Serious Threat against Journalist in Cuba
HAVANA TIMES – Today the journalist Fernando Ravsberg warns of the public threats he has received from people linked to the most extremist side of Cuban officialdom.
Ravsberg, who currently works for the Spanish newspaper Publico.es and writes his blog “Cartas desde Cuba” has been the victim of defamation campaigns, like many other independent journalists, by bloggers and journalists under the protection of the Cuban government. They continue to urge the government to expel Ravsberg from the country, where he has lived and worked for a quarter of a century.
The following is the alert published today by the Uruguayan journalist.
They Threaten to Break My Teeth if I Continue Writing
In several “revolutionary” blogs like La Mala Palabra, Cuba por Siempre and Isla Mía, this last one of the journalist Norelys Morales, has just appeared an article on the problems of transportation in Cuba, written by a certain Felix Edmundo Diaz, that ends with a strong threat against me. I transcribe it:
“I want to convey an idea to a colleague: Fernan, read Fernando Ravsberg, do you really think that you can live in Cuba ranting against my people? Don’t you think it’s time for you to start to write in “Letters from the USA” or “Letters from Spain”? Why don’t you pay a visit to Uribe or Peña Nieto and write “Letters from Colombia” or Letters from Mexico”. Go, just to see if any ‘paramilitary’ (self-defense?) or some ‘Zeta’ gives you a kick in the groin and your balls come out of your ears…
“From here, in Cuba, it is easy because you know that nobody will kidnap you, disappear, torture or kill you, but we are not obliged to allow you to live and rant on our soil. That’s why my offer for you is simple: Get the hell out of here or refine your writing. Remember that at your age your teeth won’t come out again and dental implants are expensive… “
They just took another step on the level of insults, they resume the request for expulsion and, above all, it is the first time that I am directly threatened with a beating. It is not accidental, recently I commented that the extremists might win and evidently this text shows that they are emboldened.
I am convinced that if the Cuban government does not put a stop to them the next step will be to move from threats to actions, it is the path of both right and leftwing extremists: you silence yourself out of fear or you are silenced by force.
I don’t think we disagree as much as you think we do. More real news definitely is the answer. That doesn’t mean one should just accept bad reporting at the same time.
You hit the nail right on the head,,, the media on both sides twist and turn the facts so much, you can hardly believe ANYTHING.
Absolutely right. I do think that the general conversation would be lifted if some news sources would shift some opinion content to more factual reporting. The economics of media has lead to proliferation of opinion content as it is less expensive to produce. We could use more hard news outlets to balance out media plate.
Look at his recent writings: he has become more critical. I think that is what provoked the backlash.
Mr. Ravsberg has been rather subservient to the Castro regime in his writing in the past. Now he shows some realism he is faced with Cuban reality: repression. I hope he never gets hurt, arrested, … like so many Cuban independent journalists. The threat of physical attack on foreign journalists is rare in Cuba. Most often foreign journalists are deported.
You are so funny.
What’s curious here is that Fernando Ravsberg is not part of any opposition. In fact his reporting is considered by many dissidents as being generally favorable towards the Cuban Communist Party and the Castro government.
You could not be more wrong. The former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis is credited with the quote “The cure for bad speech is more speech.” If you want to fight so -called ‘fake news’, the answer is real news.
It simple demonstrates the power of words. To silence opposition is a tactic of those with weak arguments. They are terrified to have truth exposed. Lies are not as powerful as they can be deflated. Those that seek to control others seek to control the narrative of life itself. For those that value individual diversity and freedom, control of others is not a goal. Tolerance of different view points is accepted.
Part of the problem is activist journalism. It’s good to report factual occurrences, but there are so many who are just trying to promote an agenda (on all sides of the political spectrum). If anything, I’m surprised that it took this long for the fight against “fake news” to gain momentum.
It’s amazing how similar the bullying behavior is toward journalists around the world, from both the left and the right. We journalists in the U.S., who so far have not been battered, salute your courage!