Cuba's High Court Upholds 20-Year Sentences for Independent Journalist

Tampa Bay on line (AP) ^ | Jun 23, 2003 | Andrea Rodriguez Associated Press Writer

[aculeus]

HAVANA (AP) - Cuba's high court has upheld the 20-year sentence of independent journalist Raul Rivero, who was among 75 Cubans sentenced to prison in a crackdown on the opposition this year, Rivero's wife said Monday.

The prison terms ranged from six to 28 years and have been condemned by governments and human rights organization around the globe. The Cuban government has defended the crackdown as a necessary defense against U.S. attempts to change the island's socialist system.

Blanca Reyes said her husband's defense attorney told her Monday that her husband's appeal had been rejected by the Supreme Tribunal, the island's court of last resort.

"I always thought that this would be the unfair decision," Reyes said. The tribunal also upheld the 20-year sentence of fellow independent journalist Ricardo Gonzalez, who was tried with Rivero.

Fifty of the sentences have now been upheld, said Carlos Menendez of the non-governmental Cuban Commission on Human Rights and National Reconciliation.

Cuban prosecutors accused the independent journalists, opposition party leaders, democracy activists and other dissidents of working with and receiving money from the U.S. government to undermine Fidel Castro's communist government. The activists and American officials have denied the charges.

During their trial, prosecutors insisted that Rivero and Gonzalez were being financed by the Washington through the U.S. Interests Section, the American mission here. Gonzalez was the editor of an independent magazine that published only two monthly issues.

Reyes said she last visited her husband on July 11 at the prison in the central province of Ciego de Avila.

"He has maintained a positive attitude and is trying to look at the bright side of things," she said.

AP-ES-06-23-03 1859EDT

[Tacis]

If that is Geraldo Rivero, the sentaence seems, actually, a little light. If it is a different Rivero, however, I'm not sure.

[yooper]

Any Castro apologists on this board who think that the Castro of old has renounced his ways should pay attention to this.

Y'all screwed Elian; it's time to reject recent past thinking and turn the screws even tighter to this communist bastard. Yes, the Cuban people will suffer, but they will have gained in the end.....

[Sonny M]

Any Castro apologists on this board who think that the Castro of old has renounced his ways should pay attention to this.

Not likely, the people that like castro consider anyone who opposed him to be a terrorist. They are probably happy this guy got it.