By Graciela Ramirez. Latin American Summary, November 11, 2023.
November 4, 2023
From the moment I was informed that I would be invited to the UPEC Congress, I felt happy, honored and grateful.
Due to the difficult conditions that the country faces, it had to be developed in a day and a half, not wasting a second and the time flew by.
For me, the first day was like a reunion party with journalists I admire, whom I have known for almost three decades and for whom I have great affection.
And first of all, the Congress held a minute’s silence for the colleagues murdered by Israeli Zionism in Palestine, who sadly numbered 46 that morning.
The draft statutes and the code of ethics were approved, the work done in the Central Report 2018-2023 was reviewed, a book honoring the memory of Cuban journalism was presented, a compilation by Flor de Paz and in other spaces began work on the Commission began .
The 275 delegates present were able to speak by simply asking. Many did.
Two great journalists presented an excellent talk: Rosa Miriam Elizalde and Randy Alonso on the necessary changes in the Cuban press.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel was present throughout the second day. Always attentive, taking notes, until he finally took the floor that his press colleagues had been waiting for so long.
With the honesty, clarity and determination that characterize him, he remembered Fidel as the great communicator that he was, multiplied among the Cuban people, always indispensable, a source of inspiration to continue fighting and joining so many to face challenges. Diaz-Canel encouraged us to dig deeper, research and apply our knowledge of culture and science to also educate through revolutionary journalism. During his speech, in which he declared: “All important battles have been won with you on the front line,” the hall erupted in applause several times.
During the two days I failed to speak several times, I didn’t, every minute was so valuable for everything that my colleagues from the Cuban press had to say in this Congress.
I use this space to send my greetings to all Cuban journalists in Congress and to tell them the importance of your work for those of us who, like me, are part of the international counter-hegemonic press.
We had to go through a very complex phase of the world, the region and this island that we love so much.
They are our inevitable ethical and political reference. Cortázar told us that communication and words represent the highest connection of the human species, which distinguishes us from animals and plants.
When everything seems dark and gloomy, when we are faced with major political and social problems in our countries, it is you, the Cuban press, who, from the daily example of your resistance, gives us the light and strength to stand up and continue the fight.
The pulse of what the people whose children they are feel, the passion for Martí’s truth and the enormous responsibility of expressing it through the Cuban press.
I have seen them suffer alongside people through the devastation of tornadoes and major storms during these difficult years. They are looking for medicine for sick colleagues or firing them without being able to give them due respect in the middle of the pandemic. Experience and reflect on tragedies like the Saratoga and the Super Tanker Base fire in Matanzas. defend on the streets and on the pages, radio and television pages of their media, the perverse and opportunistic attack of the counter-revolution, when the country was suffering from the highest peak of Covid and the perversity of the United States blockade denied them anything except an aspirin pulmonary ventilators. And be proud to be part of the only country on earth that, despite its poverty, blockade and siege by the most heinous power in history, has produced not one but five of its own vaccines that have saved the lives of its people and helped save many lives around the world.
We were on the first day of the convention when we were jumping for joy at 187 around two in the late morning. The two usual serial killers, the United States and its partner Israel, have been crushed by this people, their revolutionary government, the world and the work of the Cuban press’s constant denunciation of the genocidal blockade.
I share with you the concerns that you are going through personally and from the editorial offices of your media, the salary and fuel that are not enough, the urgent need to look for alternatives that contribute to self-financing and growth and that manage to Overcoming deficits that you have to face for journalistic development.
The pain caused by the departure of their children in search of better economic prospects and the brain drain into higher income industries.
But I want to tell you that all of this will be overcome, this phase has already been overcome, because every day that we stand, work, report, write, is a day of victory over the not-so-quiet war that is being waged against them. They have a homeland, they have a revolutionary government that will not bow to the worst adversities, they have human capital with a high level of cultural and political training.
The example of heroic Palestine challenges us to value even the glass of water we drink with complete normality and is denied to two and a half million Palestinians, 60 percent of whom are children.
I stood in line for the delicious coffee we shared over those two days while news of another bombed hospital in Gaza came through my cell phone.
I want to hug you and welcome the Congress of Ghassan Ben Jeddou and Wafica Mehdi from Lebanon, our sister, director of Al Mayadeen since the heroic resistance in Lebanon and Palestine, that of Carlos Aznárez, director of Latin American Summary in Argentina, that of Bill Hackwell, editor of “Summary in the United States”, that of Patricia Villegas, President of TeleSur, that of José Manzaneda of Cubaininformation, that of Saná’s colleagues from Syria and that of all of us who believe in the ethics of truth and socialism believe.
They will always count on us, on our media and our voices, which they can never silence with blockades or bombs.
Our embrace and appreciation goes to the UPEC Presidency colleagues who will take on other important roles in journalism and communications.
To all those who take up the challenge of renewing Cuban revolutionary journalism and leading the highest organization that represents it, good luck in the task you undertake. Always count on our voices, our pages, our love and our commitment.
Source: Cuba in summary