Bad Handwriting in La Joven Cuba / Regina Coyula

I think I’m writing more in the Matanzans’ blog than in my own. Even better, now they’re accusing me of writing for the government.

Greetings. For the Pearl of Regina, referring to his comment in “Freedom of the press, a utopia II.”

Regina, thank you for your opinions on the article, showing you’ve done your homework, checked all the sources, but the article only mentions some issues and you pass over others, not delving into the causes and conditions, and what’s more continuing to use the same slogans already repeated over and over, but I hope that this topic isn’t exhausted, because it is so critical to improve the Cuban press, and to prepare ourselves to coexist with that other press that you don’t dare mention in your comment.

regards

No way, Peralo! We’ve barely touched the issue of freedom of expression. I don’t want my comment to be longer than the post, but having put my toe in the water… About this, I will say that I can’t check any sources other than my own memory. But I’m not afraid of the issue, so here I go.

Freedom of the press is far from a reality in Cuba. Elsewhere in the world a press that is critical of the government is nothing more than that: a press critical of the government. I use the example of the United States because it’s looked at very closely in the Cuban press. Reading Granma I wonder why our press does look inward with the same sharpness with which it looks at the problems of our neighbor to the North.

The Huffington Post, during the Bush era, could not have been more scathing about the presidential administration, and no one in the government demonized it. Michael Moore has been provocative in his criticisms, and I use the word provocative deliberately, and no one censors his documentaries, although he does have more than a few enemies in the circle of power.

The justification of an imperialist threat and the blockade don’t work for me. I can see that you consider what the officials say enough to judge, but they say many things without offering any evidence and take things out of context. If independent journalists receive “guidance,” and their reports are based on falsehoods, or they recycle news and themes already exhausted by the official press, then the independent journalists won’t have anything to report, why comment.

Can you say the problems are fabricated? I refer to the first few paragraphs including the quotes you cite. I don’t have to read the massive propaganda designed to sow doubts, the simple perception of reality makes me aware of the serious problems in our society. You say they the receiver doesn’t verify and has no interest in verifying, which is a statement that also applies to the official press.

The more informed people are, the harder they are to manipulate. We are an educated people, no? So why is access to in Cuba so difficult? Why can’t each person consume the information they consider pertinent? It is to prevent everyone thinking with their own heads. But I believe I understand what you have written that it seems right to you to control information as an attribute of power.

It’s odd; your post, taken from the other side, would be exactly the same as changing the subject. If you’ve read The Prince you will remember the warning about the importance of an external enemy (The Empire, in our case) to better govern within. The blockade has been the highlight. It is the fault of the blockade that we are in a profound crisis of the economy and of values? It’s a rhetorical question, don’t answer in the affirmative, please. If you notice, in the Guidelines for Economic and Social Policies, the proposals to resolve the problems, they do not take into account the lifting of the commercial embargo for so that the country will move forward.

You can’t complain, I didn’t let any of your points go by without a comment, it’s too bad that my exchange is on a weekly basis, but there are issues that don’t become out-dated as is the case with this one. If Bad Handwriting has become a visited blog, it is precisely because there is space for discussion. I have been confronting you, but I judge from my experience. I await your comments.

April 2 2011