(EFE).– EFE did not publish news about the arrival of El Corte Inglés and other companies in Cuba and there is no official information from these companies with a similar announcement, despite the fact that users on social networks affirm so.
The verification service EFE Verifica has received several requests, in the consultation form on its website, about a message shared on Facebook and Twitter that ensures that El Corte Inglés and other conglomerates such as “Carrefour, Walmart, IKEA, Galeríass Lafayette and Sedano ( sic)” will open new stores in Havana.
This, they add, “after the news of the opening of the Cuban retail market to foreign companies.” The supposed information is attributed to EFE, with a style similar to that of the agency and its name in the heading.
The message also ensures that “expansion throughout the country is expected later” and that the state chains Panamericana and TRD are bidding their stores to accommodate the new brands.
EFE does not have in its database, EFE Data, any news that refers to the opening of new stores such as El Corte Inglés or Walmart in Cuba and a review of the official communications of the mentioned companies reveals that there is no record of an announcement So.
Actually, the current messages only add the name of EFE at the beginning of the publication, but they do not have any of the distinctive marks of this medium.
In 2018, EFE did publish that El Corte Inglés began to sell products from its white brands Aliada and El Corte Inglés in two supermarkets in the Cuban capital through an agreement with the Italian company Farmavenda, a different story from the publication that some users now share, which announces the arrival of the Spanish chain’s stores on the island.
Actually, the current messages only add the name of EFE at the beginning of the publication, but they do not have any of the distinctive marks of this medium.
EFE is an international news agency, owned by the Spanish State. It generates more than 5,000 pieces of information per day in different formats from an extensive network of correspondents that cover more than 120 countries.
There are no media subscribed to EFE that share the supposed news, further proof that it is an identity theft of the agency.
In addition, a search for keywords such as “Havana”, “El Corte Inglés” and other companies mentioned in the article shows that there is no record of similar news in other media.
In the communication portals of the named companies, no communication announcing new operations in Havana has been detected. In addition, the Cuban state conglomerate Cimex – of which the Panamericana chain of state stores is a part – also denied the message on its social networks.
The Cuban government announced in August that it would allow foreign investment in wholesale trade and – through joint ventures – also in retail trade.
In summary, EFE has not published any news about the arrival of El Corte Inglés and other supermarkets in Cuba, and there is no official information from these companies either.
The announcement was part of a package of easing measures to boost the economy, which has suffered a serious economic crisis for two years.
Foreign investors could create entities to trade in the wholesale market and form joint ventures – “selectively” – to “carry out retail trade activities,” said the first deputy minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment, Ana Teresita González.
However, since then there have been no announcements by companies such as El Corte Inglés, “Carrefour, Walmart, IKEA, Galeríass Lafayette and Sedano” of new operations on the Island.
EFE Verifica has already denied another impersonation of the EFE Agency in a false news story attributed to EFE that implicated former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández in a case of tax fraud in France.
In summary, EFE has not published any news about the arrival of El Corte Inglés and other supermarkets in Cuba, and there is no official information from these companies to confirm this, despite what users say on social networks.
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