There is news dictatorship in Cuba, independent journalist says

Following are excerpts of the article written by García, a reporter with the independent news agency Cuba Press.

“Castro has a monopoly over news in Cuba. There is no diversity in sources of information and the average Cuban has no access to the foreign press. In this way, of course, it is easier for Castro to govern.
“In Cuba you cannot buy the U.S. magazine Newsweek nor the British daily newspaper The Guardian. Nor will you find the French newspapers Le Monde and the Communist L’Humanité. Spain’s El País and Brazil’s Folha de S. Paulo are censored. There is no CNN or Italian television network RAI.
“To learn about what is happening around the world and in Cuba is a right granted by the Havana regime. To comment upon, analyze or disseminate any news item has to be authorized by the Communist Party – the only political party there is in Cuba. The Roman Catholic Church has a number of publications – Palabra Nueva, Espacios, Vitral – that sometimes contain divergent views, but they are of small and limited circulation.
“The independent press is not allowed to publish in Cuba. For the average Cuban the Internet continues to be something fantastic and unreachable. He has no other choice than to believe what the Castro media tell him or to read, almost in a clandestine way, the foreign press that with obvious delay gets into the hands of just a few people.
“To control the flow of information is paramount. Without differing news it is much easier to govern. Like formula for a baby, it is all what Daddy State feeds you – this is green, that is black and that over there is yellow.
“A person is considered abnormal, delinquent and counter-revolutionary is he does not trust the Wise Men and wants to find other angles to a story. It is easy to understand, therefore, that many people take part in the parades organized by Castro or that 8 million vote out of pure political innocence and total ignorance for an amendment to the Constitution that condemns to live forever under scientific socialism.
“The media in Cuba have sought to program a Cuban who is ‘politically correct’ and to their liking. But the majority of people flee like the Devil before the cross from the canned political discourse. And they have no option than to buy the official newspaper Granma or switch on the television and see Castro – because he appears on all three TV channels and all the radio stations are at his beck and call.
“Even worse than the U.S. trade embargo, the ongoing economic crisis and the deterioration in morale is the news dictatorship. One reads, hears and discusses what Castro authorizes.”

For more news written by independent journalists, visit the Web site www.sipiapa.com/cuba