Mail is inviolate -- with exceptions

Mail is inviolate -- with exceptions

The inviolability of correspondence is one of "the fundamental rights, duties and guarantees established by the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba," the official daily Granma reminded its readers Wednesday. "The same principle applies to cable, telegraphic and telephonic communications." However, the article said, seizure and examination of correspondence "can be ordered when there are sufficient indications that such action could lead to the discovery or confirmation of a criminal act under investigation or circumstances that are important to [that crime.]" The article, which ostensibly was in response to a reader's query, may be a public justification for the interception of e-mails between dissidents in the island -- notably Martha Beatriz Roque -- and correspondents in the United States. Granma's editor, Lázaro Barredo, this week asked for sanctions for "individuals who receive money from a foreign power to subvert the domestic order," an allusion to Roque and other oppositionists, whom the government sees as "mercenaries." To read the Granma article (in Spanish), click here.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.

May 28, 2008

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/05/mail-is-inviola.html
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