The agency has experienced several casualties in recent years and lacks staff
14ymedio, Havana, 4 January 2025 — Prensa Latina lost one of its key correspondents this week. Elizabeth Borrego Rodríguez, head of the official Cuban news agency at UN headquarters in New York, informed Prensa Latina that she was leaving her position to stay in the United States, after more than a year of reporting for the organization, reported El Vigía de Cuba.
The resignation of the 31-year-old journalist after little time in the position affects Prensa Latina, which increasingly resorts to younger collaborators, who, like Borrego, do not seem to last. “She had only been on the job at United Nations headquarters for a little over a year. She called Prensa Latina in Havana to say that she was not returning,” an employee of the agency confirmed to Cubanet.
Before arriving in New York, Borrego was a correspondent in Venezuela, from where she sent articles validating the actions of the Caracas regime, an ally of Havana, which were then reproduced in the provincial press of the Island. The Cuban government has stationed several of its most notable propagandists in Caracas, such as Pedro Jorge Velázquez, known as El Necio [The Fool].
Born in Sancti Spíritus and graduated from the Marta Abreu Central University of Las Villas with a thesis about Noticiero Estelar [another official news source], Borrego is the daughter of Juan Antonio Borrego Díaz, who died in 2021. He was the director for almost 24 years of Escambray, the newspaper of the Communist Party in Sancti Spíritus. In addition, he was a correspondent for the State newspaper Granma for 30 years and a collaborator of Cubadebate, where his articles appeared frequently. After his death, the Journalistic Innovation Award that bears his name was created.
After his death, the Journalistic Innovation Award that bears his name was created
From the UN, Borrego diligently performed her work, which consisted mainly of criticizing the economic “blockade” of the United States, asking that Cuba be removed from the list of countries sponsoring terrorism and applauding the pleas of the foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla. “Unilateral coercive sanctions prevent enjoyment of the rights to food, education, health and development [of Cubans],” she wrote in her last article, published by Prensa Latina on December 10.
Occasionally, she also worked on other topics, such as a report dedicated to Latin American women that she published in 2024, or the recent deliveries of UN donations to those affected by hurricanes Oscar and Rafael on the Island. “Borrego did her job very well. She is a good journalist, but, like every young person, she dreams of having children and leading a dignified life, and that is impossible here,” explained a source close to El Vigía de Cuba.
He also said that Prensa Latina has a lack of journalists: “The blow is hard, because more and more young journalists are leaving, the most talented, some with important positions or in wonderful places, without us being able to do anything at all to avoid it.”
However, he says that the reactions within the agency do not always support the decision of the young reporter, and some believe that her departure is a “treason” to the agency that entrusted her with an important position.
Inside the agency, some believe that her departure is “treason”
According to Cubanet, with a source in Havana, the agency tries to keep the UN correspondent active with the support of Washington correspondent Daisy Francis Texidor, of “very discreet professionalism as she showed in Mexico, but an old collaborator of Cuban intelligence.”
He also adds that Francis “was closely linked to the environment of Los Cinco,” – The Five – in reference to the spies in the service of the Cuban government that Washington arrested in 1998. He also recalled the departure in recent years of two other important correspondents of Prensa Latina: Néstor Marín, in London, and Miguel Lozano, in Madrid.
On December 30, the arrival at Miami International Airport of sports commentator Sergio Ortega and his family, who emigrated definitively to the United States and plan to settle in southern Florida, was also in the news. The journalist is the son of Manolo Ortega, who was a “personal friend” and official presenter of Fidel Castro in political events.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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