Related videos:
The journalist Cristina Escobar surprised social media with an unusually critical comment about the Cuban state press, pointing out its inability to fulfill its social role and to report truthfully and thoroughly on the reality of the country.
His reflection, published on Facebook in response to a post by fellow journalist and vice president of the Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC), Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, arises amid the controversy sparked by the recent statements made by musician Israel Rojas, leader of the group Buena Fe, during an interview on the YouTube channel of La Joven Cuba (LJC).
“Everyone is worried about LJC and they don't even look at the state of our media”, wrote Escobar, who lamented that official media have surrendered the public conversation space to independent platforms like La Joven Cuba, the only ones, according to her, that have managed to fill the void of analysis and debate with a “voice among millions.”
The journalist denounced that state media have abandoned their commitment to provide the public with "truthful, accurate, intentional, and critical" information. She went further by calling for a reevaluation of resource usage, the design of television programming, and the way official media discourse is constructed.
"Fulfill the social mandate of the media, have real interview programs, offer genuine and quality entertainment, use money for useful purposes and not to fill airtime...", insisted Escobar, before closing with a crushing statement: "The telescope turned upside down, once again."
Who is Cristina Escobar?
Escobar was, a few years ago, one of the most prominent and controversial figures in Cuban state journalism. A graduate of the Faculty of Communication at the University of Havana and with a master's degree from University of Westminster, she has played key roles within state media, particularly as a presenter of the National Television News.
For years, she was promoted as the young and "modern" face of the regime's media apparatus, crafted by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) as a figure close to power, aligned with the official discourse and a beneficiary of perks reserved for loyal journalists.
However, his career has been marked by contrasts. In 2017, he fell into disgrace within the system, following a series of vehement statements against the administration of Barack Obama and the process of reestablishing relations between Cuba and the U.S.
Apparently, his verbal radicalism had caused internal friction, and his departure from the Noticiero Estelar was interpreted as a "symbolic degradation."
More recently, Escobar has surprised many with critical comments regarding the Cuban media system. In 2021, during a meeting with Miguel Díaz-Canel, she admitted that the official press “did not cover what happened on the streets” during the protests of 11J, and criticized the rigid and politically correct discourse of the ICRT.
"Our cameras didn't go out, and they create the story," he said, referring to the informational vacuum that forced reliance on citizen and foreign narratives.
"I don't see myself going to Asturias to give lessons."
Escobar's post is a response to a previous post by Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, who, visibly upset, wrote a metaphor to criticize the intervention of the Spanish political scientist Carlos González Penalva, who dismissed Israel Rojas's interview on Cubadebate for taking place in an independent media outlet.
“I don’t know, I can’t see myself going to explain in Asturias what the militancy of Izquierda Unida should do there, no matter how supportive I may be,” wrote Rodríguez Cruz, directly referring to Penalva's condescending origin and tone, who acted as an unofficial spokesperson for the regime in his column The Trap of Equidistance.
The controversy has highlighted not only the opportunism of Israel Rojas's discourse, accused by vast sectors of civil society of attempting a moderate shift without breaking away from power, but also the increasingly visible rift within the official apparatus, where figures like Escobar are beginning to publicly express their frustration over the credibility crisis of state media.
Meanwhile, the regime is attempting to "recycle" Rojas as a valid figure for institutional debate. Less than 48 hours before the interview, Lis Cuesta Peraza, the wife of the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel and director of events at the Ministry of Culture, enthusiastically announced that the musician will participate as a guest in her class at the Higher Institute of Art (ISA) on cultural industries.
A move that many interpret as part of a strategy of symbolic whitewashing for figures close to power who have lost legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
Cristina Escobar's words resonate powerfully because they partially break the usual silence of the government regarding the deterioration of the public media system in Cuba.
In a country where information is heavily controlled, and where critical journalists are persecuted or forced into exile, their comment reflects a latent tension. In their own words: “We are doing poorly by inventing enemies when we do not see the lamentable and painful ruins of our own media.”
Filed under: