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(Xposted from soc.culture.cuba)

Subject:
             CASTRO AND THE FREE PRESS part I by Agustin Blazquez
        Date:
             Sun, 14 Sep 1997 22:35:50 -0400
       From:
             Webmaster <lora@erols.com>
 Organization:
             Covering Cuba
 Newsgroups:
             soc.culture.cuba

From El Tiempo Latino, a local Spanish Language Newspaper in Washington
D.C. Spanish Translation available upon request.


CASTRO AND THE FREE PRESS (PART I) (c) ABIP 1997
by Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton

In 1958, before Castro, Cuba had 6 million inhabitants with a literacy
rate of 80% - 3rd place in Latin America.  There were 58 newspapers and
126 magazines.  Electricity reached 80% of the island.  There were 2
film newsreel companies, 270 radio stations and 6 TV stations - one of
them in color.  There was 1 TV set per 25 inhabitants.  Behind only the

US, Cuba was the second country in the world with commercial
television.  All media was privately owned by Cubans and depended upon
advertisements, just as in the US.

Cuba's media was a prolific source of local and international news. We
had a free press, except for short periods of time during Batista's
dictatorship (1952-58).  But even then, our press managed to convey the
news.  It was very diverse and reflected all kinds of opinions,
including communist.  And, it is important to note that the Cuban
Communist Party at that time supported Batista.  Carlos Rafael
Rodriguez, a future communist President of Cuba appointed by Castro, had

been one of Batista's Ministers.

Our news media played an important role denouncing corrupt politicians
prior to Batista's coup and later opposing him.  There were many famous
newspaper columnists and radio editorialists crusading against the young

republic's vices.

The Government Department, under Batista, was in charge of censoring the

news media. Despite its efforts, information concerning violations of
human rights committed by Batista's regime were revealed.  The Cuban
press exposed the struggle between Batista and the opposition.  The
reporters managed to get in, to take pictures and films.  You can see
these pictures in the newspapers, magazines and newsreels of that era.
The opposition to Batista had a voice in the media.  Castro, then a
young lawyer, used this freedom of the press to make a name for himself
and to publicize his crusade against Batista.  And he learned that
Batista's incomplete censorship of the press would not be sufficient
later, when he was in charge.

The Cuban press widely published Castro's attack on the Moncada garrison

on July 26, 1953.  It was through the Cuban press coverage that the
world learned about this incident and the subsequent trial of Castro
that launched him into the international arena.  In a December 1953
issue of the leading Cuban magazine Bohemia, Castro was selected among
the 12 most prominent world figures of that year.  Castro learned how to

use and manipulate the free press very well to his own benefit, to help
his climb to power.

Castro reached power in 1959.  He knew that the free press pivotal to
him, would become his enemy in the immediate future against his ultimate

goal:  To impose a totalitarian system with him at the top and center of

everything.  Promptly that year he began his campaign to take over and
eliminate the free press.  One by one all of the newspapers, magazines,
radio and TV stations and newsreels fell under his control and freedom
of the press was eradicated in Cuba.

In 1959, the newly created newspaper Revolution, headed by Carlos
Franqui, appeared in Cuba.  It was the first official government
newspaper and the mouthpiece of Castro's faction - the 26th of July
Movement.  In 1965, Revolution became Granma, the one and only Cuban
Communist Party official newspaper.  Granma has played a very important
role in the distribution of propaganda and disinformation and the
indoctrination of the Cuban people.  It's not difficult to see reflected

in Granma's editorials the Maximum Leader's thoughts
and words.  Granma has an international edition (of a better quality and

different content) for dissemination of propaganda and disinformation
abroad.

In addition to Granma, Castro created Juventud Rebelde, geared to young
communists, and Trabajadores, geared to the workers.  He also created
the official press agencies AIN (to control the national news) and
Prensa Latina (to disseminate propaganda and disinformation abroad).
The regime kept control of Bohemia magazine and created the magazines
Union, Revolucion y Cultura and Casa de las Americas, as well as other
local publications for indoctrination and propaganda.  The six
television stations were confiscated from the Cuban owners and converted

into two in the early 1960s.  These two stations also serve Castro's
goals.

In 1985, Radio Marti broke down Castro's information monopoly when it
began daily broadcasts to Cuba.  Soon it became the favorite of Cubans
longing for additional sources of news about Cuba and the world.  The
view they had until then was one sided and very limited.  For example:
A 30 year old friend came to visit from Cuba in 1983 (before Radio
Marti). I took him to the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.  He
didn't know that Apollo had landed on the Moon, or that the US and USSR
had docked in space, or about Skylab!  However, he knew about all the
disasters in the US and the rest of the capitalist world.

That's because Castro's media always informs immediately of all bad news

concerning the US and the capitalist world and doesn't inform about the
successes, forcing people to think that they are better off in Cuba.
Culturally, after Castro, Cubans no longer had the whole picture.  Next
week we'll see how Castro's censorship works and what began to happen
when the Cubans got access to unofficial sources of information.
                                                         (c) ABIP 1997
Continues next week . . .


Agustin Blazquez, Columnist, El TIEMPO LATINO
Producer/Director of documentary COVERING CUBA
http://www.rpi.edu/~pratsa/cuba/covering-cuba.html
Home/Studio:  301-949-8791


COVERING CUBA's direct message to the US media:

                  "TO GAZE IDLY AT A CRIME IS TO COMMIT IT."  Jose
Marti.