The most common attack against CiberCuba is that we are a media outlet funded by dark interests. According to the rumors spread by opponents of the journalism we do, the money that enables our work comes from some secret basement or a discreet subversion program that always, without exception, leads back to the usual suspect: the United States.
For those opponents of our page, which reached 15 million pageviews just last January, 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 from 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 work for some "anti-Cuban" lobby in South Florida.
CiberCuba was founded five years ago and was entirely self-funded by Luis Flores and Luis Manuel Mazorra, its two founders. The friends who joined our website from the very beginning, when we were just an aggregator of news and videos produced by other outlets, did so without receiving a single cent.
Those founders and collaborators worked on this page part-time while earning their daily living through other jobs. Only the passage of time and an indefinite number of sleepless nights dedicated to growing the project allowed the increasing traffic to generate profits sufficient for them to devote themselves to CiberCuba full-time.
Who finances CiberCuba?
Our current revenue comes solely and exclusively from Internet ads or from advertising contracted by independent advertisers with no ties to political organizations, interest groups, or, much less, any government.
In 2019, CiberCuba generated a revenue of 859,297 euros and 51 cents. The source of this amount is distributed as follows: 330,981.36 euros from advertising agencies; 232,492.21 euros from AdSense (Google's advertising platform); 188,251.79 euros from advertising on Facebook (where we have nearly one million followers); and 107,572.16 euros from direct advertisers. It is also important to clarify that no direct advertiser accounts for more than 10% of CiberCuba's total revenue.
Of the total amount received, exactly 65.2% is allocated to personnel expenses, with the salaries of 34 employees and collaborators making up the largest portion. 20.4% is dedicated to professional services and the technology necessary for our information production. The remaining 14.3% covers office expenses, Internet, servers and platforms, and news agencies.
Not a single cent that allows us to exist as a medium 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 what we spend is allocated to contribute to any political agenda or power group. CiberCuba produces news, and its revenue sustains us. Any other accusation or allegation is simply false.
CiberCuba has remained uninfluenced until today by any budget that caters to political or partisan interests. And this will continue to be the case. We celebrate the existence of funds that allow for the development of independent programs for Cubans seeking freedom, but we believe in the necessity of journalism free from compromises or 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. And that goal is what makes us a target of attacks from those who alone need to conceal it: the government of Cuba.
It is that government, through its official spokespersons and influence agents planted around the world, that spreads the falsehood that CiberCuba serves the interests of USAID and that we receive money for it.
And that low endeavor is, after all, understandable. In just a few years, we have become the most read page on Cuban topics in the world, and we are the preferred medium used by Cubans living on the island to inform themselves about their reality. This is true despite censorship and being permanently blocked throughout the country.
The day the Cuban dictatorship demonstrates even a fraction of the transparency we uphold with our accounts, we will understand the magnitude of the disaster to which they have condemned an entire people for 61 years of disgraceful continuity.
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