Cuba’s parliament approved a “social communication law” on Thursday. According to the text, from now on, only state media are authorized in Cuba. This law consecrates, in fact, the illegality of the independent media that have emerged on the Internet in recent years.
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Adopted by a show of hands and unanimously by the plenum of the National Assembly of People’s Power, the text stipulates that the media are ” the socialist property of the whole people or of political organizations, of social masses, and cannot be the object of any other type of property “. The new law also prohibits the media the subversion of the constitutional order and the destabilization of the socialist state “.
According to Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who addressed the Assembly, this new law was necessary to prevent the ” subversion “. He also believes that independent media are ” mercenaries and that we must protect ourselves against it.
Journalists from these government-critical outlets, which are increasingly emerging on the internet, are under constant pressure. Many journalists from these media have had to go into exile abroad because Cubathe press, radio and television are controlled by the Communist Party, the only one authorized in the country.
This is the case of Yoani Sanchez, founder of the 14ymedio site. She also fears that this legislative text ” accelerates the exodus of independent journalists “. ” This law not only regulates the work of journalistsshe regrets. All citizens fall under this law because one of its most worrying points is that everyone will have to answer for their interactions on social networks. This means that if a citizen shares the content of an independent media or content of another citizen that does not please the regime, he will be able to answer for it before the law. Either with a fine or with a heavier penalty “.
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