FINAL ANALYSIS
Literacy rates are extremely high but, on the other side of the coin, many of the freedoms that we simply take for granted in the United States do not exist here.
There is no political opposition, there are no free elections, there is no free press, and many of the people here live at or below the poverty level.
There are two sides to every story here but you can’t always believe what you hear because the government controls information and wields an iron fist.
But in the five decades since fidel castro’s revolution not all has gone as planned.
For evidence look no further than the weathered and crumbling facades all around Havana.
But to some, Cuba’s reported achievements are not what they seem.
Despite high levels of education and low official unemployment rates, most Cubans are forced to eke out a hard scrabble life.
The average salary in Cuba is 50 cents a day after government assistance for housing and insurance.
The typical Cuban family uses the black market for even basic goods.
While homelessness does not exist in Cuba the lack of quality housing remains a major problem.
Transportation presents perhaps the biggest difficulty, visible by the teeming buses and crowds hitching for rides.
Dissent in any form is not tolerated by the Cuban government, which limits outside influence.
For example most Cubans are not free to use the internet with a few exceptions for some in specific professions.
After watching the tape of the entire two-hour Today Show from Cuba those 12 sentences were the only ones that could remotely be considered critical of the regime. If the report were two minutes long it would be one thing, but those 12 sentences took less time to utter than Los Van Van spent performing during the broadcast.
Needless to say, not one dissident was mentioned by name. Same for political prisoners. No mention of the tens of thousands that apply every year to win the visa lottery to leave Cuba and come to the US.
Then people say we are intransigent, that we are paranoid. How can we be anything but angry at the way the media treats a 48 year tragedy. It’s like we have this knowledge of a horrible crime that took place but the police don’t want to hear us and frankly don’t believe us. How can one avoid becoming more jaded, angry and intransigent under such circumstances.
These 12 sentences are the best part the entire show and it’s just not good enough. Our media is so woefully inadequate at reporting news of consequence that I am frightened about what the future holds. If I didn’t know anything about Cuba and tuned into the Today Show yesterday, I’m sad to say that I’d know more about the Crocodile Hunter’s 8-year old daughter, Bindi Irwin, and her three new TV shows than the Cuban reality.
Matt Lauer even used the word “blockade” instead of embargo at one point in the broadcast which reveals how much of the government’s discourse has rubbed off on him in preparation for this much-heralded event. This is no small point. “Blockade” is the dishonest characterization that the regime uses to imply a naval quarantine around the island, something that hasn’t happened since the Cuban missile crisis. We have a trade embargo and it doesn’t restrict Cuba from trading with any other country.
Andrea Mitchell, NBC’s foreign affairs “expert” has proven herself to be an enemy of Cuban liberty by parroting the party line:
But the island’s infrastructure is crumbling, crippled by a US trade embargo that has lasted nearly half a century. The succession has happened, it’s taking place. And it’s happened without any kind of violence or any dramatic change. They are not going to see a day and night situation.
It’s the embargo, not the failed economic policies which have been discredited everywhere they have been implemented, that have caused Cuba’s infrastructure to crumble. Could it be possible that an “expert” in foreign affairs could be so stupid? Or is it simply a case of refusing to report the truth?
As for the succession having taken place already, it’s the official position of the Cuban government that the Revolution will outlive fidel. An assertion that Andrea Mitchell accepts unquestioningly despite the fact that castro is not dead and that nobody can predict what will happen when that finally happens.
Both Lauer and Mitchell engaged in a despicable discussion about exiles in Miami and their rhetoric about reclaiming property. This despite the fact that a recent poll by a Democrat pollster shows that 77% of those who answered the relevant question believe that residential and dwelling properties in Cuba should belong to those that live in them now. While the merits of property claims are important to discuss and debate, it’s also important to recognize that the regime uses the issue to drive a wedge between Cubans and Cuban exiles. Lauer and Mitchell both recognized this fact in their exchange yet felt had no compunction about leaving the impression that most exiles feel the exact opposite of what the poll showed.
Well nobody can say that the information wasn’t out there. We sent emails to Today, we blogged about the important issues, we challenged Today to break the mold and do some serious reporting. We gave them the benefit of the doubt and of course they disappointed us. Of course we didn’t expect anything different, but we had hope. A bit of that hope was extinguished in me as Lauer signed off. For him Cuba is already a distant memory. Tomorrow is another day and the infotainment industry never rests.
Great post !!
Yesterday, I was watching the national Spanish-language evening news at 6:30 p.m. [it might have been Univision] and one of the reporters from the Today Show [the guy who had the glass of crude oil] ADMITTED that they were restricted. They could only interview people in certain areas [i.e. La Plaza de la Catedral] and they were NOT allowed to interview dissidents. See the hypocrisy! Of course, if Matt Lauer and company had admitted that inconvenient little fact on English-language TV, they would have had more credibility, but they DIDN’T. However, when the Today Show camera’s went off, they admitted it on Spanish TV [some good that’s going to do!]. Another thing that the Spanish language reporter noted was the ignorance of the Today Show cast. When asked what he thought of the difference between Cuba of today and Cuba of 15 years ago, this same reporter said that Cuba of today is much better off. There are no longer long lines. The Spanish language reporter then said, that if he had just gone around the corner from the area that he was restricted to, he would have seen serpentine lines of people waiting for rationed goods.
So, what strikes me of the Today Show is their stupidity and their hypocrisy, their willingness to just go with the flow and not rock the boat, to misinform: at times out of ignorance and at times out of plane indifference and complicity.
I commend all who tried to get through to Lauer and company to urge them to do right. All too predictably, it was quite in vain. This whole business was a preordained, foregone conclusion, much like the outcome of a political trial in Castro’s legal system. Truth and right have nothing to do with it, so they are either ignored, denied, or twisted into things that are neither true nor just. NBC was never out to help Cuba or further the cause of Cuba’s freedom. It was out to help NBC and, evidently, to meet the demands and requirements of its Cuban hosts in exchange for their “hospitality.”
Of course, the likes of Lauer and Mitchell, while certainly not free of guilt, are simply NBC’s flunkies du jour. They were given a script or game plan and followed it as directed. Their behavior and performance, however disgusting and reprehensible, is simply a reflection of the outfit they work for and serve. NBC is fully responsible for the way this thing was handled, or mangled. It was a disgrace, and worse.
This is simply another instance of the obscenely immoral tit-for-tat the MSM has long practiced regarding Cuba. As in, you let us have a Havana bureau, or a flashy Cuba “news” special, or an interview with some government big shot, and we’ll make sure we’re not “too negative.” It’s prostitution, but like I always say, prostitution only happens because it pays.
We need to stop expecting to get blood from turnips. It’s not going to happen. The more we rely on ourselves and what we can do on our own, the better.
Yep! Castro gave Matty a right good lauering, aye?
I am disappointed that Andrea Mitchell did not call me for my expert opinion on the Cuban economy. After all, she is the wife of Alan Greenspan, who during the last twenty years was the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. I know more about Cuban economics that Lauer, Mitchell, and Greenspan. I could have told them in their broadcast that the Imperialist Blockade is the source of all of Cuba’s ills. If you do not believe me, just read any of my award-winning books on the Cuban economy.
Carmelo, te has cagado de nuevo. Tienes tremendo mojón en el cerebro. Hala la cadena.