The Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío accused CNN and Univision of showcasing the severity of the energy and fuel crisis that Cuba is experiencing without assigning enough responsibility to U.S. policy, describing this approach as "complicit" with the alleged punishment against the island's population.
Fernández de Cossío made the accusation this Sunday on Facebook, where he explicitly referred to reports published by CNN and Univision about the hardships faced by Cubans.
"The message they propagate is one of a cruel reality, but without pointing to the author who causes and upholds it. It's a complicit approach with the punishment and the executioner who applies it," wrote the official.
The diplomat stated that both media outlets described "the harsh Cuban reality" associated with the lack of fuel and energy, but devoted "little attention" to what he considers the main cause of those shortages: "the deliberate effort by the U.S. to inflict maximum harm on the Cuban people and subject them to collective punishment."
In the case of CNN en Español, its criticism seems to align with a report published on September 11 regarding the energy crisis and blackouts in Havana, although the Deputy Minister did not explicitly state that it was this journalistic work.
As for Univision, it also did not identify the specific report, although the outlet has devoted several recent covers to the Cuban crisis, including a piece on the practical disappearance of public bus services due to the lack of fuel, which showed how tricycles and bike taxis have become transportation alternatives that many Cubans cannot afford either.
However, the official rhetoric of the Cuban regime against U.S. media is common, much of it being part of the Vice Minister's discourse.
In February, Fernández de Cossío questioned the "objectivity" of American and international media, including The Wall Street Journal and The Economist, which he criticized for what he regarded as a biased coverage of the situation in Cuba.
In May, he revisited the role of the press by accusing major U.S. and international media of “fueling” the idea of a potential military intervention against Cuba, and suggested that some might be acting at the request of the U.S. government or driven by sensationalism.
A month later, the Deputy Foreign Minister once again accused the international press of reporting on Cuba's difficulties without condemning what he called 'collective punishment'.
On that occasion, he stated that media outlets in the United States, Europe, and Latin America portrayed the island’s problems as the responsibility of the Cuban authorities while, according to him, omitting the impact of Washington's policies.
Related videos:
Filed under: