This past February 15, the Communist regime of Fidel Castro officially legalized the repression of Cuba's independent journalists, human rights activists and dissidents with the "Law for the Protection of the National Independence and Economy of Cuba".
According to the stipulations of this law, "the collaboration whether direct or through third parties with radio or television stations, newspapers, magazines or other means of mass information," is not a simple offense but a crime punishable by 30 years of jail and fines of a hundred thousand Cuban pesos, the equivalent of approximately $5,000 U.S. dollars.
According to the dictatorship, this is necessary in order to stand up to the "incessant economic, political, diplomatic, propaganda and ideological war" of the United States against Cuba (read Castro).

Last January, six journalists were incarcerated in less than 10 days, and a similar number are serving jail sentences as a result of committing the crimes of "contempt," "false information," and/or "enemy propaganda," and they are considered "prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty International. Now, many more could suffer the same fate if the international community, and especially the world press, chooses to remain silent when confronted by yet another slap on the face from the Castro regime to the world community of civilized nations. Many of these Cuban journalists have been publishing their news articles in CONTACTO Magazine.

This is the perfect moment for such prestigious mass media organizations as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe and CNN to show their solidarity, at least on a professional level, with men and women who, until today, have been showing the world the other side of the coin, a perspective based on a reality that is neither official nor part of the news propaganda machine. This has been and will be by law their only crime from now on.

Now is the time for these and other media to join the Italian newspaper "La Repubblica," which several days ago said, referring to Cuba in an editorial, that "a country that does not respect the freedom of the press -and it should be superfluous to remind people of this fact- has nothing in common with the majority of democratic nations of the world." That righteous editorial also points out, regarding the Castroist persecution of independent Cuban journalists, that "these assaults to the laws of common sense no longer scandalize an international community that has decided to grant Fidel Castro a respect that he does not deserve."
Perhaps this is also an opportune time for the highly regarded Spanish monarch, His Majesty Juan Carlos I, to reconsider his next visit to Cuba. This visit would only serve to legitimize the repression and the permanent lack of respect that Castroism has shown towards the good will of the international community and its efforts to bring about a relaxation of the tensions between Washington and Havana, a relaxation which Fidel Castro obviously does not wish. The same could be said about the Roman Catholic Church which, with the best intentions in the world, brought his Holiness Pope John Paul II to Cuban soil with the hope that as a result of this action Cuba could be somewhat freer.

Now is the time for the international community to admit that it has been manipulated by a regime which is repressive by its very nature, and not just as a result of the hostility of the United States. And that it is a grave injustice that the Cuban people, after 40 years, should still be suffering as a result of the silence of those who, in the name of justice, should be on their side and not on the side of repression.