COMMUNICATION-ARGENTINA: Cuba Hinders Coverage of Pope’s Visit

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, Jan 9 1998 (IPS) - The government of Argentina, the media and professional associations protested Cuba’s refusal to issue visas to Argentine reporters who planned to cover Pope John Paul II’s upcoming visit to Cuba.

The Association of Foreign Correspondents in Argentina, representing more than 100 journalists, said it lamented the Cuban government’s “unfair” decision to reject the visa applications of three reporters, which they said was based on “unacceptable reasons that restrict” freedom of expression.

Journalists working with the international media thus joined the outcry raised by associations of local reporters as well as the Foreign Ministry, which asked the Cuban Embassy in Buenos Aires to provide explanations.

The Cuban government’s assistant International Press director, Reinaldo Calviat, said Thursday in Havana that the government’s refusal was based on the “sovereign and independent” right to decide who would be allowed into the country.

Expanding later on the reasons underlying the decision, Calviat said the Buenos Aires daily ‘La Nacion’, whose reporter Mario Perez Colman was refused a visa, failed to respect Cuban legislation governing the exercise of journalism in the Caribbean island nation, which requires the application for a special visa each time a reporter wishes to travel there.

Cuban diplomat Manuel Guillot told the Argentine Foreign Ministry’s attache for Latin American Policy, Alfredo Chiaradia, that ‘La Nacion’ sent reporters to Cuba disguised as tourists.

Guillot added that the application of Matilde Sanchez, the reporter from the Buenos Aires newspaper ‘Clarin’, was turned down because “she wrote disrespectful articles which hurt the feelings of the Cuban people” when the remains of legendary Argentine- Cuban guerrilla leader Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara were transfered from Bolivia to Cuba last year.

TV reporter Rodolfo Pouza who works with Channel 2 in Buenos Aires was refused a visa because the Cuban government was not pleased with reports he broadcast from the island last month, the diplomats said.

The TV station said that in protest against the Cuban government’s decision it would once again air Pouza’s entire series of reports, and would not apply for a visa for any other journalist.

The Cuban government’s stance also drew criticism from the Association for the Defence of Independent Journalism, which described it as a “barrier” to freedom of expression.

The Association of Argentine Journalistic Entities called it “a new demonstration that there is no freedom of the press in Cuba,” while the Association of Editors of Dailies and Magazines expressed its “indignation over the violation of the right to inform.”

Argentina’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andres Cisneros sent a letter to the affected newspapers and TV station, providing assurances that he would ask the Cuban government for an explanation.

Cisneros expressed his concern over the restriction of a right that is of “high priority” to Argentina’s foreign policy – the right to inform.