Fidel's Latest Bloviations

Fidel wants the US to ease sanctions on Cuba, but in the next breath suggests that democracy would mean annexation by the US. The latest statement from Fidel also claims that he had fun listening to the presidential candidates talking about the need for change, and thinks that the change needs to come in the US, not Cuba.

Just tell it to all the starving people in your country. For all that wonderful public education you claim to provide, no one can actually write anything unflattering of the government without worry that they'll be thrown in prison never to be heard from again. And the media is a willing accomplice to hide the truth from the world.

Babalu's Cubawatcher, notes the bargain struck by the wire services for access on the island. It means that you will not get straight news reporting, but instead reporting thoroughly spun to remove any criticism of Cuba at all and devoid of any criticism of the Castro regime:

I went on a bit further, employing Henry Gomez’s categorization of the AP/Havana Bureau deal as nothing less than a Faustian bargain with the devil. God forbid the AP should run with stories that paint the Castro regime in an overtly negative light. This isn’t to say that I want the AP, or any other news organization for that matter, to transform itself into an anti-Fidel propaganda agency. Just report the truth . . . the whole truth. Where are the expose’s on the island’s shattered healthcare system? Why, during the hub-bub back in August 2007 when the world was sure Fidel was in fact dead, did the AP choose to print fluff stories regarding the “average joe’s” feelings on the street. During my time on the island recently, the high-fives in anticipation of the dictator’s demise were everywhere. The hopeful rumors of the end of the regime were palpable and Cuba’s streets were electric with anticipation. One certainly didn’t get that feeling from the AP’s coverage.

Mr. X nearly blew beer out from his nose, let out a laugh and lit another cigarette.

“Come on man, everyone knows that. Hell, every foreign news outlet on the island is playing the same game.”

In short, he admitted the whole nasty truth of the matter. Mr. X came clean and attributed the AP’s dirty deal to business, pure-and-simple. The world’s largest news gathering agency needs to be on that island for the big coffin show and nothing – not journalistic integrity, not truth, not the lives of 12-million lost souls – is going to get in its way.

Just as CNN did before them, AP doesn't care so much about journalism so much as it craves access.