cuba
Fax: +537 833 3085 (via Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Or (212) 779-1697 (via Cuban Mission to UN)
Salutation: Señor Ministro / Dear Minister

Please send appeals to the diplomatic representative for Cuba in your country if possible.

Please send appeals immediately. Contact PEN if sending appeals after May 17, 2011: ftw [at] pen.org