Soldiers of Information

Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez
Posted on March 29, 2014

On March 14, the Cuban press spent another day with more grief than
glory. Like previous years, some media guerrillas pledged to do more
critical journalism. I wonder with whom. With society and grassroots
leaders? So not fair! To criticize anyone but those responsible for the
devastation of Cuba seems to be the motto of the soldiers of the media,
because nobody wants to jeopardize their job and perks, which translated
back to 1959 Cuban means, "let death take another." The key is given by
the fifty-five years of the of the Castro dictatorship in general and by
the forty-seven of the original dictator, who left the national
caudillista scar of "as I say," in a trail of verbal violence,
disrespect and discrimination towards those who think differently. Then,
what or who to criticize? Capitalism, of course, the United States, and
all who are not aligned or sympathetic to the so-called Revolution.

The group is power always had ears receptive to their own interests and
deaf to the real demands of society. The monopoly of information in Cuba
is in the hands of the state, which officially prohibits the circulation
of independent publications, freedom of association and a multiparty system.

The most chilling test starred the journalist Arleen Rodriguez around
2005, in the days when the price of a kilowatt had risen. On a visit by
Fidel Castro to The Roundtable show in which she participated, she
complained about the high price of electricity in front of him, and he,
clearly annoyed, and with the veiled threat of "your husband is my
friend," appeared the following day at the beginning of the program,
with a written text to make no mistake nor to say a single letter more
than needed, and clarify that "what she wanted to express was…" It goes
without saying, the writer and poet Heberto Padilla, founder of the
Origins group, who in the 1960s was made to publicly denounce his peers
and commit harakiri with a blade rusted by extortion.

Personally, I reaffirm what I have said before, that while our
communication professionals do not have and feel the freedom to express
what they really want and that concerns some or all of the people, there
will be no true information transparency that facilitates and stimulates
the freedom of expression of the workers in the industry and of the
society in general. From themselves, without changing the violence that
ended the democratic structures, which remain in order to perpetuate
themselves in power and a dependent and manipulated press, couldn't
obtain what the leaders of the government want: instead of "dropping
political flirtations" to the model in the Cuban media, creating the
props for a media theater to send the world the false messages that
there is freedom in Cuba.

25 March 2014

Source: Soldiers of Information / Rosa Maria Rodriguez | Translating
Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/soldiers-of-information-rosa-maria-rodriguez/