Who are the Friends of Cubas “Independent Libraries?
” The Friends of Cuban Libraries was founded in June 1999 by Robert Kent, librarian at New York Public Library, and Jorge Sanguinetty, an economist, a former Cuban government official, a contributor to Radio MartÃ, and a Miami businessman who does lucrative consulting work for the U.S. government. In a press release published in American Libraries in June 1999, the group announced that a brave, pioneering movement of “independent librarians” in Cuba had been set up in the “homes of individuals involved in human rights activities.” It was reported that the “librarians” had been systematically threatened and “subjected to harassment, threats and short-term arrests” by the Cuban authorities because of their library work. It was also stated that the “libraries” collections were donated by Cubans, that the “libraries” were set up in opposition to “official censorship” of the government-funded libraries, and that “official” library professionals were often sympathetic to developing a civil s
