The Cuban Journalists' Union (UPEC) took advantage of the inauguration of the V International Colloquium "Homeland with Fidel," held this Thursday in Havana, to call for the construction of a global propaganda front to counter what the regime calls "lies" about the Island.
The event will continue until this Saturday at the Cultural Station of Línea and 18, in Vedado, and has gathered over 150 delegates from about 25 countries, representing national and international media and digital platforms.
At the inauguration, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, the Secretary of Organization of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), Roberto Morales Ojeda, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, were present, demonstrating the high-level political support that the regime grants to the event.
The president of UPEC, Ricardo Ronquillo Bello, delivered the inaugural speech and set the tone for the meeting with an open call to mobilize communication in defense of the regime: "We must unite, forge a universal common front against organized lies, and counter it with a truth operation like the one we set up against the initial defamatory campaigns against the revolution."
Ronquillo recalled the so-called "Operation Truth," an initiative by Fidel Castro in 1959 to counter the negative international press coverage regarding revolutionary executions, inviting foreign journalists to Havana.
The president of UPEC described the colloquium as the "Girón communicational of the 21st century" and urged action against what he termed the "new global informational communicational disorder," referring to the digital ecosystem that is beyond the regime's control.
The event is dedicated to the centenary of Fidel Castro's birth and the 65th anniversary of the victory at Playa Girón, two anniversaries of great symbolic value for the Cuban dictatorship.
The colloquium includes panels on "Cultural Hegemony and Digital Power" and "Technopolitics: Between Control and Emancipation," as well as workshops on algorithms and artificial intelligence applied to radio production, and is supported by media outlets such as Sputnik and teleSUR.
Among the participants is Humberto López, host of Cuba's National Television, labeled a "violent repressor" by the Foundation for Human Rights in Cuba.
The UPEC, established in 1963, operates as the ideological arm of the PCC and has systematically targeted independent media, accusing them of being instruments of imperialism.
The Social Communication Law in effect in 2026 reinforces that monopoly and legally excludes independent journalism from any recognition.
In the previous edition of the colloquium, held in March 2025, a Spanish propagandist published a fake photo in tribute to Fidel Castro while the event criticized fake news, and the vice president of the UPEC, Francisco Rodríguez Cruz, publicly mocked the closure of Radio Martí.
The discourse on "truth" contrasts sharply with the reality faced by independent media on the Island, which is characterized by censorship, criminalization, and legal exclusion. While the authorities call for a supposed global crusade against disinformation, systematic restrictions on the free exercise of journalism and the silencing of critical voices persist within Cuba.
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