Free Cuba Now!

The case for Radio and Television Martí at a time when the federal bureaucracy is being reduced.

IT IS IN THE NATIONAL SECURITY INTEREST OF THE UNITED STATES TO MAINTAIN RADIO MARTI'S NEWS SERVICE TO CUBA IN THIS TIME OF CRISIS

On March 14, 2025 the President of the United States issued an executive order “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” in which he indicated its purpose is to continue “the reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary” and this included eliminating “governmental entities” including the United States Agency for Global Media “to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” … “Within seven days of the date of this order, the head of each governmental entity … “shall submit a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”

One of the six networks of the United States Agency for Global Media is the Office of Cuba Broadcasting which oversees Radio and Television Martí, its news website Martínoticias.com, and associated social media platforms.

With a $36.22 trillion national debt, the United States is currently experiencing a crisis. On May 23, 2024, Benn Steil and Elisabeth Harding of the Council on Foreign Relations reported that the United States is spending more on debt interest than defense for the first time. Interest rates have almost tripled since 2020, according to a November 20, 2024, report from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. It is necessary to implement budgetary reform.

In the midst of the escalating crisis in Cuba, and the need to reach the populace through uncensored media channels, the need for the continued existence of Radio and Television Martí, its news website Martínoticias.com, and associated social media platforms is evident.

Worryingly, the United States prior to this Administration has been reducing its shortwave and AM radio programming while relying more on the Internet, which can be shut down and interfered with more easily than these older technologies.

It has been a priority of the Cuban dictatorship for the past 40 years to close Radio Martí or render ineffective this important information channel that reaches many Cubans on the island. Havana has used diplomatic and other means in its efforts. This has also included tighter control of the Internet through both legal and technical restrictions. On July 4, 2019, the Castro regime imposed Legal Decree 370 “ON COMPUTING IN CUBAN SOCIETY, which according to Reporters Without Borders will annihilate freedom of expression on the Internet in Cuba.

These restrictions, efforts to block AM signals, and travel restrictions mean that shortwave radio is a key element in reaching Cubans on the island that the regime cannot completely block. Cubans from all over the island listen to Radio Martí and the audience reports received indicate satisfaction with the content of the programming. Radio Martí is an example of public diplomacy, also known as popular diplomacy, which communicates directly with the Cuban public and provides news, reports and commentary that are not subject to censorship by the Castro regime.

CRISIS IN CHINA AND CUBA NEED MORE PUBLIC DIPLOMACY THROUGH UNCENSORED NEWS

Cutting programming directed to Cuba in the midst of the largest migration crisis in 66 years, with the outbreak of protests and the increase in repression throughout the island does not serve U.S. national interests. Public diplomacy needs to provide more access to uncensored news to Cubans on the island, and also for the US government to be able to send uncensored messages to the Cuban people. The Internet has not yet replaced shortwave radio on the island. It has been proven that it is much easier for Havana to cut off the Internet than to block shortwave radio.

Equally concerning are reports that Radio Free Asia will be dramatically cut back at a time when Beijing is engaged in an increasingly hostile military posture against Taipei. Now is the time to reach mainland China with uncensored information and conduct public diplomacy directly with the Chinese people. Especially at a time when Beijing is expanding its AM and shortwave radio broadcasts around the world.

Especially when Russia, China, Cuba and Iran have been holding joint military exercises in Venezuela in 2022 and China was sending troops to Russia for joint exercises there.

This trend has been going on for some time, but the current moment calls for more, not less, public diplomacy through channels that reach more Cubans and Chinese citizens, and that Beijing and Havana will find harder to shut down or block.

THE RIGHT TO HAVE INFORMATION 

When it finally  went on the air on May 20, 1985,  Radio Martí marked a before and after within Cuba. At the time, President Reagan hoped that Radio Martí “would help calm the war hysteria on which much of the Cuban government’s current policy is based.” Despite the bellicose rhetoric from Havana, in three years the Castro regime  opened Cuba to inspections of its prisons by the International Red Cross in 1988 for the first  time since 1959, in response to the harsh public diplomacy of the administrations. Reagan and Bush, and the dissident voices on the island who reported on human rights. human rights violations in Cuba that were broadcast by Radio Martí. These inspections were suspended a year later, in 1989, due to negative news about conditions in the island’s prisons.

