Despite the complex social and economic context in Cuba, its President Miguel Diaz-Canel He highlighted the turnout of 75.92 percent of Cubans registered on the electoral roll (8,120,000 people) who elected the 470 deputies to the National Assembly of People’s Power (Parliament). In this sense, some hegemonic Argentine media delegitimized the electoral process, such as La Nación, which called it a “drill”, and Todo Noticias (TN), which spoke of “a virtual referendum”.
Regarding this, the international analyst Hector Bernhard He commented: “Cuba always generates media resonance and some right-wing media have developed a very particular construction that refers to the country as a dictatorship and that there is no popular participation. This turnout is usually very massive, although turnout has declined since the death of Fidel Castro“. Meanwhile, he added: “These media have bet on making the elections invisible and delegitimizing.”
“In short, people went to the polls en masse, almost 76 percent of voters participated in the process,” he added. Regarding the Cuban social reality, he stressed: “Images of poverty are often shown, but most of the Caribbean islands, such as Haiti and Jamaica, are poor countries with very few resources. In the case of Cuba, the climatic conditions do not allow good food production, they have to import 80 percent of their consumption; and as part of the blockade, they have to do this from China and Russia, from where transport is more expensive.
“The Cuban national industry is slowed down compared to others because of everything that the blockade policy implies; Despite this, Cuba has developed its own vaccine to fight COVID and the number of deaths has been low compared to other nations,” he added.
In that line, he clarified, “Argentina produces more than twice the food needed by its entire population and Cuba has to import it, but more children die of malnutrition in Argentina than in Cuba.”
Likewise, referring to turnout in other countries, he concluded: “Colombia and Chile scarcely reach 50 percent, or the United States very seldom reaches 60 percent; However, these media never question these democratic systems.” (www.REALPOLITIK.com.ar)
Listen to RADIO REALPOLITIK FM at www.realpolitik.fm