After a period of uncertainty, the station will broadcast several of its usual programs this Wednesday.
14ymedio, Madrid, 26 March 2025 — About 50 federal employees of Radio TV Martí and the news website returned to their jobs this Wednesday, and part of their programs returned to the air. In the morning, two internal sources consulted by 14ymedio said that the measure does not extend to the 20 “contractors” (collaborators) of the company. In addition, those who have been called to return do not know if they will be able to carry out their usual tasks, although they trust that they will be able to do so.
The employees received a Human Resources notification on Wednesday to rejoin, ten days after they received a letter informing them of the start of an “administrative leave” for everyone, without salary suspension. A day later, on Sunday, March 16, the collaborators also received an email informing them that they should “immediately” cease their work and that they would not be allowed access to the agency’s facilities or operational systems. In addition, it was indicated that the dismissal would be official from March 31 at 11:59 pm.
The situation has kept all the channels of the media, belonging to the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), without activity of any kind, including the Voice of America (VOA) and other media, also suspended from activities by Washington. In the case of Martí employees, we will have to wait to know in more detail the conditions of their return and whether they will be able to carry out their work with the human and material resources the Government provides.
In the case of Martí employees, we will have to wait to know in more detail the conditions of their return and if they will be able to carry out their work with the human and material resources the Government provides
“We return this Wednesday, but we don’t know yet if we will be able to broadcast our usual programs today,” one of the journalists who was preparing to return to work explained to 14ymedio. The Office of Transmissions to Cuba (OCB), which controls the Martí group, had an annual budget of 25 million dollars before the Trump Administration intervened.
The suspension of employment and broadcasts of Radio Televisión Martí is part of the policy of current US president Donald Trump, who, by executive order, ordered the suspension of operations of this and other federally funded media, claiming, among other reasons, that they involved a high expense for the taxpayer without providing any benefit. The channel – which began as a radio broadcast- began its transmissions on May 20, 1985 under the umbrella of the OCB, created in 1981 by then-President Ronald Reagan at the instigation of anti-Castro leader Jorge Mas Canosa.
On March 14, Kari Lake, chief advisor of USAGM, sent a statement that invited little or no optimism. In it, Radio Televisión Martí was accused of being “a huge ruin” and “burden for the taxpayer,” in addition to putting national security at risk. Although she did not provide data on most of the serious accusations she launched, the official accused the media of hosting spies and terrorists, of spreading “false news” and of coordinating with “external activist groups and organizations defending the radical left” to prevent Trump’s intervention in the agency and an “accountability.” To this she added public data of the expenses of Radio Televisión Martí, which she considered “excessive.”
Since then, Cubans from inside and outside the Island have supported the continuity of Radio Televisión Martí, considered by many the soundtrack of freedom in Cuba. Until, in the mid-90s, when Cubanet arrived and in the 21st century the independent media flourished, the station was the only voice that countered the propaganda of the Cuban regime and sent information that otherwise could not have been known on the Island, or known only from the perspective of the Communist Party, from the rafter crisis to the trial and execution of General Arnaldo Ochoa.
However, there has been no lack of those who have considered that, although the US Government could not give the regime the victory of eliminating Radio Televisión Martí, a review of the channel was necessary, including some Florida members of Congress, such as María Elvira Salazar. This will probably mean that, if it goes ahead, it must be maintained with a strong reduction in funds and personnel, and with content aligned with the geopolitical interests of the current US Administration.
The reincorporation of the salaried workers of Radio Televisión Martí comes a day after a federal judge issued, on Tuesday, a temporary order to prevent the cancellation of the funds received by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE / RL).
A federal judge issued, on Tuesday, a temporary order to prevent the cancellation of the funds received by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Judge Royce C. Lamberth, of the District of Columbia court, admitted an application filed by the broadcaster against USAGM, to which the magistrate indicated that “he cannot, with a single sentence of reasoning that offers practically no explanation, force RFE/RL to close, even if the president has ordered it.”
The lawsuit was filed on March 18 and argued that denying the funds allocated by Congress violates federal laws and the Constitution, which exclusively gives Congress control over federal spending.
The station also reported that it will receive $7.46 million after the release of part of a subsidy that had been withheld. Although it was not specified, it follows that it is part of the blocked Congressional aid that the National Foundation for Democracy (NED) demanded. Those funds affected 80 programs in the world – 18 in Latin America – that claimed that the money had already been committed.
To these disputes must be added the cancellation of aid to hundreds of programs to support democracy belonging to the International Agency for Development of the United States (USAID). A large part of the Cuban independent media suffers the impact of that suspension, although some funds have been unblocked.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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