As was the case with Radio Free Europe, Radio Martí mobilized select emigrants who had been, or were then, public figures in Cuba and amplified their voices on the island as an alternative to the official discourse of the dictatorship. Unfortunately,  as was the case during the periods of détente with the USSR, when voices arose from Congress to silence Radio Free Europe , during the openings with Havana, voices also arose to close Radio Martí or reduce its funding. This was in response to  the regime’s requests to close it .

It is also safe to assume that, as was the case with Radio Free Europe during the Cold War, Havana sought to infiltrate the station and fill key positions at Radio Martí. The Cuban government has also spent considerable resources to block Radio Martí, but has failed to completely block its reach to Cubans on the island. In recent years there has been an effort to end shortwave broadcasts on Radio Martí and other American radio stations to the detriment of American public diplomacy.

Cuban officials are changing their censorship strategies on the island. On July 4, 2019, Legal Decree 370 “ON COMPUTING IN CUBAN SOCIETY” came into force in Cuba, further tightening the already draconian controls on information. Article 68, paragraph i, establishes as a violation of the law the act of “disseminating information contrary to the common good, morality, decency and integrity through public data transmission networks.” This contravenes the freedom of expression standards set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Reporters Without Borders described Decree 370 as “annihilating freedom of expression on the Internet” and in 2024 included Cuba as the 13th worst country in terms of press freedom among 180 measured countries. According to Freedom House, it prohibits Cuban citizens from “hosting web content on foreign servers, endangering independent media.” “The law especially punishes journalists, bloggers and human rights activists with harsh penalties. Defendants can be fined up to 10,000 pesos, ten times the average monthly salary, or face six months in prison. The equipment they used may also be confiscated.

While the United States closed its radio service to China, Beijing  expanded its shortwave radio service  internationally using frequencies abandoned by Western democracies. China is reaching large audiences in India  using shortwave radio . In the United States, an AM radio station was taken over by Beijing to cover the DC metropolitan area  with its programming in April 2011 . There are at least a  dozen other Beijing-run radio stations  across the United States. Communist China is on the offensive with its public diplomacy while the United States has been in retreat.

Cutting funding to Radio Martí and Radio Free Asia programming is part of a general US retreat from public diplomacy that will be detrimental to US national interests and to relations between the people of the United States, China and Cuba.

SOME ACTS

Despite the challenges of carrying out a comprehensive audience study within Cuba, reports on radio and digital platforms, as well as direct testimonies from the Island, confirm that Radio Martí is listened to by Cubans. A survey published in April 2015 by USAGM found that 20% of Cubans , out of a sample of 1,200 adults on the island, listened to Radio Martí. The survey was conducted by Bendixen and Amandi International for Univision Radio. Taking into account that Radio Martí enters Cuba through different means (shortwave, AM, digital, pen drives), it is not a leap to say that a much higher percentage of Cubans listen to the station, amidst censorship measures taken by Havana.

( https://www.usagm.gov/2015/04/09/20-of-cubans-report-listening-to-radio-marti/ ).

Cubans listen to Radio Martí daily; in many cases, it is the only independent means of information they receive. Testimonies recently collected in different parts of the Island, from West to East, recognize the importance of Radio Martí transmissions.

“I am Alexander Rodríguez Santiesteban, activist of the Eastern Democratic Alliance. I live in Los Pinos, Banes, Holguín Province. I listen to the news on Radio Martí daily. I send greetings to all the people of Radio Martí. The radio programs are very good, since they inform us about what is happening in the world and in our country.” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z25RZQkPgfQ )

Mikel García from Cienfuegos explains: “I like to listen to it because the truth is told, the real truth that happens in this country, which is not told by Radio Ciudad del Mar, nor Radio Rebelde, nor Radio Progreso, any radio station here. in Cuba, but on Radio Martí the truth is told.” ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9BCqdcjEAg ).

Radio Martí’s digital platforms have experienced an increasing number of views, likes and shares from the Island, despite censorship. During 2020, for example, Radio Martí videos published on YouTube had 1,285,577 views in Cuba and 43,471 hours of viewing. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram also showed a growing number of interactions from the Island, including the Radio Martí website, blocked for Cubans by the government, had 642,766 visits during 2020.

Measures taken by the OCB in 2022 to implement structural and financial changes in order to transition legacy programming to a new strategy increased the participation of digital platforms and transformed programming to impact broader audiences; reduce expenses and reduce contractor staff.

