More than 400 deputies of the National Assembly of Cuba approved on Thursday in an extraordinary session the draft media law that maintains the leadership of the Communist Party and that does not contemplate the existence of the so-called independent media.
It is the first regulation for the media created since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who attended the session with former President Raúl Castro, defended the initiative.
The press and communications sector is often a contentious area in the Caribbean nation, where there are no privately owned newspapers or television stations and the most far-reaching belong to the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).
Critics accuse them of being more interested in propaganda than balanced coverage of the facts, but their defenders say action is necessary in a context of increasing manipulation of information.
The law does not contemplate the existence of the so-called independent media, especially the internet portals that have multiplied in recent years, and it is not clear what the impact of the regulation would be on said media. On the other hand, the norm specifies that the media can only belong to the State or to recognized associations -such as the trade union center- or to be community and that in any case, their objective will never be to subvert the socialist order and they must be registered in a state entity.
“The project does not recognize respect for political diversity,” said an analysis of the digital portal “El Toque”, one of the media outlets that have emerged in recent years outside of officialdom. According to the reflection of this space, the norm limits the information to the official versions of the facts, as well as the right to reply and prevents citizens from demanding information.
For his part, the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil, reported during the session on the difficult economic situation of the country, the other point on the agenda of the deputies.
Gil acknowledged that the sustained rise in basic prices is one of the most serious problems facing the population: year-on-year inflation –at the end of April—was 45.4%, while the accumulated so far this year reached 11 .39%.
The shortage and the increase in costs, the black market and the resale by individuals of basic goods are hitting the pockets of Cubans. The last notable shortcoming is the lack of fuel.
Gil indicated that although tourism, the engine of Cuban finances, had a tendency to recover, it is still far from the figures prior to the pandemic: as of May 3, one million visitors had been received, 119% more than last year. on the same date but only 51% of the amount of 2019. The authorities indicated that they expect 3.5 million vacationers this year.
Although with an opening to small and medium-sized companies – some 7,900 were approved in the year and a half that they have been authorized -, Gil stressed that the island’s socialist model is based on state companies and industries and highlighted that 285 of these they registered losses –126 less than last year.
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