Chilean Author Nixes Cuba Over Journalism Award

yahoo.comnews ^ | July 24, 2003 | AP

[Cincinatus' Wife]

SANTIAGO, Chile - Chilean author Carlos Franz is turning down a journalism award from Cuba to protest the crackdown on dissidents by the government of President Fidel Castro.

"I decided that I could not accept a journalism award purported to support freedom of expression because among 78 dissidents imprisoned in Cuba there are a number of authors and some 20 newsmen," Franz told the Chilean daily La Segunda Tuesday in an interview from his London residence.

He said "it was a hard decision" to turn down the Jose Marti Journalism Prize awarded by Cuba's government news agency, Prensa Latina.

Franz said he has sent a letter to Cuba rejecting the prize, awarded for an ironic story describing a visit to the U.S. Naval Academy.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A security officer stands by a portrait of Fidel Castro, gift from the Soviet Union, at Fidel Castro's birthplace on July 20, 2003, in Biran, eastern Cuba. For years, visits to the homestead were banned by Castro, but since the ban was lifted in November 2002, some 20,000 people have made their way to the restored site. Cuba is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Castro's communist revolution on Saturday, July 26. (AP Photo/Jose Goitia)

Fidel Castro - Cuba

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He said "it was a hard decision" to turn down the Jose Marti Journalism Prize awarded by Cuba's government news agency, Prensa Latina.

It shouldn't have been, but it's good that he made the right choice.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Really! How hard could it have been?

[Sam Cree]

"It shouldn't have been, but it's good that he made the right choice."

Could it have been a hard choice because the guy leans to the left? Also, I note that he qualified his objection by saying that the crackdown included writers and journalists, as if it wasn't so bad just imprisoning everyday dissidents. Maybe I am reading between the lines something that isn't there.