RJR News

Not much has been said in recent times in Jamaica about conditions in Cuba for those Cuban citizens who might be opposed to the communist government’s policies; particularly in the area of human rights.

 While this general state of silence has been prevailing here in Jamaica much has been happening in Cuba, located just 90 miles away at the closest point, over the last seven years. Seventy-five rights activists, many of them journalists, were arrested in 2003 and given prison sentences of six to 28 years.

(from left to right) Professor Rupert Lewis, Gary Allen, and Dr.Canute James.
In studio before the start of the show reminiscing on the history of RJR.

 Twenty-three were freed earlier; now the government led by Raul Castro recently agreed to free the rest, after discussions with the Roman Catholic Church.

The BBC reported that “the breakthrough came after talks between President Raul Castro, the visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Cuba, Cardinal Jaime Ortega.”

Things came to a head on February 24 when Orlando Zapata Tamayo, one of the dissident prisoners, died after a hunger strike lasting 85 days. He had been protesting against prison conditions.

The latest move by the Cuban authorities will no doubt be applauded by many observers, anxious for more signs of a change since the transfer of power from Fidel Castro, the country’s long-time Leader, to Raul, his younger brother.

The unofficial Human Rights Commission in Cuba has reported that there are now approximately 200 political prisoners still held in Cuba, which, if true, represents one third less than when Raul became President.

So, how should Jamaica respond to the situation in Cuba? We have traditionally enjoyed good relations with the communist country, and particularly since the end of the Cold War, there has been a policy of constructive engagement, across party lines, between successive Jamaican governments and the Cuban government.

The Cubans, out of their limited means, have continued to provide significant human resource and technical support to Jamaica and other Caribbean countries which have served to strengthen the bonds of friendship.

But friends, if they are to be true to the principles of friendship, must be prepared to risk that relationship being strained occasionally by some straight talking.

Brief reference was made to the question of media freedom in Cuba on the July 4^th edition of “That’s a Rap!” (renamed,“Exposure”, for that day only  in tribute to the former long-running current affairs programme that ran in the same time slot).

Rupert Lewis, Professor of Political Thought at the University of the West Indies, advanced the view that the situation in the world had changed considerably. “You are now living in a post communist world” he asserted. Accordingly, he said, “when you are making changes from one system into another the people who are affected must be involved in saying ‘this is what we prefer and the media provide the institutional infrastructure for that discussion to take place. So I would say it’s no longer acceptable to have a monopoly of the media by the party as you have in Cuba today. There has to be some democratization.”

Gary Allen, Managing Director of the RJR Group and President of the Media Association of Jamaica, said, having previously worked with Cuban media entities through Caribbean Broadcasting Union, he recognized and admired their proficiency in the engineering, production and programming aspects of media in Cuba.

That's a Rap! host, Earl Moxam raising a point with his  guests on July 4th.

“One almost has to hope and help them to allow that editorial freedom to be unleashed so that they could actually broaden the Caribbean professional experience in terms of how they have demonstrated that they can lead and they can help others to advance in media technologies and media content development” he said.

How long will it take for other media and political interests in Jamaica to express a view or take a position on the situation in Cuba? Or, should they make any such comment?

Let the debate begin!