A group of Cuban journalists in Santiago de Cuba, the nation's second largest city, ponder questions about press freedoms posed by visiting American journalists in March.
 
Human-rights issues are a problem in Cuba. Our group of U.S. journalists met three times with some of our counterparts in Cuba. Each time, we asked about freedom to report and the freedom to criticize. The answers usually involve considerable rationalization, but in fact, it was clear that no such freedoms exist for the news media (or the general public) in Cuba.

All print and electronic media belong to the government.

Journalists and others are in Cuban prisons for writing and speaking out about the shortcomings of the Cuban system. International human-rights organizations such as Amnesty International describe Cuban prison conditions as harsh. Prisoners are, at times, denied adequate food, sanitation, medical care and visits from family. There are reports of physical and psychological abuse, including frequent, lengthy interrogations and extended isolation.

Cubans enjoy few of the freedoms guaranteed in the U.S. Bill of Rights, even though many of those rights are, in theory, guaranteed by the Cuban Constitution.

Other freedoms, too, are denied or highly restricted: the freedom to travel (within Cuba and to other countries), the freedom to change jobs and move, the freedom to buy or sell a car or house, the right of privacy.

Some freedom of religion was extended during and after Pope John Paul II's visit to Cuba in 1998, but all religious organizations must register with the government, and they are carefully monitored. No religious schools are allowed.

Curiously, in recent years, the government has allowed Jehovah's Witnesses to spread their message door to door.

The right to petition the government is specifically guaranteed in Cuban law, but like many "rights," it is denied in practice. Dissident Oswaldo Payá, 52, founder of the Christian Liberation Movement, collected more than 24,000 signatures on petitions calling for democratic reforms. He submitted the petitions to the nation's parliament, the National Assembly of the People's Party. They were ignored.

In a meeting with our group in Havana, Payá warned of confrontation while pleading for peace.

"Our society and our people are facing grave danger and, at the same time, great opportunities," he said. "This is a time when Cuba needs radical and profound change, but the government resists any reforms. … We place our hopes on the Cuban people."

Many activists in Payá's reform movement have been jailed. Winner of the 2002 European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Payá remains free - for now.

Emigration

For Cubans wishing to seek a better life elsewhere, the right to migrate is available - with restrictions.

Rafael Dausá, director of Cuba's North American Division of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, told American journalists last month, "Cubans that want to migrate anywhere in the world, if they receive a visa (from their host country), I can guarantee almost 100 percent will be allowed to go. … (There are) restrictions to prevent brain drain."

Doctors, for example, are not allowed to leave. They must first apply and be allowed to change professions. Then they must work in their new, non-technical job for at least two years before again requesting permission to leave.

Dausá made it clear that he believes most Cubans who wish to leave their homeland do so not for political reasons but for financial ones - the same reasons thousands of Mexicans illegally cross the border into the U.S. each year.

"We are an undeveloped country," he said. "They are leaving, hoping for economic gain."

Exit permits are denied to people having access to sensitive information and to those whose relatives defected.

Cubans who try and fail to leave the island illegally are subject to imprisonment up to three years or a fine. In a pact with the United States, Cuba agreed not to prosecute those attempting to flee who were stopped en route by U.S. officials and returned to Cuba.

Those who succeed, making landfall on U.S. soil, are allowed to stay. Under the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act, first enacted in 1966 and revised in 1996, Cubans entering the United States without a visa may remain and after one year, apply for permanent residence status. Normal caps on immigration do not apply.

"Imagine," Dausá said, "what would happen if there were a Mexican Adjustment Act."

U.S. POLICY

Under the joint U.S.-Cuban Migration Accords of 1994, the U.S. agreed to authorize 20,000 immigration visas for Cubans annually. The United States carefully regulates the process. As part of the controls, a lottery system is in place in Cuba, managed by the U.S. Special Interests Section in the Swiss Embassy.

Six years ago, when the lottery was opened for applicants, more than half a million "heads of families" signed up, according to a high-ranking official with the U.S. Special Interests Section, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Cubans won't like us to do another lottery, because 2 or 3 million people would probably sign up," the official said.

According to State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos, 2,000 to 3,000 Cuban immigrants each year are political refugees. Another 3,000 or so are "family reunifications," Cubans allowed to join relatives living in the United States. The rest are chosen in the lottery.

About a dozen of the "winners" were aboard my return flight, Continental Flight 2991, leaving Holguin, Cuba, for Miami on March 6.

Among them was Malcolm de la Paz, 28, his wife, infant son and daughter, age 3. The family, with relatives in the Tampa area, first applied for the lottery in 1996. It was their first airplane ride. Applause broke out throughout the cabin when the Boeing 737's landing gear touched the runway at Miami International Airport.

Cuba at a glance
 
• History: Controlled by Spain until 1898, when the United States took over. Independent from 1902 to 1959, when Fidel Castro led a successful Communist rebellion. In recent years, many Cubans have tried to flee to the United States using homemade rafts and other techniques.

• Government: Communist dictatorship. Cuba has undertaken limited reforms in recent years to increase enterprise efficiency and alleviate serious shortages of food, consumer goods, and services.

• Population: 11 million.

• Religion: 85 percent Catholic before Castro took over.

• Geography: Slightly smaller than Pennsylvania, Cuba separates the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean 94 miles south of Key West, Fla.

- Source: CIA World Factbook.