That the independent media report on the increase in crime in Cuba, including violent crimes, annoys the government. Accustomed to having an information monopoly for more than 60 years that has allowed it to maintain control over the story of an Island in peace, the regime exploded this Thursday through an editorial in the newspaper Granma against the diffusion of red chronicle news that, in his opinion, do not seek to tell the story of the country, but rather “offer the world and the millions of users of the networks a destructive image of our society.”
The text is dressed as a display of compliments to the “revolutionary guard”, which is described as a “moral and civic weapon that replaced in 1959 the corrupt and bloody executioners of the police forces of Batista’s tyranny”, but its purpose is to attack the independent press. This is seen more clearly in the final paragraph: “The need to defend it at whatever price is necessary calls us back to combat, united, firm and with the strength of the people, both in the physical and virtual space, with intelligence , arguments and the weapons that are necessary”.
The text points to the United States as a promoter of “dozens of daily lies or magnification of criminal acts, wrapped in a grotesque red story.” Washington is credited with being behind the “tens of millions of dollars to those who offer to subvert the internal order in Cuba, either personally or via the Internet”; little news, since to get there they review the previous occasions in which the neighboring country dealt the Island “blows of that undeclared war against the economy and society, against daily life and the dreams of progress of the nation.”
The text points to the United States as a promoter of “dozens of daily lies or magnification of criminal acts, wrapped in a grotesque red story”
On the updated list are July 11, the refusal to send “oxygen to save lives” in the covid-19 -ignoring the health exemptions that the embargo has- and the influencers “hooded or without masks (… who) try to sow the opinion matrix of growing insecurity, destabilization and impunity in the country.” According to the editorial, there were “more than 240 calls or incitements” to march against the government.
The note dedicates several paragraphs at this point to praise the work of the security forces, their dedication, their worth, their sacrifice, their humility, their vocation for public service and a host of sweet adjectives before proceeding to provide information. The agents have carried out 11,500 prevention and fight against crime so far this year and their work has resulted in the arrest of more than 12,000 people.
According to the data now offered by the propaganda organ of the Communist Party, 90% of the cases in which firearms were used – whose number they do not provide – have been resolved with the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators. The figure drops sharply with the rest of the crimes, 60%, a poor figure, but defended in the note. “There is no passivity or impunity. The violent acts that have occurred and are shamelessly magnified or manipulated by enemy digital sites constitute 8.5% of the total crimes registered so far this year,” he affirms.
“Transnational crimes and criminal networks are evolving at an unprecedented rate around the world, with many of them manifesting uncontrolled”
The text, however, ends up agreeing with those who maintain that there is an increase in crime in Cuba. The yearbooks of the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei) have not systematically offered crime data, making it impossible to make comparisons that support citizen perception, but the editorial admits that this year cattle thefts have doubled, which have peasants in many regions of the country in suspense.
“The Ministry of the Interior has acted against more than 2,400 people involved in these types of events in the current year. With respect to the same stage in 2022, admission to prison for these crimes has almost doubled,” which for the regime is a sign that the security forces are acting and, if at any time he veiledly acknowledges that crime is on the rise, he frames it in a similar international context.
“Transnational crime and criminal networks are evolving at an unprecedented rate around the world, with many of them rampant,” he rightly argues, citing an Interpol report. In most countries, and this makes Cuba an anomaly, crime statistics are systematically accessible to the population and the media are not accused of promoting hatred or instability for reporting the commission of crimes.
For the regime, the information “stimulates” an alleged scenario of instability that seeks to “discredit the international prestige of Cuba as a safe tourist destination, to hit one of the main economic sources of the country.” That is why he calls for defending citizen security bearing in mind “the moral strength and the example of the historical leaders of the Revolution.”
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