[Conntech] Head of Cuban Libraries in NYC Friday

[Peter Chase]

FYI.

Peter Chase - CLA Intellectual Freedom Committee


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>Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 09:22:11 -0400 (EDT)
>Subject:
>From: libertas at dialmaine.com
>To: nkemps at verizon.net
>Cc: kcassell at nyc.rr.com, epperson at tcnj.edu,
>         pchase at libraryconnection.info, eegan at camden.lib.nj.us
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>All librarians in the New York Metropolitan/Tri-State area have the rare
>opportunity this Friday to meet the current Director of the Independent
>Libraries of Cuba, and her husband, Hector Palacios, at the New York Times
>Building, at 7 pm.
>
>The various members of the ALA Council and state Intellectual Freedom
>committees who work in the Tri-State Area are especially invited to come
>and hear firsthand about the Cuban Independent Libraries, and to ask any
>question they wish.
>
>Only July 27, 2004, John Berry, the Chair of ALA’s International Relations
>Committee, sent a letter to the Cuban Foreign Minister to make an appeal
>re: the health and welfare of Mr. Palacios and the other prisoners of
>conscience.
>
>In speaking up for these imprisoned librarians, the ALA was joining Human
>Rights Watch and Amnesty International in a successful international
>campaign to free Palacios. He was released on a medical visa to Spain last
>summer, but he must still use crutches due to his harsh treatment in
>prison.
>
>During this public lecture Mrs. Gisela Delgado and her husband will be
>describing how their entire library collection was confiscated in 2003,
>including a biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, which was given to them
>by President Carter. Other library collections on the island were ordered
>burned by court order.
>
>Palacios and his wife are headed back to Cuba soon, where Delgado will
>continue her duties as the Director of the Independent Libraries, under
>the threat of being jailed for her struggle for intellectual freedom.
>
>This event will take place on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 7 pm., at:
>The New York Times
>15th Floor Conference Center
>620 West 8th Ave. (bet. 40th & 41st Sts.), NYC
>
>It will be moderated by Moderated by Rafael Pi Román, from Channel
>Thirteen (PBS), and RSVP’s are requested at: cccofny at aol.com
>
>Walter Skold
>Co-Chair, FREADOM