Perspectivas / Perspectives

May 31 (DP.net).─ Wèi Jīngshēng, 62, celebrated his birthday on May 20, the day Cubans celebrate their independence from Spain. He was born in 1950, the year Mao Tse Tung took control of continental China, forced the Kuomintang government to exile in Taiwan, and invaded Tibet. He was 8 year old child when the Castro brothers took power in January 1959. He is one among the "children of Revolution" born in Asia or America during turbulent times in the XX century.

Wei Jingsheng is a well known Chinese human rights activist deeply involved in the Chinese democracy movement. He was arrested and convicted of "counterrevolutionary" activities, and was imprisoned in China from 1979 to 1993. Released briefly in 1993, Wei continued his dissident activities by talking to visiting journalists, and was imprisoned again from 1994 to 1997. He spent a total of 18 years in different prisons before being forcefully exiled on "medical parole"  to the United States on November 16, 1997.

Wei Jingsheng first crime was to write and to attempt to make public in 1978 an essay titled "The Fifth Modernization" and his subsequent reflections after his first period of imprisonment titled "Courage to Stand Alone - letters from Prison and other Writings".  He received international recognition in the November 1999 National Geographic issue regarding "the power of writing", because one of the major alleged crimes for his conviction were his writings arguing for democracy. The well known magazine underlined how he "would spend 18 years in jail and become a prominent symbol of the power of the written word". It went to suggest that "Chinese authorities feared Wei, recognizing that writing has an almost magical power: Words on paper, created by ordinary citizens, have overthrown governments and changed the course of history".

This fear of the written word is still present in China and in many other authoritarian and totalitarian governments all over the World.  Blogers in Cuba trying to exercise their freedom of speech using their very limited access to the Internet are banned to travel abroad to receive international recognition and awards or for any other reason whatosoever.  Such is the case of Yoani Sanchez, whose blog is banned to most Cubans with access to the Internet, has been repeatedly banned to travel abroad and is constantly harassed and reviled for the crime of attempting free expression.

• The case for religious freedom at the big screen ─ A true story
• For Greater Glory's producer talks about the religious-liberty-focused film

May 28 (EWTN).─ Pablo Jose Barroso is a real-estate developer, but, more recently, he has become a film producer. In 2005, he produced Guadalupe. Last year, he produced the animated movie The Greatest Miracle. His most recent work, For Greater Glory, tells the story of the Cristero War in Mexico. The film features actors Andy Garcia, Peter O'Toole, Eva Longoria and Eduardo Verastegui. It opened April 20 in Mexico and will debut June 1 in the U.S. Barroso spoke about the movie before the film's debut.

What prompted you to make For Greater Glory?

I've always been Catholic. I'm a real-estate developer who had an encounter to be closer to God. Through that, I learned that the way to share God's message is through mass media. Pope John Paul II said that we need to be using the same language that the culture is.

I produced Guadalupe in 2005 and a children's film, but I had my heart set on something larger. With the Cristero [War], we had the opportunity to do a larger Hollywood film. We knew it would be difficult to get the actors, director, music, but it came out beyond my expectations. The Holy Spirit's timing is amazing. This was supposed to be ready last fall, but was delayed because we wanted to make a shorter version. When the Pope went down to Mexico recently to celebrate Mass, the Senate finally changed the Mexican Constitution. The Senate approved changes to Article 24 of the Mexican Constitution on March 29 guaranteeing freedom of religion. The timing of the film is relevant, given what's happening in the U.S., in Egypt and elsewhere.

Mayo 16.─ En su primer boletín informativo de este año, fechado el 16 de mayo, Health and Human Rights Info denuncia los millones de niños que, de acuerdo con un estudio de la UNICEF, han sido traumatizados por la guerra en los últimos años.

Observan que la naturaleza de los conflictos está cambiando y que, por lo tanto, la definición de un grupo armado no gubernamental en un conflicto no internacional que forma parte del Derecho Internacional Humanitario debe ser desafiado, sobre todo por la participación forzosa de los niños en esos escenarios de violencia.

Hacen mención también a la resolución 1612, aprobada por el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU en 2005 para que el Secretario General implemente un mecanismo de supervisión y presentación de informes sobre los niños en los conflictos armados, para examinar seis tipos de abusos graves cometidos contra los niños en estas circunstancias: (a) El asesinato o la mutilación de niños, (b) El reclutamiento o la utilización de niños soldados; (c) Los ataques contra escuelas u hospitales; (d) La violación de niños y su sometimiento a otros actos graves de violencia sexuales; (e) El secuestro de niños, y (f) La denegación de acceso a la asistencia humanitaria para los niños.

El nuevo análisis del CPJ identifica a Eritrea, Corea del Norte, Siria e Irán como los peores. Cuba está también entre los 10 finalistas

1. Eritrea; 2. Corea del Norte; 3. Siria; 4. Irán; 5. Guinea Ecuatorial;
6. Uzbekistán; 7. Birmania; 8. Arabia Saudita; 9. Cuba; 10. Belarús

New York, Mayo 2.─ Al negar el ingreso de la prensa internacional e imponer un control arbitrario sobre las coberturas nacionales, Eritrea, en el cuerno de África, aparece como el país con más censura en el mundo, según reveló el Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas (CPJ, por sus siglas en inglés) en su nuevo análisis sobre las restricciones a la prensa. En la lista de los 10 países donde existe más censura, a Eritrea le siguen de cerca Corea del Norte, Siria e Irán: tres países en los que las vastas restricciones sobre la información tienen grandes consecuencias para la estabilidad geopolítica y nuclear.

Ningún periodista extranjero tiene acceso a Eritrea, donde todos los medios de comunicación son controlados por el gobierno. El Ministerio de Información rige cada detalle de los informes de los reporteros locales. "Cada vez que [un periodista] debía escribir una nota, los funcionarios seleccionaban a los entrevistados y determinaban los temas específicos sobre los que debían escribir", comentó al CPJ un periodista eritreo en el exilio, hablando en condición de anonimato por temor a represalias. "Solíamos escribir mucho acerca del presidente, de modo que siempre fuera el centro de atención". Por esa razón cuando el Presidente Isaias Afewerki desapareció de la vista pública durante un período el mes pasado, los ciudadanos de Eritrea y la comunidad internacional solo se quedaron con rumores sobre su estado de salud.

Corea del Norte, que lideró la lista anterior del CPJ de los países con más censura, publicada en 2006, sigue siendo un lugar extraordinariamente hermético, ya que casi todo el contenido informativo local es provisto por la Agencia Central de Noticias de Corea (KCNA, por sus siglas en inglés).