Chapter three. Cuban mass media, Internet and journalists
We met independent Cuban journalists in a small poor flat somewhere in the outskirts of Havana. There were seven of them. All of them were fired and could not find any job even if it was not connected with their profession. The only thing that helped them survive was their articles they published on the Internet and in foreign mass media. They have a blog of their own. They update it every Thursday in the Dutch Embassy. They have two hours to do it. However, it is enough if you take into account the fact that they have no other opportunity to use the Internet. The journalists were joking: the less time they have to spend on the Internet, the more efficiently they use it.
Journalists print pages from the blog in the Embassy and give them out later. They do it in spite of the fact that it puts them in jeopardy – they may be imprisoned for dozens of years. They may be imprisoned for 3-15 years for inimical propaganda and for 8-25 years for illegal publications.
Theoretically you can use the Internet in hotels or in post offices. But it is more a tourist’s pastime. The majority of Cubans simply cannot afford it. An hour on the Internet costs from 6 to 9 dollars. The average wage on the Freedom Island is 428 Cuban pesos which is about 17 dollars. Would you spend half of your wage on an hour on the Internet?..
However, rich tourists are not always lucky to find the Internet. There can be no cards left and ancient PCs may break down… It is practically impossible to find a USB port in Cuban computers.
The official Cuban press is two major national newspapers and one regional edition. There are a few entertaining and Catholic editions. The “Granma” newspaper continues publishing Fidel Castro’s letters. For example, it published a letter about the dismissal of the Minister of Education - “The living and the dead”. Castro explains why the Minister was dismissed – they could not trust him anymore because he had been abroad 70 times. He left the country thrice a month during the last three years. The article ends with this phrase: “I will express my humble opinion as long as I can and as long as I feel the need to do it. We, the living and the dead, will continue struggling!”
Not a single issue of “Granma” is left without the vilification of the USA and George Bush in particular. The same can be seen in Cuban TV. The majority of programmes are political. The rest of the time is devoted to music, low-quality films and Latin American novellas.
Even Cubans are tired of reading and watching it every day. That is why they mainly use official mass media to find out the results of sports competitions. However, to tell you the truth, soap operas are rather popular with people. Coming back to my casa particular in the evenings, I often saw people watching one and the same novella on their TV-sets. Some Cubans confessed that they knew that the television was lying. But there was nothing else to watch…
In fact, there is an independent radio station broadcasting from Miami. It is radio “Marti” and radio “Republic”. However, not all Cubans know about these mass media. There was a radio station for tourists in Cuba at the end of the 80s and at the beginning of the 90s. Local inhabitants managed to pick up the signal. They listened to musical and entertaining stations from Miami using home-made aerials. But the regime destroyed all aerials.
For example, a journalist Amarilis has such an aerial. People in plain clothes came to her and said that the USA was complaining that someone kept stealing their signal. They told her to take the aerial away.
One of our acquaintances, a Cuban journalist Huan Gonsales, has a good command of English. He went through some courses, but he complained he could not go abroad. But he believes that the situation will change for the better.
- When? – I asked.
- Just the day before I die, - he replied.
- Where would you like to go first?
- To New Orleans. There is only whiskey and jazz there. I will drink whiskey and listen to the Rolling Stones… Mick Jagger, don’t die please, wait for me…
The journalists knew about Belarus. But they asked me to tell them about the work of our journalists. When I started describing it I could see them sharing my feelings, many things were familiar to them. However, one of them – Lius Pino – said thoughtfully:
- I hope we will be living like you once. At least you have access to the Internet…
Journalists print pages from the blog in the Embassy and give them out later. They do it in spite of the fact that it puts them in jeopardy – they may be imprisoned for dozens of years. They may be imprisoned for 3-15 years for inimical propaganda and for 8-25 years for illegal publications.
Theoretically you can use the Internet in hotels or in post offices. But it is more a tourist’s pastime. The majority of Cubans simply cannot afford it. An hour on the Internet costs from 6 to 9 dollars. The average wage on the Freedom Island is 428 Cuban pesos which is about 17 dollars. Would you spend half of your wage on an hour on the Internet?..
However, rich tourists are not always lucky to find the Internet. There can be no cards left and ancient PCs may break down… It is practically impossible to find a USB port in Cuban computers.
The official Cuban press is two major national newspapers and one regional edition. There are a few entertaining and Catholic editions. The “Granma” newspaper continues publishing Fidel Castro’s letters. For example, it published a letter about the dismissal of the Minister of Education - “The living and the dead”. Castro explains why the Minister was dismissed – they could not trust him anymore because he had been abroad 70 times. He left the country thrice a month during the last three years. The article ends with this phrase: “I will express my humble opinion as long as I can and as long as I feel the need to do it. We, the living and the dead, will continue struggling!”
Not a single issue of “Granma” is left without the vilification of the USA and George Bush in particular. The same can be seen in Cuban TV. The majority of programmes are political. The rest of the time is devoted to music, low-quality films and Latin American novellas.
Even Cubans are tired of reading and watching it every day. That is why they mainly use official mass media to find out the results of sports competitions. However, to tell you the truth, soap operas are rather popular with people. Coming back to my casa particular in the evenings, I often saw people watching one and the same novella on their TV-sets. Some Cubans confessed that they knew that the television was lying. But there was nothing else to watch…
In fact, there is an independent radio station broadcasting from Miami. It is radio “Marti” and radio “Republic”. However, not all Cubans know about these mass media. There was a radio station for tourists in Cuba at the end of the 80s and at the beginning of the 90s. Local inhabitants managed to pick up the signal. They listened to musical and entertaining stations from Miami using home-made aerials. But the regime destroyed all aerials.
For example, a journalist Amarilis has such an aerial. People in plain clothes came to her and said that the USA was complaining that someone kept stealing their signal. They told her to take the aerial away.
One of our acquaintances, a Cuban journalist Huan Gonsales, has a good command of English. He went through some courses, but he complained he could not go abroad. But he believes that the situation will change for the better.
- When? – I asked.
- Just the day before I die, - he replied.
- Where would you like to go first?
- To New Orleans. There is only whiskey and jazz there. I will drink whiskey and listen to the Rolling Stones… Mick Jagger, don’t die please, wait for me…
The journalists knew about Belarus. But they asked me to tell them about the work of our journalists. When I started describing it I could see them sharing my feelings, many things were familiar to them. However, one of them – Lius Pino – said thoughtfully:
- I hope we will be living like you once. At least you have access to the Internet…
