The Media War Against Whom?

“I don’t like to say countries, I prefer to say governments”

Reinaldo Talarid, Roundtable TV show of April 15, 2010

Like Talarid, I also prefer to say governments and not countries, particularly when talking about my government but not my country. Such is the argument of the so-called “Media war against Cuba,” which in reality would be, in this case, “against the Cuban government.” I don’t know how this subtlety could elude the select panel. I swear I would prefer to respond with serious arguments, vehemently denying the sleights-of-hand, shouting the truths that they can’t even rebut with lies – even falsifying, distorting and manipulating they are tongue-tied – but I can’t do it, I find it too ridiculous.

Beyond the crazy twists of the “money trail” – obviously very difficult to follow because, according to Lázaro Barredo himself we don’t know the “final destination” of the U.S. subsidies – the conspiracy theories about the “cyber-dissident command” and the absurd hypothesis about the existence of the Ladies in White, I managed to watch an hour and a half of the Roundtable all the way to the end.

To my surprise I learned several new things:

- The television program gives me a headache.

- Rosa Miriam Elizalde is not allowed to explain her theories because she can’t name names.

- Barredo is ambiguous, saying that “the industry of evil has been operating for fifty years,” but he can’t tell us where it is headquartered.

- It makes Randy nervous when he hears someone mention “Berta Soler.”

- There is a nostalgic group in Spain – supportive of the Cuban government – called the “26 of July Association.”

- It is now officially allowed to use the words blog and blogger.

- A Frenchman, it seems, is famous for publishing a manipulated interview, but he can’t give us the details of it because it is strictly forbidden to say “Yoani Sánchez” on Cuban television.