Lately, we’ve been hearing about a new openess in Cuba, we’ve heard that the regime is encouraging debate, even dissent, but that communication is one-way, and the regime’s control on information is tighter than ever.
This weeks general assembly of the inter-American Press Associaion examined how news gets into and out of Communist Cuba.
From the Sun-Sentinel:
Castro’s health is a state secret in Cuba, where officials impose tight controls on domestic news. The Cuban government publishes the country’s main newspapers and transmits its domestic newscasts, which in turn act as vehicles for policy announcements.
Some Cubans rely on clandestine satellite dishes to beam in foreign news programs, along with soap operas and movies. But few Cubans own computers and Internet access is available on a restricted basis.
‘Truth is nowhere. There is no stable information. There is no reliable press,’ said panelist Alberto Muller, a former Cuban political prisoner who writes for Diario Las Americas , a Miami-based daily. Citing Cuba’s jailing of independent journalists, he accused the island’s communist government of leading its people into a ‘schizophrenic’ state by separating information from reality.
For its part, the Cuban government has accused dissidents and journalists of working for the U.S. government to undermine Cuba’s communist system.
Cuban officials also bristle at the U.S. government’s long-standing effort to transmit its programs to the island via Radio and TV Marti.
The Inter American Press Association has made press restrictions one of the focal points of its meeting this year, along with discussions on financial challenges to newspapers and how media are adapting to digital technology. The five-day assembly is being held in downtown Miami and ends today.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel correspondent Ray Sanchez, who runs the newspaper’s Havana bureau, said access to Radio Marti is patchy at best. The Cuban government, which dismisses the venue as U.S. propaganda, blocks the signal.
Sanchez said Cubans supplement their news intake with information from family members living overseas, which in turn spreads quickly along the grapevine. Clandestine satellite dishes keep popping up, he said.
‘It’s important to note that many people who have access to this, have it for the soap operas … and for the diversity of programming,’ Sanchez said, and not necessarily to satisfy a demand for more news.
Muller suggested the Cuban government has stepped up repressive measures against the flow of information, becoming ‘obsessed’ with illegal satellite dishes and sending out agents to dismantle them. Ever innovative, Cubans were adapting by hiding them in pigeon coops, and by running antennas through water pipes, he said.
Cuba only allows a handful of U.S. media to station journalists in Havana, and recently declined to renew several journalist visas.
Read the article here.
I found this resonant:
‘It’s important to note that many people who have access to this, have it for the soap operas … and for the diversity of programming,’ Sanchez said, and not necessarily to satisfy a demand for more news.
A former political prisoner and now Cuban exile told me that that’s the problem with today’s Cuba and why to population will not take to the streets. “Ask them who Oscar Biscet is,” he said,” and they cant tell you. But ask them what’s the popular brand of sneakers in la Yuma and they can give you a list.”
“South Florida Sun-Sentinel correspondent Ray Sanchez, who runs the newspaper’s Havana bureau, said access to Radio Marti is patchy at best. The Cuban government, which dismisses the venue as U.S. propaganda, blocks the signal.”
Access to Radio Marti is VERY GOOD Mr. Sanchez. I know for a fact (from family members in Santa Clara) that BOTH access to it and reception are GOOD.
By the way, Mr. Sanches, since you are the Sun-Sentinel’s BUREAU CORRESPONDENT in Habana, and a lackey of the Cuban Government, I don’t believe a word you say.
Well, going by at least one Miami Herald columnist, who’s at least nominally Cuban, Radio Marti is a “propaganda” outlet, which is pretty much the position of the Cuban government. What is wrong with this pictiure?
I agree with you gentlemen. I linked the article because they made press restrictions one of their focal points, and that arrow points straight to the regime. I believe that every bit of MSM negative press for them is a plus for us, no matter how small. They would have done better talking to one of the journalists recently booted off the island.