An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela

An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela / Angel Santiesteban
Posted on April 1, 2014

Thanks to the god of the communication media, in Venezuela the national
and foreign TV hasn't been sold to Chavismo, and they report on events
immediately, without concern for reprisals.

In Cuba we face another reality. The foreign broadcasters (independent
national stations don't exist), rarely look behind the news that would
harm the government, that would immediately put an end to the long
vacations they take in the archipelago living in five-star hotels.

The times I accompanied the Ladies in White, I never saw a TV reporter,
knowing that in some way, their being there would protect them from the
arrests and abuse. If they did their duty, the images of our events
would speak for themselves, and the activists would risk more. But in
most cases, we suffer the beatings and they arrest us without leaving
any witnesses to defend us, save those times when the opposition itself
can record it and upload it to the Internet.

Before entering prison, the only media based in the island that came to
me was the Associated Press (AP) via Andrea Rodríguez, their
correspondent. All the opposition advised me not to grant her an
interview, branded her as a Cuban security agent, used to misrepresent
the evidence, and to manipulate the news to favor the communist
government and harm the opposition.

But I agreed anyway because I am someone who has nothing to hide and
does not avoid talking, and I fell into the trap. The news was delivered
my version amputated in a ghost article, obviously official, of one of
those writers who then signed the letters against me in Cuban Writers
and Artists Union (UNEAC). The author, who also refused to give her name
and the reporter respected that — put my words in doubt and as much as
possible gave the official version.

Following that, I had an exchange with the reporter and told her I
understood she was hardly ethical if she gave my testimony with my name,
and then sought people who doubted my word and refused to give theirs,
staying in the shade, because that position was not transparent.

Later I learned that this "journalist" is married to a former official
from the political police. It doesn't matter how far certain
commentaries goe if they lack impartiality.

The opposition lacks media coverage before the world in terms of real
and direct news, and this marks the great different with the rest of the
countries which, in recent years, have had large social movements.

We need journalists to accompany us in this war against the dictatorship.

Ángel Santiesteban-Prats

Lawton Prison Settlement. March 2014

Please sign the petition to Amnesty International here.
https://secure.avaaz.org/es/petition/Para_que_Amnistia_Internacional_declare_prisionero_de_conciencia_al_disidente_cubano_Angel_Santiesteban/?fbss

31 March 2014

Source: An Opportune Difference Between Cuba and Venezuela / Angel
Santiesteban | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/an-opportune-difference-between-cuba-and-venezuela-angel-santiesteban/