Monday, November 15, 2010

Friends of Cuban Libraries

A collection of late breaking news as well as general information from The Friends of Cuban Libraries

some of the headlines...

LATEBREAKING NEWS
Librarians convicted of being "dangerous"NEW YORK, May 6, 2005 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Sensitive to growing international concern over reports of human rights violations, in late April the government of President Castro conducted a secret trial of two Cuban librarians and sentenced them to prison on a charge of "dangerousness."
Che Guevara's grandson endorses uncensored libraries STOCKHOLM, April 26, 2005 (www.cubanuestra.nu) - "You enjoy a privileged position...," writes Canek Sánchez Guevara in an article addressed to another child of high government officials, "and you must have noticed the obsession [in Cuba] with surveillance, control, repression, etc. And freedom is something entirely different."
New library defies censorshipHAVANA, March 2, 2005 (Roberto Santana Rodríguez / www.cubanet.org) - The Ibrahim Carrillo Fernández Library was inaugurated last week. The day before the opening, an agent of the State Security police appeared and asked why the library possesses children's books. Ramona Rivas, the library director, answered that the books would not be withdrawn because they are much needed by the children in the community. The agent said he would come back again....
Benjamin Franklin Library raidedHAVANA, Feb. 28, 2005 (Lux Info Press/www.cubanet.org) - Two officials of the Department of State Security appeared at the home of María Elena Mir, where the Helen Martinez Library is located; they seized several boxes of books, copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 25 portable radios. Afterwards, they went to the home of Reinaldo Cosano Alén, where the Benjamin Franklin Library is located, and they confiscated books and a photocopier....
New York Times: A Cuban revolution, in readingNEW YORK, Feb. 22, 2005 (New York Times/David Gonzalez) - At the beginning of this year, members of the Cuban Cultural Center... adopted an independent library in Cuba.... "It's not just about sending whatever books we can, but we want the people in Cuba to know they are not alone and that someone here recognizes what they are going through," said Rafael Pi Roman....
Freedom To Read! - A new movement to send a caravan of uncensored books to the people of CubaNEW YORK, Feb. 14, 2005 (Village Voice/Nat Hentoff) - [O]ne U.S. public library, in Vermillion, South Dakota, has sponsored and begun to send books to a sister independent library in Havana. That decision has been hailed by library associations in other countries. This reverberating act of simple decency was started by one person, Mark Wetmore, vice president of the Vermillion library's board of trustees....
More Spanish support for Cuban librariesMADRID, Jan. 26, 2005 (www.cubaencuentro.com) - At the end of an intense working session in Madrid, Colás said that his interviews with a variety of Spanish political, social and governmental organizations had resulted in the launching of programs to send information to Cuba, especially books for the independent libraries....
Czechs join protest against library repression NEW YORK, Jan. 19, 2005 (Friends of Cuban Libraries) - Following upon similar recent actions taken by organizations in Poland and Latvia, the national association of Czech librarians has condemned the persecution of librarians in Cuba....
LIBRARIAN RELEASED: "We're not going to retreat a single millimeter..."MATANZAS, Jan. 13, 2005 (www.PayoLibre.com) - "We're not going to retreat a single millimeter, and they know it." These are the words of Miguel Sigler Amaya on Jan. 12, one day after being freed from prison upon completion of a sentence for "disrespect" and "resistance...."

1 comment:

  1. Hi, Nice site I enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing. Would it be possible if I contact you through your email? Please email me back. Thanks!

    Aaron Grey
    aarongrey112 at gmail.com

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