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CUBAN LIBRARIES
SOLIDARITY GROUP
PRESS RELEASE
July 8, 2003
IFLA calls on US to allow visits and information to and from Cuba
IFLA HQ, The Hague, Netherlands
"IFLA again urges the US government to eliminate obstacles imposed
by its policies on access to information by Cubans", says the Chair
of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee Mr Alex Byrne.
The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
(IFLA) and its Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of
Expression (IFLA/FAIFE) expressed
their deepest concerns today about the effects of US policies on access
to information in Cuba.
News that Marcia Medina Cruzata of the Biblioteca Nacional José
Martí has been denied a visa to participate in the XIIIth General
Assembly of Acuril (The Association of Caribbean University, Research
and Institutional Libraries) in Puerto Rico has heightened IFLA's concern
about US policies to isolate Cuba. Previous policies allowed professional
interaction but recent
tightening has made that more difficult.
This adds to the longstanding embargo on trade with Cuba which has had
a marked effect on the capacity of Cuban libraries to offer the range
of resources needed by the Cuban people.
IFLA has previously called on the government of the United States to share
information materials widely in Cuba and to address the systemic effects
of the embargo. A resolution of IFLA Council, when meeting in Boston in
August 2001, stated its strongly felt concerns about the effects of the
US embargo and urged the US Government to eliminate obstacles to access
to information and professional interaction imposed by US Government policies.
Obstacles include:
- Bureaucratic difficulties
with the export of information materials to Cuba despite their formal
exclusion from the embargo
- A severe reduction
in the capacity of Cuban libraries and citizens to purchase information
materials and related technologies due to the economic effects of the
embargo
- Indirect disruption
of access to information by Cubans and Cuban libraries caused by the
effects on power supply, telecommunications and other aspects of life
in Cuba
- Inhibitions to
professional interaction and exchange caused by the restrictions on
travel to the US by Cuban nationals and to Cuba by US nationals.
The Chair of the IFLA/FAIFE Committee, Mr Alex Byrne, urged the US government
to eliminate obstacles imposed by its policies on access to information
by Cubans.
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