Is National Geographic (NG) unaware
that in Cuba possession of their magazine,
by a Cuban citizen,
is considered subversive and
could land the individual in jail?
Recently National Geographic website posted a video lauding the “achievements” of Cuba as “the only country that meets the criteria for sustainable development from the conservation group WWF.” The purpose of this post is not to analyze the merits of this recognition. That topic will be covered in another post. Instead, the attention of CubaResponde is prompted by the inexplicable or apathetic silence of NG on the topic of Cuban censorship on their magazine, specifically when it is in the possession of natives of the island. (See the story of Lázaro Ricardo Pérez García below).
NG’s apathy can be discerned through the story surrounding the posted video. Julia Langer, who represents WWF-Canada on the WWF delegation to United Nations, is shown investigating the commitment to sustainable development by the largest of the Antilles. The video shows her visiting without difficulties different agricultural locales while freely mingling with “common” people.
The clear message is that access to any place associated with sustainable development, and by inference, any books, magazines or supporting material with the same goal, is readily available in Cuba. It then follows that NG, by posting this video on their website, without any mention of censorship, agrees with the message of Julia Langer, and that NG magazine enjoys similar access to the public as it would in any country. To most this seems as such an innocuous conclusion that to even consider challenging it appears as hysteria from the Cubans in Miami; but, is there more to the story?
To appreciate the naïveté of expecting that Cuba will behave as any other country, as portrayed in the video and subsumed by NG, it is worth contrasting the message of the video with the real life story of Lázaro Ricardo Pérez García.
To appreciate the naïveté of expecting that Cuba will behave as any other country, as portrayed in the video and subsumed by NG, it is worth contrasting the message of the video with the real life story of Lázaro Ricardo Pérez García.
In August, 2008 Aleaga Pesant, a Cuban independent journalists, reported Pérez García’s saga with the Cuban authorities. The journalists described an episode when Pérez García was disembarking from a cargo ship with packages that contained books and magazines, including National Geographic. The final destination of this literary load was an independent library on the Isle of Youth. Members of the National Revolutionary Police noticed the package and confiscated the books and magazines in Pérez García’s possession. Angel, a policeman whose duty is to control democratic opposition in the neighborhood, conducted this police operative. He told Pérez García that National Geographic is “imperialistic literature”, probably obtained at the American Interest Section, and had to be confiscated. Meanwhile Pérez García was detained for three hours.
It is unlikely that NG considers their magazine “imperialistic literature”, which leads to the query: Why does NG show a video lauding a country that censors their magazine as “imperialistic literature”? Many possibilities come to mind but one conclusion is inevitable: NG, as long as they can promote their agenda, is not concerned about censorship, at least not in Cuba.
José A Hernández, MD
CubaResponde
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Escríbanos con sus opiniones a cubaresponde@cubaresponde.org
Las cartas deberán de incluir el título del articulo, y el nombre completo y ciudad del autor. Algunas de estas serán publicadas como comentarios al final del artículo.
It is unlikely that NG considers their magazine “imperialistic literature”, which leads to the query: Why does NG show a video lauding a country that censors their magazine as “imperialistic literature”? Many possibilities come to mind but one conclusion is inevitable: NG, as long as they can promote their agenda, is not concerned about censorship, at least not in Cuba.
José A Hernández, MD
CubaResponde
END
----------------------------
Escríbanos con sus opiniones a cubaresponde@cubaresponde.org
Las cartas deberán de incluir el título del articulo, y el nombre completo y ciudad del autor. Algunas de estas serán publicadas como comentarios al final del artículo.
