The report points to the case of Mayelín Rodríguez, who was sentenced in May to 15 years in prison for “interviewing and broadcasting videos about two girls beaten by agents of the Ministry of the Interior.”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Córdoba (Argentina), 18 October 2024 — A report presented at the 80th General Assembly of the Inter-American Press Association (IAPA), still pending approval, denounces the recent increase in the “offensive” against unofficial journalism in Cuba through “psychological harassment,” arrests of journalists and summons from State Security.
“The umpteenth offensive against independent journalism (in Cuba) has been unleashed in September in the form of summons, preceded by different measures of psychological harassment by the authorities,” says the report presented at the meeting that is taking place these days in Córdoba (Argentina).
The document points out that “as before every new election in the United States, the dictatorship tries to hobble civil society, especially the limited and battered independent journalism.”
It denounces the case of Mayelín Rodríguez, who was sentenced in May to 15 years in prison for “interviewing and transmitting videos about two girls beaten by agents of the Ministry of the Interior” during a protest against the blackouts in Nuevitas.
The IAPA, founded in 1943, also mentions in its report that the Cuban digital media El Toque, based in Florida, was the subject of a “discredit campaign by the government propaganda apparatus” that blames it for being behind the depreciation of the Cuban peso against the dollar and the euro in the informal market.
El Toque reports daily on the value of the Cuban currency based on the buying and selling offers published on social networks.
“The umpteenth offensive against independent journalism has been unleashed in September in the form of summons, preceded by different measures of psychological harassment by the authorities”
While the dollar is currently listed at 325 Cuban pesos according to this media, which has become a benchmark for the street and economists, the official exchange rate is still fixed at one dollar for 24 pesos (for legal entities) and one dollar for 120 pesos (for individuals).
The document also denounces the arrests, assaults and interrogations of unofficial journalists such as Camila Acosta, José Luis Tan and Julio Aleaga, as well as the closure of the digital music magazine Magazine Am/Pm due to “harassment by State Security.”
The IAPA report on Cuba also criticizes the Social Communication Law, which came into force in early October, because it “strengthens the repression of press freedom.”
The aforementioned regulation, the first of its kind in Cuba in 70 years, ignores the unofficial press, allows commercial advertising for the first time since the triumph of the revolution, sanctions the political alignment of authorized media and regulates digital phenomena (including influencers), among other issues.
The law has been harshly criticized by NGOs and media outside the State orbit, who argue that it censors content contrary to the official narrative and leaves independent digital newspapers adrift.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
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.
