The editorial team of the independent media The touch He denounced this Wednesday the State Security harassment of nine young journalists from his newsroom in Cuba, who therefore resigned from their work.
During a conference broadcast on YouTubethe directors, residing abroad, responded to the questions raised that same day by an editorial titled The night will not be eternal using a phrase from the opposition leader Oswaldo Payá.
Four of these young people, Mauro Díaz Vázquez, José Leandro Garbey, Aleiny Sánchez and Meilin Puertas, were regulated before traveling to Argentina, where they had been invited to participate in the Media Party, one of the most important regional journalism events.
José Jasán Nieves, director of the media , He explained that, not satisfied with the travel ban, State Security subjected them to “direct and indirect” pressure so that they would quit their job.
Nieves describes the methods of the political police as “a mechanism of psychological torture”, a “term that may sound strong”, but perfectly describes the actions of the repressive bodies of the Cuban Government, which has declared an “open war” against anyone who contravenes official propaganda.
It is logical that “a power that needs us to live in an alternative reality” attacks the opposition “with all the repressive force of its apparatus”
According to the account of these young people, they were asked to make public their resignation to The touch, filming a video of “self-incrimination” that, Nieves alleges, has a lot to do with the famous Padilla Case due to its “Stalinist resonances”. An exercise in “sadism”, she insists, which Humberto López or some other “person of the regime” will later use to carry out a campaign of disqualification, an “assassination of character”.
For his part, Eloy Viera, coordinator of the The legal touch He mentioned that it is difficult to “seek legality” in the actions of the Cuban regime. “Only propaganda is allowed,” he said, the rest is not allowed, and there is a tendency to use the law as a mechanism to “legitimize human rights violations,” appealing to concepts such as national security.
After his complaint, the editorial team took advantage of the moment to reflect on the context that independent journalism is going through on the Island since the artists’ claims against the Ministry of Culture, on November 27, 2020, and the protests on July 11, 2020. next year.
On the other hand, he discussed two points with which the Government habitually disqualifies the work of this medium: the monitoring of currency exchange rates in the informal market and the financing of the page. . Regarding the first, he explained that transparent and public algorithms are used to arrive at the daily figure that is disclosed to users, and regarding the economy of the medium, he explained that no program or institution has ever intervened in its editorial agenda.
It is logical that “a power that needs us to live in an alternative reality” attacks the opposition “with all the repressive force of its apparatus,” added Nieves, who also lamented the exile to which the main directors of the media have been forced.
“Thanks to technology, it is increasingly easier to continue reporting on Cuba even though we are not in Cuba,” he said, and indicated that his team, which he described as “multi-located,” will find “ways” to communicate from abroad, “because They’ll shut us up.”
Nieves specified that the situation is not unique to The touch, but other media have experienced similar “repressive waves” in recent years, which “is nothing more than another expression of the circumstance and the general crisis that our country is experiencing.”
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