A human rights activist in Cuba was arrested and fined last year for distributing copies of El Nuevo Herald and the magazine Disidente, says the U.S. State Department's annual survey of human rights.
According to the report, Havana police arrested Ronald Faxas Maceo on Jan. 31, 1996, and fined him the equivalent of $5. They released him after warning him that he could face four or five years imprisonment for disseminating enemy propaganda.
El Nuevo Herald is published in Miami by Knight-Ridder, the same company that owns The Herald. The origin of Disidente is unclear: either Miami or Puerto Rico.
The incident appeared in the section of the report describing instances of arbitrary arrests in Cuba, a country the State Department called a ``totalitarian state.''
Released Thursday by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the report states that the human rights situation in Cuba worsened in 1996 and that the harassment of opponents of President Fidel Castro increased that year.
As in previous years, the Cuban government Friday rejected the report and downplayed its significance.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald