Monday, October 22, 2007

Cuba condemns "radio and TV aggression" from the U.S.

Cuba has once again denounced at the United Nations the US government’s use of radio and TV transmissions in what it calls “a multi-million dollar campaign to destabilize the Cuban government.”

US-based radio and TV stations broadcast more than 2,073 hours a week on 31 different mediumwave, shortwave, FM and TV frequencies, said Cuban representative Ileana Nuñez. “These illegal transmissions are aimed at promoting disenchantment in the Cuban population, civil disobedience, confrontation with local authorities and illegal migration,” she stated.

While addressing the 4th Commission of the UN General Assembly on Information, Nuñez pointed out that for the 2007 fiscal year the US Congress approved a budget of $36 million for these objectives, $10 million more than in 2004. “This aggression infringes the principles of international law and the regulations of the International Telecommunication Union,” she added.

The Cuban diplomat recalled that on 5August, the US Office for Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) announced the use of a new G-1 aircraft to increase transmissions to Cuba. In December 2006, OCB rented slots on Miami television broadcasts for transmissions to Cuba, at $377,500 annually, “thus violating US laws that forbid broadcasting programmes produced for other countries inside the US.”

In her speech, Nuñez alleged that several of these stations and TV networks belong to, or render services to, organizations linked to terrorist elements.
(Source: Prensa Latina/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)