THE AMERICANIZATION OF CUBAN TELEVISION

A Cuban family watches TV: Photo of April 19, 2000 by Rafael Perez/Reuters.

This article reveals the Americanization of Cuban state television.

"Hours and hours of subversive American programming fill Cuba’s airwaves each day, attracting millions of viewers on the island with shows like “Desperate Housewives,” “Friends” and “Grey’s Anatomy.” How do they get there? They’re broadcast by Cuba’s own communist government.

Every night, Cuban television viewers are treated to programming lineup loaded with contradictory messages. From 6 p.m. to 8:30 or so, the government’s news and commentary predictably depict the United States as a racist, dysfunctional and violent mess, highlighting all the day’s negative stories. Then the same state-owned TV channels fill their prime-time slots with Hollywood movies and American programs loaded with images of prosperous American households, brilliant American doctors and fair-minded American courts of law, all populated by exceedingly healthy and charismatic actors of every race and ethnicity.

So how do Cuban TV viewers reconcile these dueling impressions?

“It’s two sides of the same country,” said Lorena Sandoval, a 60-year-old Havana resident who says the mixed programming is a reminder that not everything in the United States is entirely good or bad.

Sandoval’s not sure many Cubans get the nuance, though. “They just see the nice cars and houses and think everyone in the U.S. lives that way,” said Sandoval, herself a devoted fan of “Gilmore Girls,” “CSI: Las Vegas” and “The Dog Whisperer.”

Cuba has five national television channels, and last weekend, the programming included a broad range of foreign and locally produced programming, everything from Cuban baseball games and low-budget music shows to “101 Dalmatians” and episodes of HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” The only commercials were public service announcements — encouraging people to conserve electricity, avoid littering and use condoms, for instance.

“I think Cuban TV’s main goal is educational,” said Javier Torres, a 32-year-old Havana resident who said his only major gripe about state-run programming is the lack of diverse viewpoints on news and commentary programs. His favorite show is the prison drama “Oz.”

Of course, state-controlled programming isn’t the only thing Cubans are watching. Thousands of island residents have illegal satellite dishes that allow them to watch Dish or Direct TV programming from Miami, and although the Cuban government periodically cracks down, it’s a lucrative business. One illegal satellite provider in Havana said he had more than 100 customers, each paying about $40 a month for service."

See complete article:
The Revolution, televised
By Nick Miroff
Published: February 17, 2010 07:37 ET

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AVATAR IN CUBAN TELEVISION

CUBA BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION

To those wondering about the so-called "achievements" of the revolution there is some data to consider: By 1959 Cuba had twice the per-capita income of Spain. Today Spain surpasses Cuba's per-capita income 7 times.

In a 50 year period from 1958 to the present - whereas some nations such as Spain and South Korea went from underdevelopment to the development, or at least en route to such a goal, Cuba had a backward regression to become one of the poorest and least free societies in the Western World.




Gonzalo de Quesada, Cuba (Washington: International Bureau of American Republics, 1905) 43-44.

A CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER NEAR DEATH

But ... who is Orlando Zapata Tamayo? Why has he been subjected to such torture? Why should his punishment be so long?

... He was arrested during the Black Spring of 2003, in the days when the world's attention was distracted by the American invasion of Iraq. Zapata was condemned to 25 years, and during the seven years he has been imprisoned he has been summarily tried on several occasions so that with the time added he is now sentenced to 47 years.

Zapata Tamayo is a black Cuban and a front-line opponent of the Castro dictatorship -- clear enough reasons for him to be punished. He is a member of the illegal Alternative Republican Movement whose work focused on taking to the streets and explaining person-to-person about the atrocities of the Cuban military regime against its people. But for the Cuban government, all black people, supposedly, ought to pay homage to Fidel Castro, "the liberator of the black race, and the good master who came to free us blacks." And that was exactly the lesson that Zapata did not want to accept.

Since his incarceration he has led strong protests, which, although peaceful, were intolerable to the prison authorities, and for this he has suffered beatings, humiliation, prolonged solitary confinements, and has since been subject to the maximum prison severity in his first phase.

Follow the complete article:

A Cuban Political Prisoner Nears Death, Is the World Watching?
Yoanis Sanchez
The Huffington Post

AVATAR IN CUBA

Yesterday Cuban state television showed the film 'Avatar.' This of course gives some "entertainment" to the people but it also shows how the Cuban government is heavily involved in TV piracy.

This is not a new occurrence as in the past Cuban TV channels (Cubavisión, Telerebelde, Canal Educativo I and II have presented without license or permission of any type the latest TV series such as Grey's Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewife, Law and Order and many other films/series/cartoons/documentaries without permission of any type. It is ironic that the Cuban government persecutes people with clandestine satellite systems and yet it engages in state sponsored piracy.

Most Cubans are witness of how the ICRT (the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television) is crowded with hacked satellite systems.

Why American networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) and even cable channels such as HBO and Showtime are not doing anything about it?


This is a copy of TV Guide from a newspaper in Cuba for Saturday, February 6. The film was shown yesterday in channel Cubavisión at 10:15 pm.

CUBAN STUDENT EXPELLED FROM HAVANA UNIVERISTY

Evidence of censorship and disrespect for basic liberties in Cuba

Feb 6, 2010: Darío Alejandro Paulino Escobar, founder/administrator of the Grupo de la Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de La Habana at Facebook was suspended for two years from the Faculty of Journalism for posting dissident comments on the web. The justification used by the Cuban government was that Dario posted the contents of a meeting of Cuba's Communist Youth (UJC) on the web. Most likely Dario will never study at any other university in Cuba. As in previous cases the "excuse" for temporary expulsion in Cuba due to ideological conflicts turns into permanent prohibition to study.

Source: Penultimos Dias

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CONTEMPORARY CUBA?

This is no space for apology and applause; it is a site for criticism. The objective of this Blog is to make visible that ‘Other Cuba’ - hidden from Granma and Mesa Redonda.Through daily news and comments I will show the other side of Cuba - that other Cuba of arbitrary arrests, human rights violations, poverty, daily survival, double morale, exodus, racism and prostitution.I do not claim to have absolute truth on anything, this merely presents a side of the story for readers to confront this and other sources on Cuba and come up with their own conclusions. Hopefully this blog will be a key part of the ever growing Cuban blogosphere and in conjunction with other sites present a critical approach to daily life in Cuba.