TWO YEARS OF INJUSTICE: STANDING AGAINST THE ARBITRARY ARREST OF CUBAN JOURNALIST YURI VALLE ROCA
Cuban journalist Yuri Valle Roca being violently arrested in front of the Yara cinema in Vedado, Havana. Photo courtesy of his wife, Eralidis Frometa Polanco/Facebook.
Democratic Spaces stands in solidarity with the NGO ARTICLE 19, condemning the persecution and censorship of journalists in Cuba, while vehemently speaking out against the imprisonment of Cuban independent journalist Yuri Valle Roca, as two years have passed since his arbitrary arrest. On July 28, 2022, he was unjustly sentenced to five years of imprisonment as a retaliatory measure for exercising fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression and information.
ARTICLE 19 Mexico and Central America, an organization that promotes and defends the progressive advancement of freedom of expression and access to information for all individuals, speaks out today, two years after the arbitrary arrest and subsequent unfair sentencing of five years in prison, condemning the repression faced by independent journalists in Cuba.
Cuba remains, year in and year out, the worst country for press freedom in Latin America.
According to ARTICLE 19's documentation, 60-year-old journalist Yuri Valle Roca was arrested on June 15, 2021, following the publication of a video on the Delibera YouTube channel. The video showcased the actions of a group of human rights activists who, on June 14, scattered hundreds of leaflets on Zanja and Galeano streets in Havana. These leaflets contained phrases demanding free elections, democracy, an end to the criminalization of dissenting voices against the government, as well as calls to protest.
"ARTICLE 19 considers that the unjust imprisonment and arbitrary deprivation of liberty suffered by journalist Valle Roca not only highlights the fact that in Cuba, those who exercise their human right to freedom of expression and defend it are criminalized, silenced, and imprisoned, but also demonstrates how the criminal justice system is misused as a tool of punishment and the entire institutional apparatus is wielded as a form of state violence that seeks to crush independent journalists mentally and emotionally."
The organization raises concerns about Yuri Valle's lack of adequate medical attention, given his pulmonary complications and vision problems, in addition to the poor and unsanitary food he receives. As expressed by the organization, "the detention of Lázaro Yuri is an arbitrary act, an abuse of state power, and a clear violation of human rights to prosecute and imprison a journalist for covering a social protest – which is also a human and fundamental right in any society that claims to be free – and sharing such information with Cuban society."
Cuba continues to be regarded, year after year, by organizations like Reporters Without Borders, as the country with the worst climate for journalists in the Americas. In 2022, ARTICLE 19 documented 409 assaults on journalists and human rights activists in Cuba, ranging from forced house arrest to arbitrary detention and forced exile.
SEE Articulo 19 statement in Spanish. “Two years after the arbitrary detention of independent journalist Lázaro Yuri, freedom of expression continues to be suppressed in Cuba.”
