Monday, August 31, 2009

Cuban officials' 'obsession' with nation's image criticised

Cuban officials' 'obsession' with nation's image criticised
IANS Monday 31st August, 2009

The 'morbid obsession' and 'paranoia' of some Cuban officials for
censuring information and rejecting criticism by other officials in an
attempt to maintain the image of the communist island or their own
positions has been criticised in an article published in the official
daily Juventud Rebelde.

'The morbid obsession with protecting 'the image' of the country, the
ministry, the company or the territory... on occasion is paranoia about
the fate of your position, your post and a few other trifles,' the
article said Sunday.

The author of the piece, Jose Alejandro Rodriguez, says that it 'is due
to a widespread confusion that not just a few (people) have, perhaps
without any bad intention: the problems must not be discussed publicly,
because they devalue the real conquests of the Revolution.'

'For a long time, there was much resistance in accepting that in our
society the larvae of corruption were incubating. That was a bad word,
as if it condemned us,' said Rodriguez, who writes a daily column in
that newspaper about the complaints of the public.

'Some have come to perceive the healthy exercise of criticism... as an
admission of weakness; like giving weapons to the enemy,' he continued.

'What is certain is that the most dangerous missile we can offer to
those who would like to dismantle a work of 50 years is silence,
pretense, double standards, conformity, the deactivation of
intransigence in the face of the evils that are incubating and
developing before our eyes,' Rodriguez said.

The state controls all media outlets in Cuba, Latin America's only
communist-ruled country.

Cuban officials' 'obsession' with nation's image criticised (31 August 2009)
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=537075

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