Independent Reporters Arrested Are Threatened With Trial

Independent Reporters Arrested Are Threatened With Trial / Cubanet

Cubanet, Vladimir Turró Páez, Havana, 3 December 2016 — The independent
journalists Manuel Guerra Pérez and Lisbey Lora, arrested this last
Monday by the United Territorial Investigations of the San Jose Police
in the province of Mayabeque, have been threatened with going to trial,
according to information from their families.

The two reporters were arrested by State Security when they made a tour
of the town of San Jose, searching for stories to publish in the
"Mayabeque Cimarron" bulletin, which they work for.

Paula Perez Leiva, Manuel's mother, said that her son told her during a
ten-minute visit to the police station that they would be brought to
court for exercising their work as reporters.

"He told me, that the authorities, in addition to wanting to send them
to prison, are demanding they turn over the laptop and printer they use
to produce the bulletin," said Perez Leiva.

Manuel and Lisbey are the principle managers of the independent
bulletin, "Mayabeque Cimarron," supported by the Cuban Institute for the
Freedom of Expression and the Press (ICLEP). The bulletin is distributed
free in the province, in a four-page format, with stories about the
events of the place.

The journalist Rosa Aviles, who accompanied Manuel Guerra's mother on
the visit, said that the two arrestees are very pale because they are
kept locked in a cell without any drinkable water and no sunlight.

The reporter warned that the ICLEP correspondents were well known by the
town officials and had already been arrested previously on several
occasions for distributing the newsletter in the area.

"This is the third time they arrested them, and in particular Manuel,
whom they even wanted to beat up," she explained.

Source: Independent Reporters Arrested Are Threatened With Trial /
Cubanet – Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/independent-reporters-arrested-are-threatened-with-trial-hemosoido/