Yet we hear no screams of injustice from the foreign reporter’s pool in Havana. We hear only the chirping. We here the Polly-wannacrackers of fidel castro’s propaganda machinery. It’s more important, you see, to keep a bureau in Havana, just in case the big story breaks, than to report the obvious failure of a system, and the systematic enslavement of a people.

To bear witness to the subjugation of journalism, you need look no further than Cuba.

The Inter American Press Association has called for newspapers to publish simultaneous commentary on the state of the imprisoned Cuban Independent Journalists today and to urge for their immediate and unconditional release. Reporters Without Borders has condemned Cuba’s treatment of independent journalists and lists Cuba as second only to China in the number of incarcerated journalists. If the numbers were calculated on a per capita basis, Cuba would stand alone as the number one jailer of reporters in the world.

There is no better time than the present to bring to the world’s attention the state of independent journalism in Cuba, and to show the world the ignominious fate of the few with the integrity and courage to stand up against their oppressors, armed but with words and truth.

Valentin J. Prieto is Editor in Chief of http://www.babalublog.com