The Miami Herald highlights the recent jailing of a Havana journalist as a testament to the lack of a free press in Cuba:
Juliet Michelena Díaz, 32, was arrested April 7 because of her reporting on ‘a case of ordinary police violence she had witnessed in Havana,’ and should be freed, said Lucie Morillon, RWF director of investigations.
Michelena was initially accused of threatening a neighbor, but the charge was raised to attacking the woman on the day her report was published, indicating ‘a desire to silence her and put a stop to all her critical reporting,’ Morillon said.
RWF, a non-governmental organization, ranked Cuba 170th out of 180 countries in its 2014 freedom of the press index. Cuba’s communist government controls all newspapers and radio and television stations on the island of 11 million people.
Sufficed to say, freedom of speech and of the press are the prerequisites of any true democracy.