14ymedio, Havana, January 15, 2024 — The official newspaper Invasor published this Sunday, for the second time in four months, a warning to the officials of the Island. The reason: the lack of transparency of the authorities in the face of requests for information and solutions by the media and citizens. “People have the right to complain, and institutions have a duty to respond,” the newspaper said.
With the statistics from two of its sections, “Speaking Plainly” and “Open Letters,” Invasor gives the measure of the problem. Of the 104 notes published in 2023 in the first section, 93.2% were complaints, and the authorities responded to only 78.3%. In “Open Letters,” out of 13 letters received, only three were answered by officials or institutions.
Transport, Housing, Aqueduct and Sewerage, Communal Services and the Cuban Postal Service are some of the institutions the text mentions
Transport, Housing, Aqueduct and Sewerage, Communal Services and the Cuban Postal Service are some of the institutions that the text mentions, which have evaded on several occasions the newspaper’s requests to respond to the population, showing “non-compliance with the State’s responsibility to the citizens.”
Freeing itself from all responsibility, the official media clarifies that these situations are the “result of poor implementation of the Social Communication Policy, not the lack of insistence of this newspaper.”
“It is no less true that there are entities and institutions that are in the vanguard when it comes to sensitizing themselves to the problems of the population and will not be concerned, while others will recognize themselves here and some, perhaps, will find out that they have not acted as they should,” says the State media. They also highlight that in the “Speaking Plainly” and “Open Letters” sections, several recognitions were given to “those who have made an effort and want to satisfy the demands of the people, destroying obstacles such as bureaucracy, inefficiency, insensitivity and lack of commitment to the citizens.”
To those who have responded to the complaints without satisfying them, Invasor also dedicates a few lines: “The responses received reveal, in many cases, that the impossibility of the solution is not justified by transparent, logical and convincing information,” which also constitutes irresponsibility on the part of the authorities.
In a similar article published last October, the media launched its first diatribe against the authorities
In a similar article published last October, the media launched its first diatribe against the authorities. “It was our intention to inform the public [about passenger transport], but at least four times, the managers of the Provincial Transport Company have left us waiting,” it said at the time.
As a shield against possible calls for attention, the media took refuge in the words of Miguel Díaz-Canel: “In the face of a certain situation that is negatively impacting the population, the responsible public servants are obliged to report immediately and by any means possible. For its part, it is up to the press to report first, and responsibly, on any sensitive information.”
Invasor is the newspaper where some of the most critical articles against the Government have been published in the last year. However, the reports always indicate that it is a particular authority, and not the system, that makes “mistakes.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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