Some faithful readers miss getting “guidance” from the Communist Party
14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2024 — A symbol of the regime since its creation in 1965 and its flagship publication, the Communist Party newspaper “Granma” is finding it difficult these days to reach remote parts of Cuba. There are still readers out there — few in number and all with grey hair — who trust what is printed on its pages. “Invasor,”another official media outlet whose own distribution problems are the worst they have ever been, complained on Friday of being “cutoff” from the newspaper known for its red and black type.
Osmayda Valdés, director of the Ciego de Ávila post office and the region’s head postmaster, appeared before the newspaper’s TV cameras — “Invasor” has its own digital broadcast channel — to defend her agency and explain why deliveries of “Granma” and other national newspapers such as “Juventud Rebelde” are routinely delayed.
In an awkward interview, Valdés explained that the newspapers are not shipped from Havana nor are they printed — as as they are in several provinces — at a printing press in Ciego de Ávila. Instead, they have to be fetched from Sancti Spíritus along with packages from Villa Clara province, whose printing press is the only one in the region that has the requisite printing capabilities. It is a logistical nightmare. “The fact is that the press is a daily operation,” she explained, stating the obvious.
Previously, the Cuban Postal Service (Correos) was responsible for delivering the papers for distribution. “Now we have to go pick them up,” complained Valdés, who was at pains to describe an even more cumbersome delivery process that involved a daily trek from Camagüey to Villa Clara which required drivers to deliver packages to post offices on their return.
Previously, the Cuban Postal Service was responsible for delivering the papers for distribution. “Now we have to go pick them up”
“What is causing the problem,” asked the interviewer bluntly.”We’ve gotten a lot of complaints from the public about not getting their daily newspaper.” Valdés summed it up in a single phrase: “It’s the postmen.” Of the thirty-five mail carriers the province needs, only eight are currently working. “Vistahermosa, a township in Ciego de Ávila, is the most affected because we do not have a single postman in that area,” Valdés said.
The interview then asked about fuel, noting that one of Correos’ main excuses is that there is no way to transport the newspapers from one place to another before distributing them. “It’s not like that,”Valdés replied defensively. She explained that the system is working in the main town though things could be better. “The biggest problem is in the small towns,”she said, especially Morón, Gaspar y Baraguá.
The postmaster describes an extreme situation in which these towns do not have fuel or transportation. “Or anything else,” she added. “We had to make a deal with [Correos’] package delivery service to use their vehicles to deliver the papers two or three times a week. It depends on how regularly fuel is delivered.”
Getting back to the issue of customer complaints, the interviewer turned her attention to subscribers who have paid for newspapers but have, so far, not received notification or compensation when the papers were late or never delivered. “This has been going on for a long time,” said the interviewer. “Day after day, many people are not receiving it. They tell us they have paid for it but are not getting it.”
Valdés washed her hands of the matter, saying that subscribers have every right to file complaints but did not indicate to whom or in what instances. “If there is no mail carrier to make the delivery, then the local government assumes responsibility. Once we are able to hire a mailman — someone who has to meet certain criteria because he will be delivering checks, social assistance, money orders, packages and certified letters – we will be better staffed. Subscribers will not be inconvenienced and [the mailman’s] contract will be renewed,” she promised.
Eventually, the interviewer turned to the topic the postmaster most wanted to talk about: telling the public that Correos is looking for mail carriers. Faced with a workforce depleted by a nationwide exodus of emigrants and labor, the company is hiring. “In the past, we didn’t have transportation for the mailmen but now we do,” Valdés said. Rather than the cars and trucks that it once used, she noted that Correos now provides “Niagara bicycles in good condition.”
“The main issue is screening potential mailmen. We have already told the Ministry of Labour how many positions we need to fill, so any applicants who go there can be sent straight to the company so we can assess their qualifications. We have the transportation. What we need is the personnel,” she concluded.
For years, “Invasor” has been reporting on problems that Valdés blamed on transportation issues, which she described on Friday as “temporary”
For years, “Invasor” has been reporting on problems that Valdés, who has been on the job for less than a year, blamed on transportation issues, which she described on Friday as “temporary.” Last February, when, Lídisy Rodríguez was head of Correos, the newspaper complained about “the shortage of human resources plaguing a not insignificant number of agencies.”
The article was a belated response to a complaint made in 2023 by several subscribers and published in the letters section of “Camisa de Fuerza” (“Straightjacket”). At the time, a reader identified as Arquímides Morales bemoaned the irresponsibility of Correos, which had not delivered his copy of “Granma” for years.
Morales explained the reason why, pointing out that all the mail carriers working in his area had been fired for suspicion of being involved in criminal activity, adding that mail service has been poor ever since.
Correos defended itself, claiming that Morales lived in a building with a gated entry, which prevented the mailman from leaving valuables such as his bicycle, packages, money or letters on the ground floor unattended. He had to wait until the interested party came downstairs to collect his newspaper in person. For three and a half hours — from 7:30 AM till 11 AM — a mailman had to deliver 400 copies of “Granma,” 200 of “Juventud Rebelde,” 400 of “Trabajadores” and 400 of “Invasor.”
In 2023, “Invasor” posed a question to Correos: “Do we really have to exhaust ourselves making complaints…? We expect, like Archimedes, for an answer, which we hope he will eventually be able to read for himself in these pages.” Nevertheless, the problem persisted. Months later, in the February article, the newspaper capitulated. “It seems that Arquímides Morales López will not be receiving a response either personally or through these pages.
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
