Ignacio Ramonet Denounces Reprisals for Book on Fidel Castro

The journalist and Spanish intellectual, Ignacio Ramonet, who is based in France, has condemned the repression he has suffered as a result of his book ''One Hundred Hours with Fidel'', according to the daily, La Jornada.

In the report, Ramonet states that reprisals began in 2006 as soon as he published his book.

'I was attacked immediately. Then the repression began. For example, the newspaper, El País, to which I had been a regular collaborator, sanctioned me. They stopped publishing me,' he said.

'The same thing happened with La Voz de Galicia, a newspaper for which I had also written regularly. They also stopped publishing me.'

In France, the doors of France Cultura - a radio station - were closed to him and the same thing happened at the University Paris-VII, where for 35 years he had taught the theory of the audiovisual communication.

In his article, he states that the Society of Editors of the editorial group Le Monde tried to submit him to a sort of political trial.

'My case is not unique. I know in France, Spain and in other European countries, many intellectuals and journalists have been condemned to silence, invisibility and marginalization for not thinking like the fierce chorus of the dominant media, for rejecting the compulsory anti-Castro dogma,' he added.

'For decades, Noam Chomsky himself, in the United States - the witch-hunting country - has been censored by the mainstream media, which denies him access to the columns of the most influential newspapers and major radio and television stations,' Ramonet concluded.