The most common attack against CiberCuba is that we are a media outlet funded by hidden interests. According to the rumors spread by those opposed to our journalism, the money that enables our work comes from some secret basement or a covert subversion program that invariably leads back to the usual suspect: the United States.
For those enemies of our page, which reached 15 million pageviews last January alone, distorting the essence and functioning of CiberCuba is essential for the survival of their totalitarian model. Consequently, the attack is always the same: accusing us of responding to interests originating in the United States.
The spokespeople for the propaganda originating from Havana systematically repeat the same defamatory slogans: one day we are funded by the Cuban American National Foundation, another day we are a special project of USAID, and then we are said to work for some "anti-Cuban" lobby from South Florida.
CiberCuba was founded five years ago and was entirely self-funded by its two founders, Luis Flores and Luis Manuel Mazorra. The friends who joined our website from the beginning, when we were just an aggregator of news and videos produced by other outlets, did so without receiving a penny.
Those founders and collaborators worked on this site part-time, while earning their daily livelihood through other jobs. Only the passage of time and an countless sleepless nights dedicated to growing the project allowed the increasing traffic to generate enough revenue for them to devote themselves to CiberCuba full-time.
Who funds CiberCuba?
Our current income is generated solely from online advertisements or advertising contracted by independent advertisers with no ties to political organizations, influential groups, or any government.
In 2019, CiberCuba generated revenue amounting to €859,297.51. This total can be broken down as follows: €330,981.36 came from advertising agencies; €232,492.21 from AdSense (Google's advertising platform); €188,251.79 from Facebook advertising (where we have nearly one million followers); and €107,572.16 from direct advertisers. Additionally, it is important to note that no single direct advertiser accounts for more than 10% of CiberCuba's total income.
Of the total income, exactly 65.2% is allocated to personnel expenses, which primarily consist of the salaries of 34 employees and collaborators. About 20.4% is dedicated to professional services and the technology needed for our information production. The remaining 14.3% covers office expenses, internet services, servers, platforms, and news agencies.
Not a single cent that allows us to exist as a media outlet has been provided by any program or agency from the United States, Spain (where our main headquarters is located), or any other nation. Furthermore, not a single cent of our expenses is intended to support any political agenda or power group. CiberCuba produces news, and its revenue sustains us. Any other accusations or claims are simply untrue.
CiberCuba has remained detached from any budget that serves political or partisan interests until today, and it will continue to do so. We celebrate the existence of funds that enable the development of independent programs for Cubans seeking freedom, but we believe in the necessity of journalism that is free from compromises and hidden agendas.
Our sole goal is the truth: to depict as accurately as possible the reality of the country where most of our readers were born or live. This objective is what makes us a target for attacks from the one entity that seeks to conceal it: the government of Cuba.
It is that government, through its official spokespersons and influence agents spread throughout the world, that propagates the falsehood that CiberCuba serves the interests of USAID and that we receive funding for it.
That low profile is, after all, understandable. In just a few years, we have become the most-read platform for Cuban topics worldwide, and we are the preferred source for Cubans living on the island to stay informed about their reality. This is true despite censorship and being permanently blocked throughout the country.
The day the Cuban dictatorship shows even a fraction of the transparency that we uphold with our accounts, we will understand the extent of the disaster to which they have condemned an entire people for 61 years of shameful continuity.
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