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The
curious think a journalist should know everything
By
Manuel Vázquez Portal, Grupo Decoro / CubaNet
Those
who know I'm an independent journalist believe I have more
information than they do. Whenever they see me, they ask questions
I wish I could answer. They ask with the certainty that I
can satisfy their curiosity, not even considering the possibility
that I may not have up-to-the- minute news. They think a journalist
should know everything that happens in the world. They have
no idea that I'm as poorly informed as they are.
In Cuba,
information is a prerogative, a state secret. Not even the
government's own journalists have all the information, and
those that may, by hook or by crook, come by it, are barred
from divulging it until given orders to do so.
To find
out what happened, is happening, or will happen in the planet,
one has to wait until the head of the government, the Party,
the State, or the Armed Forces say it or authorize that it
be said. In the meantime, one has to make do with rosy fluff
stories about the Chinese quarter or retirement homes which
are aired three of four times a day through the two TV channels
to which people have access.
Having
information in Cuba is a priviledge of the powerful, or of
daring, clandestine Internet navigators and happy owners of
short-wave radios.
Mystery,
secrecy, and compartmentalization are the natural state of
information in Cuba. A state of emergency or war is not necessary
to limit information. The right to know of every citizen on
earth is reduced in Cuba to knowing what the government wants
people to know. Since all media belong to the government,
only that which is to their interest or convenience gets published.
That's
why when people ask me about the new developments in the possible
war against Afghanistan or about peace talks between Arafat
and Shimon Peres, I can only shrug.
I'm a
journalist without a phone, without a fax, without a computer
with Internet access, and I don't even have a short wave radio.
What can I know? What can I find out?
Lately,
a rumor has been going around about a woman named Ana Belén
Montes, a 44-year-old Puerto Rican who occupied a high position
in the Pentagon and spied for the Cuban government. Who said
it? The official media here haven't mentioned a word. Don't
they want the Cuban people to know about it? That's the disadvantage
of learning only what the government wants you to know.
Manuel
Vázquez Portal is an independent journalist in Cuba.
This article originally appeared in the CubaNet website.
Links to related sites
CubaNet
Granma,
Órgano oficial del Partido Comunista de Cuba
Granma
Internacional
Prensa Latina
Juventud Rebelde
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