Censorship in Cuba - Media and Culture

Media and Culture

See also: Media of Cuba and Communications in Cuba

Cubans cannot watch or listen to independent, private, or foreign broadcasts. In 1963, using Soviet-supplied equipment, Cuba became the first nation in the Western Hemisphere to jam radio broadcasts, the apparent targets being the anti-Castro stations in the US. In 2006, Cuba jammed Radio Republica, a clandestine broadcast to Cuba on 7205 kHz. The output of the Television Network teleSUR in Cuba is subject to various restrictions.

Cubans cannot read books, magazines or newspapers unless they have been approved/published by the government. Cubans can not receive publications from abroad or from visitors.

Before the Communist regime, Havana boasted 135 cinemas — more than New York City or Paris. Today less than 20 remain open, although the city’s population has doubled. The Communist regime established a control of Cuba's film industry, and it was made compulsory for all movies to be censored by the Instituto Cubano de Arte y Industria Cinematográfico before broadcast or release.

After the Communist regime took power, Che Guevara wanted to ban Jazz and Rock music from being played or made available for purchase, which he saw as "imperialist music". Miniskirts and artists such as the Beatles were banned as examples of "decadent capitalist culture".

In October 1994, five "counterrevolutionaries" were convicted of rebellion and sentenced to ten years each. The judges characterized the group's actions as nonviolent, but found they had prepared and distributed calls for changes in the country's social, political, and economic systems, citing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The court characterized the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and denunciations of Cuban human rights violations as counterrevolutionary propaganda.

An article published on 19 November 1999 by Maria Elena Rodriguez, a journalist for the Cuba-Verdad Press, described the burning and burying of hundreds of books donated to Cuba by the government of Spain. Unexplained at the time was why all of the books in the Spanish-donated shipment, even those on seemingly non-controversial topics such as children's literature and medical textbooks were destroyed. It was later revealed that some 8,000 pamphlets containing the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were discovered in the shipment. Rather than risking overlooking any pamphlets that may have been inserted in the pages of even the "safe" books in the shipment, the Cuban authorities apparently thought the wisest course was to destroy every one of the books sent from Spain.

In 2002, “Following the Hip Hop Festival held in Havana in August, the Casa de Cultura in Alamar received an order from the Ministry of Culture to review the lyrics of rap songs before the start of any concert.” Cuban rappers responded by altering their music/lyric styles. “Underground’s beat slowed down its tempo and rappers started changing their lyrics. The strident notes coming from the barrios and caseríos that scared the State so much when they first came out started softening themselves to take advantage of the promotional opportunities offered by those same people who initiated the hunting spree.”

In April 2003 a Cuban court convicted dissident Julio Valdés of committing "crimes against the national sovereignty and economy of Cuba" and him sentenced to 20 years in prison. One of the accusations made against Valdés was the founding of a "self-proclaimed Independent Library" to "ideologically subvert the reader with the clear purpose, by means of inducing confusion, to recruit persons for the counter-revolution...". The judges also condemned Valdes' library materials as "lacking in usefulness" and ordered them burned.

In August 2006, the Cuban government announced a warning to owners of illegal television satellite dishes, citing as a concern that the United States could use the dishes to transmit programming with "destabilizing, subversive content."

Starting in 2010 and 2011, religious groups reported greater latitude to voice their opinions during sermons and at religious gatherings than in the past, although most members of the clergy continued to exercise self-censorship. Religious leaders in some cases criticized the government, its policies, and even the country’s leadership without reprisals. In September the Catholic Church opened a cultural center in Havana that hosted debates featuring participants voicing different opinions about the country’s future at which well-known dissidents were allowed to participate. The Catholic Church published two periodicals that sometimes included criticism of official social and economic policies.

In March 2012 Cuban police beat and then arrested at least 50 female members of the Ladies in White, a prominent dissident group, who were holding demonstrations just days before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI. All but two of demonstrators were released within a day or two. The move was seen as a warning from the government not to interfere with the papal trip, the first to the island since John Paul II's 1998 visit.

On 24 July 2012 dozens of anti-government activists were arrested as they made their way to the funeral of Oswaldo Paya Sardiñas, a prominent critic of Cuba's government.