Licentiousness of the Press

Licentiousness of the Press / Miriam Celaya
Posted on April 9, 2013

Preliminary Note to readers: For reasons way beyond my control, I did
not have the chance to update the blog for many days. The Desdecuba.com
page was hacked twice, and Yoani Sánchez and other friends are still
trying to get it fixed. I am posting a new article, and I hope complete
service will be established soon. Thanks and hugs to all friends.

It's true that in Cuba there is no freedom of the press. In its place,
press licentiousness, as prolific and thorny as the invasive marabou
weed, has developed. It is a peculiar way to "report", and, as crazy as
the results are, (or perhaps because of it), it's very consistent with
the system.

The press is one of the indicators that most markedly evidences signs of
change, a constant that has an influence even in societies such as ours,
where secrecy rules. Some of the readers with sharper memories will
remember that, during the period of Castro I, we experienced an
absolutely triumphant press: all the milestones of the three first
decades of the revolution were positive, crop and livestock production
grew each year, indicators of health, education, sports and culture
marked an unstoppable upward course, the harvests were huge, and so were
all the line-entries that heralded an economic splendor always knocking
at our doors, without ever entering our lives.

Not even the 1990's crisis was able to destroy the vibrant spirit of a
kind of completely alienated optimism. So the press repeated each
inspired and inflamed phrase of the Great Orate, and we didn't have
food, clothing, shoes or fuel… but we did have "dignity". We also had
the celebrated battle for Elián, one of the most resonant Pyrrhic
victories in Cuban history, in which substantial resources were spent
while people went hungry, and a while later we had "Five Heroes"… who,
some day, will "return". Then came the open tribunals each Saturday in
different municipalities throughout Cuba, squandering what we didn't
have, and the absurd Round Tables were instituted. The press had the
mission to inflate the balloons that substantiated the indestructible
success and the indisputable superiority of the tropical socialist
system, despite the collapse of the USSR and the abrupt disappearance of
subsidies.

But it has been under the period of Castro II that licentiousness of the
press has reached its climax, especially in the heat of the "opening"
marked by the so-called government reforms, where the economic
parameters sealed the full apogee of an original way to "report" under
which things are not what they seem, but something completely different.

This explains why, for example, official figures reported a modest GDP
growth at the end of 2012, and, paradoxically, at the barely ending
first trimester in 2013, an expanded meeting of the Council of Ministers
acknowledged hereto unspeakable evils in the Cuban economy: lack of
productivity, inefficiency, defaults, lack of organization and lack of
discipline, among others, that prevented the fulfillment of the plans.
Nobody bothered to explain this strange way of "growing" by being
unproductive.

Indicators of the progress of the harvest and sugar production were
recently published, with very poor results, and, compared with the same
period last year, a decrease in foreign tourist arrivals has been
reported for the month of February, 2013 (full peak of tourist season).
However, the press ensures that the investment plan will continue for
that "priority sector" and that an increase in revenue is expected on
this line-entry of this important economic sector.

The Moa nickel plant ceased production, however, the General-President
insists on "the need to work to guarantee the assured external income,
including those derived from the export of nickel and sugar", although
the country is forced to import sugar just to meet domestic demand. In
his words, "we are moving at a great pace despite the obstacles". With
such news, it seems clear where progress is moving, but there is no
doubt that this informative coven lurching between chaos and optimism is
the mirror image of the national condition.

In short, the press turns out to be more licentious the more
representative of the Castro II "transparency" it is. But there is
nothing to wonder at, according to the dictionary of the Spanish
language, some synonyms of the word "licentiousness" are: impudence,
obscenity, indecency, dishonesty, shamelessness, among others. I guess
that, once the terms are known, nobody will deny that licentiousness of
the press in Cuba is enjoying perfect health.

Translated by Norma Whiting

8 April 2013

http://translatingcuba.com/licentiousness-of-the-press-miriam-celaya/