Raúl Ramón Rivero Castañeda (23 November 1945 – 6 November 2021) was a

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

, and

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

Early life and career

Rivero was born on 23 November 1945 in Morón, Camagüey, in central Cuba. In his youth, he was an ardent follower of Fidel Castro and the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

. He was among the first generation of journalists to graduate after the triumph of the Revolution. From 1973 to 1976 he was the chief correspondent of the official Cuban press in

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. He also served as chairman of the pro-regime National Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC). He was then known as "the Poet of the Revolution", and associated with the major cultural figures of communist Cuba.

Dissident work

In 1999 Rivero was awarded

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Maria Moors Cabot prize The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes are the oldest international awards in the field of journalism. They are presented each fall by the Trustees of Columbia University to journalists in the Western hemisphere who are viewed as having made a significant co ...

for International Journalism. The following year, he was named as one of the

International Press Institute International Press Institute (IPI) is a global organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of press freedom and the improvement of journalism practices. The institution was founded by 34 editors from 15 countries at Columbia University ...

's 50

World Press Freedom Heroes International Press Institute World Press Freedom Heroes are individuals who have been recognized by the Vienna-based International Press Institute for "significant contributions to the maintenance of press freedom and freedom of expression" and "i ...

of the past 50 years. During the Cuban government's 2003 " Black Spring" crackdown on dissidents, Rivero was charged with "acting against Cuban independence and attempting to divide Cuban territorial unity", as well as with writing "against the government", organizing "subversive meetings" at his home, and collaborating with U.S. diplomat James Cason. Rivero was convicted and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. He spent his first 11 months in a tiny one-man cell with no windows or any contact to the outside world. The arrest and imprisonment of Rivero was later defended by Cuban writer and culture minister Abel Prieto who argued that Rivero "was not arrested for his views, but for receiving US funding for his collaboration with a country that has besieged our island.
As Castro fades, a crop of new Cuban leaders
Rivero asserted, in prison interrogations as well as in public, that all the funds which he received consisted of fees for his articles, paid by the publishing media, not by governments or political organizations. His account of his life and his treatment by the Cuban government is given in his book "Proof of Contact".Proof of Contact: An Account of life in Cuba by Raul Rivero (2004) In November 2004 he was released following international pressure on Cuba and subsequently relocated to

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, and was awarded the

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize The UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, created in 1997, honours a person, organization or institution that has made an outstanding contribution to the defence and/or promotion of press freedom anywhere in the world, especially whe ...

References

External links

Headline articles
* ttp://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/585 Information on Rivero's releasebr>Biography
at Words Without Borders.
Slate article
- Article on '' The Motorcycle Diaries'' which also pertains to Raúl. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivero, Raul 1945 births 2021 deaths Cuban dissidents Cuban journalists Cuban male journalists Cuban male poets Maria Moors Cabot Prize winners Opposition to Fidel Castro People from Morón, Cuba Black Spring detainees Political prisoners in Cuba Journalists imprisoned in Cuba

Early life and career

Dissident work

See also

References

External links