The virulence of demonstrations against independent journalists in Cuba has some of them fearing for their lives, the director of an independent news agency said Wednesday from Havana.
In a message broadcast over WQBA-La Cubanisima (1140 AM), Raul Rivero of Cubapress said the government-organized ``repudiation rallies'' being staged outside the homes of independent writers are unnerving the intended targets, including him.
``If anything should happen to me, my family or any of us [journalists],'' he said, ``I wish to place the responsibility on the top figures in the government and the Interior Ministry.''
A rally was held outside his home Tuesday night by a mob that shouted insults and threatened to assault him, he said. Similar demonstrations were held Monday outside the homes of two Cubapress reporters, Tania Quintero and Ana Lopez Baeza, and the director of HavanaPress, Joaquin Torres.
Rivero, 52, writes regularly for news media outlets in the United States and is an on-demand correspondent -- a ``stringer'' -- for El Nuevo Herald.
Speaking Wednesday with The Herald, Rivero said he was hopeful that international press and human rights organizations would urge the Cuban government to ease its pressure.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald