Escalation of Illegal Anti-Cuba Transmissions Condemned

Roberto Pérez Betancourt—Granma daily—
Havana
May 16, 2008

THE U.S. government has implemented an escalation of its radio/television aggression of Cuba by increasing the vast resources that it has pumped into this interventionist exercise since the early days of the Revolution.

Specialists from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) and Informatics and Communications (MIC) presented this condemnation on the Thursday edition of the Cuban radio and TV Informative Roundtable, during which they cited evidence of reiterated violations of international law and an open defiance of the island’s sovereignty.

Declassified documents from the CIA detail U.S. government operations against Cuba via the illegal use of radio broadcasts, they noted.

Carlos Martínez, general director of the MIC, mentioned historical antecedents of these broadcasts and the illicit use of commercial radio stations located in Miami and protected by the U.S. government over the last 50 years, and others specifically created with subversive intentions.

The analysts confirmed that these broadcasting stations transmit a weekly average of 1,889 hours of radio and TV on 30 frequencies and that the United States has incorporated high-cost international and commercial satellite transmissions into its illegal systems.

Martínez noted that 131 counterrevolutionary organizations have broadcast anti-Cuba programs via slots hired from Florida radio stations, and quoted examples of the inaccuracy of their content and the complicity of the U.S. authorities.

The MIC expert spoke of reiterated defeats suffered by the U.S. administration at the hands of international agencies on account of its flagrant legal violations, which are systematically recorded by Cuba as a basis for its exposés of the effects that these have had on national broadcasting services.

The so-called Radio and TV Martí are part of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, founded in 1985 and owned by the U.S. government, the aim of which is to disseminate tendentious information and programs to the island to destabilize its government, confuse the population and incite subversion.

Both projects have cost U.S. taxpayers more than $600 million. In real terms, that money benefits elements of the anti-Cuban mafia who supported the election and subsequent reelection of George W. Bush, and includes congress members of Cuban origin like Lincoln Díaz-Balart.

Although over its 17-plus years of intervention, TV Martí has tested out sophisticated technologies involving aircraft and distinct channels, its signal cannot be received by the island’s televisions, thanks to the effective action of national specialists.

Journalist Reynaldo Taladrid affirmed that those signals form part of a historic project designed by the U.S. government and executed with the collaboration of counterrevolutionary organizations.

The directors and other beneficiaries of the TV Martí budget have unsuccessfully tried to refute the failure of their transmissions to Cuba, and ironically, have received $400,000 per year to pay TV Azteca to include its signal in that station’s regular programs, which has likewise come to nothing.

Other current scandals involve journalists illegally paid by Radio and TV Martí.

In April 2007, José M. Miranda, alias Chema, former program director of TV Martí, was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment and fined $5,000 for having accepted bribes from the Perfect Image & Video company.

That company paid him $112,000 in 73 checks between November 26, 2001 and December 20, 2004, in return for benefits received.

On May 20, 2003, the Bush government began to use the Pentagon C 130 solo command military aircraft to beam the invasive signal.

In that context, Colonel Roque Garrigó of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, explained that this was when the U.S. president declared the beginning of a new escalation in its aggression against Cuba.

He gave details of the strength of the equipment used by that aircraft, with a potential of 10 Kilowatts and a 200-km reach, and added that each current anti-Cuba broadcast costs around $150,000.

Hugo Fernández, a MIC expert, explained that the 2007 World Conference of the UN Telecommunications specialized body stated that Washington’s anti-Cuba broadcasts were illegal.

The forum was attended by delegates from 164 countries, with the United States declining to attend.

Rodolfo Reyes, MINREX director of multilateral affairs, spoke of other condemnations by Cuba in the international sphere, including the UN General Assembly.

He emphasized the general support the island has been given in response to its claims and reaffirmed that, given Washington’s mockery of the condemnations it has received, Cuba will continue defending its sovereignty in all spheres. (AIN)

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2008/mayo/vier16/transmissions.html