Press Freedom in Cuba

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发布于: 11年前  

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Press Freedom in Cuba

ANNOUNCER: For most foreign correspondence, the end of a posting means packing and shipping belongings home. But Stephen Gibbs found that wasn't something he had to worry about when he after four and half years rather hastily left Cuba.

STEPHEN GIBBS: Moving home they say is one of life's five most stressful experiences, it comes in the number three, ranked a bit below bereavement and a bit above divorce. But in Cuba it's different; packing up a home in Cuba is easy. The reason is that you don't have to go through that agonizing problem of wondering about what to do with your junk. You can sell it or give it away, all of it, in a matter of hours. Cuba is a place where almost all consumer items are prohibitively expensive or more likely not available. And scarcity breeds desire. Most Cubans and plenty of foreigners living on the island, spend the majority of their time not thinking about the country's future or transitional government or the health of Fidel Castro but on rather more mundane things, like how to find a square meal, a fridge that works or an electric fan. I had a first hand glimpse of this when I returned to my home in Otavana just days after hearing the disappointing news that I was one of the three foreign correspondents to be stripped of their press accreditation by the Cuban Government. Our reporting was deemed negative by a nameless committee. As I entered my apartment, the phone was ringing. It was an expat friend from whom I haven't heard from for some time. The conversation went along these lines. “I m so sorry to hear you are being thrown out” he said. “What a disgrace for an attempt to intimidate the foreign press” and then, after a brief pose, the real point of the call. “That sofa in your living room, are you selling it? How about the microwave?” As the news spread that I was on my way out, my Cuban neighbours congratulated me on what they saw as a promotion. Sadly and often inaccurately, many Cubans assume that anyone who is leaving the Island is going on to better things. Then came the not so subtle requests for a farewell present. I soon realized that anything would do; a broken watch and 2005 calendar; all were received with embarrassing gratitude. I had little time to decide which memories of my life in Cuba I would keep for myself. The one I did manage to save was a copy of the first story I filed after just days after arriving in Havana. I had gone to meet some members of the Hemingway's family at the elegant hilltop villa where Ernest had lived until 1960. We all gathered in the garden to hear about the project archive the author's papers, and then something completely unexpected happened. Fidel Castro showed up. In his military uniform, he walked slightly or quickly around the side of the swimming pool where Eva Mendes has once swam naked. He apologized for interrupting and then, with his arm around one of the female Hemingway's, gave a lengthy speech. He ended it by saying how much he regretted not getting to know Ernest Hemingway better, “when you are young, you think everyone is going to live for ever” he said. Back in my apartment, I put the copy of the story on my keep file together with something else which put back another memory. It was a DVD film of the film Hotel Rwanda. One Saturday night a couple of years ago, the Oscar nominated film was put on Cuban State television. I was at home watching it when a few minute after the opening titles, I noticed that some plots have been clumsily repeated. It had been edited. I happened to have the DVD of the original version. I put it on to compare the two. It became obvious that the Cuban censors had gone to the trouble of cutting out a 30 second portion of the film. The banned images contained a couple of harmless jokes about Cuban cigars. One of enduring questions that has crossed my mind while working in Cuba is whether the Government really needs to go to the lengths it does in managing the flow of information to his people. Cuban officials are surprisingly unapologetic on the issue. Their justification is that Cuba is in a midst of undeclared war with the shameless US administration which is determined to undermine the Cuban revolution. But sometimes it allude to what they seems to be regard as the British Government distinguished censorship of the press during the Second World War. But still I wonder whether all the control is necessary. One of the side effects of 48 years with the same leader is an extraordinary degree of resignation among the people. It works both ways, those that supports the revolution; believe that their future is in good hands. Those that yearn for change, feel that things are out of their hands. Given that, would really threaten the status quo, if you could buy a foreign paper in the street of Havana or if the foreign press in Cuba, were able to act a little more freely. I doubt it, but clearly someone right at the top feels that such an experiment is not worth the risk.

ANNOUNCER: Stephen Gibbs, now back in London…