However, there are important aspects to keep in mind that will be detrimental and contrary to the mission of the OCB if eliminated:

• Shortwave and AM broadcasts cannot be eliminated as they are the main outlet for Cuban listeners, and the AM 1180 frequency is codified in the 1983 Cuban Broadcasting Law.
• The OCB needs to have journalists based on the island who can be hired to report.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

Person-to-person contact and public diplomacy

Contact between people is an important aspect of diplomacy that has too often in the past been confused with contact between people and dictatorships when it comes to Cuba, China and other regimes. According to the  Encyclopædia Britannica , “public diplomacy, also called popular diplomacy, is any of various government-sponsored efforts intended to communicate directly with foreign publics.” Radio Martí was inspired by Radio Free Europe (RFE) which successfully exercised public diplomacy and continues to do so today.

Background of Radio Martí, Radio Europa Libre and Radio Libertad (RFE/RL).

After World War II, the United States, with the expansion of Soviet control across Central and Eastern Europe, feared that Western Europe would also fall under Communist control and began seeking policies to stop it. Career American diplomat George Kennan developed in 1947 what would become known as the containment policy,  which consisted  of “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansionary tendencies.” Part of this overall strategy involved public diplomacy, and Kennan advocated mobilizing select emigrants from countries taken over by the Russians to  put their voices on the radio in their respective languages , “broadcasting to five Eastern European countries” in what would become on Radio Libre. Europe (RFE).

These regimes saw the breakdown of monopoly control of information reaching their respective populations as a threat and began jamming radio transmissions, but their other countermeasures were more sinister. The Hoover Institution Archives published “ The History of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty ” in 2001 and described some of the active measures taken that rose to the level of terrorism.

“In addition to interference, communist governments used other methods to silence the radios. By viewing emigrated employees as traitors to their home countries, the regimes threatened employees and their families still living behind the Iron Curtain. The spies infiltrated the radio stations and occupied some key positions. Bombings and assassinations occurred. The most notorious murder was that of Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian writer and former associate of Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov. They stabbed him with an umbrella containing a pellet of deadly ricin poison. On February 21, 1981, a tremendous explosion rocked the RFE/RL headquarters in Munich, causing $2 million in damage and some injuries, but no deaths. Stasi files opened after 1989 indicated that the attack was carried out by a group of international terrorists under the direction of Ilich Ramírez Sánchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal, and paid for by Nicolae Ceaușescu, president of Romania.”

Carlos the Jackal, a Venezuelan national,  attended the January 1966 tricontinental meeting in Havana  and was subsequently  trained in terrorist tactics  in Cuba. In Europe he had been linked with Cuban diplomats who met with him periodically, and France expelled three high-ranking Cuban diplomats  on July 10, 1975 . “The French Interior Ministry said investigators were convinced that the intelligence services of ‘certain nations’ had significantly assisted the terrorist network. The Cubans, according to the ministry, had been “constant visitors” to Carlos’ Paris hideout,”  The New York Times reported  in 1975.

Between 1974 and 1981, the United States had attempted to reach an agreement with Havana only to be repeatedly disappointed by the Castro regime’s bad faith actions. The Reagan Administration initially reached out on November 23, 1981 when Secretary of State Alexander Haig  met with Cuban Vice President Carlos Rafael Rodríguez  in Mexico and again in 1982 with Ambassador Vernon Walters  met secretly with Fidel Castro  in Cuba, and determined On both occasions there was no possibility of reaching an agreement with Havana. The White House continued with a policy of  reaching out directly  to the Cuban people.

Radio Martí launched by Ronald Reagan on May 20, 1985

Ronald Reagan is known as the “great communicator” and throughout his presidency he demonstrated the power of using the pulpit to address the American people. An early example of this was with  the creation  of Radio Martí and  his defense of the station’s creation on September 10, 1983 .

“The Soviets are terrified of the truth. They understand well and fear the meaning of the words of Saint John: “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” The truth is humanity’s best hope for a better world. That is why in times like these, few resources are more important than Voice of America and Radio Freedom, our primary means of getting the truth to the Russian people.[…] We have repeatedly urged Congress to support our long-term modernization . program and our proposal for a new station, Radio Martí, to broadcast to Cuba. The sums involved are modest, but for some reason this critical program has not been implemented. Today I am calling on Congress: help us spread the truth. “Help us strengthen our international broadcasting effort by supporting increased funding for Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and authorizing the establishment of Radio Martí.”