Officials from Las Tunas clarify that "weekly package" vendors will be able to continue their activity.

After the regime published the list of 125 prohibited economic activities for non-state economic forms, a great controversy arose regarding the prohibition or not of the so-called "weekly package."

The list, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Cuba No. 78 of 2024, prompted the state-run Periódico 26, from Las Tunas, to present itself before the specialists of the Municipal Labor Directorate with the question: "Will the weekly package and the Turkish soap operas come to an end?"

Although the website originally posted the article on its Facebook page, it later removed it. However, Raudel Rodríguez, a government-affiliated journalist from the provincial station Radio Victoria, reproduced the text in its entirety on his social media and added some reflections.

According to the shared text, specialists from the Municipal Directorate of Labor explained that decree 107 (On the activities not authorized to be carried out by micro, small and medium-sized private enterprises, non-agricultural cooperatives, and self-employed workers) includes in its annex 1, section I, paragraph 62 among the prohibited activities the "Creation of record labels, music publishers, and entities for the marketing of records and other phonographic media (5920)."

However, officials pointed out that "the very regulation immediately states that 'licenses for disk sellers already approved' are exempt from this prohibition."

The text shared by the state newspaper clarifies that: “Until now, self-employed individuals who provide copying services for different audiovisual materials do so under the license to engage in the activity of record seller.”

However, the decree clarifies that "no new licenses will be issued for record sellers," noted Periódico 26.

Journalist Raudel Rodríguez made a personal observation regarding the new decree: “The package remains. What will not be authorized are new licenses for record sellers (in this case, those who produce audiovisual recordings).”

Regarding the controversy involving the famous "weekly package," and the original post from Periódico 26, influencer Edmundo Dantés Junior pointed out on Facebook: "The decree does make it clear that no new licenses for 'disc sellers' will be issued. But it does not say anything about the weekly package at all."

The profile also added: “So I don't know if they were never going to remove it and we misunderstood (because of its wording), or if the journalists didn't eat enough to analyze that they didn't answer the question.”

Finally, he sarcastically remarked: “Who buys music records? What is this, 1984?” suggesting the absurdity of the new decree, which seems disconnected from current cultural consumption habits and how content circulates in society.

In addition, it highlights that the regime seeks to control the distribution of the "weekly package" by limiting the issuance of new licenses.

Last year, the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel stated that the content of that "weekly package" was a "concern," for which he advocated introducing national production stories into it.

"It's not just the issue of 'the phones,' there could be more concerns, everything that comes to us through the package, through a movie, and are we going to stop watching movies, are we going to stop using the phone?" he questioned in a meeting with Cuban lawmakers.

In 2018, the regime introduced censorship in this initiative by prohibiting some television shows produced in Miami, and some news programs, including the newscasts from Telemundo and Univisión 23. The show TN3, hosted by Cuban presenter Carlos Otero, was also eliminated at that time.