Cuba and Venezuela were identified by the United Nations (UN) as the countries in the region with the worst indicators in terms of promoting and protecting freedom of expression.
Both countries have faced a crisis in freedom of expression for years, said UN Special Rapporteur David Kaye.
During the last year, the island increased the repression to independent journalists and political activists. As of June 2019, APLP had received 54 reports of attacks against unofficial reporters, 11 of them against women.
As part of these attacks, reporters are intimidated, their homes are surveilled, their houses are raided, they are provoked in public, and their equipment is confiscated. Journalists are also arbitrarily detained by State Security, usually for hours or days. However, at the end of March, Cubanet journalist Roberto Quiñones was arrested and a legal process began against him, for which he has now been detained for a year.
This case was denounced by Cuban independent organizations and media, and condemned by instances The conviction of the Cuban journalist has been included in the OneFreePress list among the ten most urgent cases of injustice against journalists and Amnesty International named him as a “prisoner of conscience”.
These measures are in addition to the prohibition on leaving the country for arbitrary periods of time. Nearly 200 Cuban citizens have reported being subject to travel restrictions this year.
Another coercive measure that limits the right to free expression is stipulated in the Cuban penal code itself. Law 88, better known as the "Gag Law," prescribes decades of imprisonment for anyone who violates this legislation.
Law 88 mandates the repression of independent journalism for attempting to “subvert the nation’s internal order and destroy its political, economic, and social system.” The last time this repressive measure was applied on the island was during the Black Spring in 2003. At that time, 75 people were imprisoned, almost a third of whom were journalists.
Last May, the president of the Supreme People's Court, Rubén Remigio Ferro, reminded everyone on his Twitter account that the Gag Law is still in effect and can be applied again in the country.