The Cuban government has withdrawn the accreditations of the journalists and photojournalists of the EFE agency in Havana, as reported by the coordinator of the media in Cuba, Atahualpa Amerise, on his Twitter account. This is the first time that an international news agency has been disabled in the country, according to Amerise, a decision that has occurred in Eve of the protest demonstrations against the Cuban regime.
According to the journalist, those responsible for the International Press Center (CPI) urgently summoned the EFE team in Havana – three editors, a photographer and a TV cameraman – to inform them of the withdrawal of the credentials. This decision, they were informed, was taken by virtue of the so-called “article 1 of the final provisions of the regulations of foreign press agencies.”
The journalist has indicated, however, that they have not been able to find such an article and has referred to another provision of the CPI regulations by which the withdrawal of credentials is justified by “improper actions or actions unrelated to your profile and work content, as well as when it is considered that he has lacked journalistic ethics and / or does not conform to the objectivity of his offices “.
Amerise recalls that the agency has published in recent days an interview with the main leader of the outlawed opposition march on Monday 15, the playwright Yunior García Aguilera. “We do not know,” he points out, however, if it has influenced the Cuban government’s decision.
Wave of criticism for Cuba’s decision
The decision of the Cuban authorities to withdraw the press credentials of the EFE Agency team on the island has provoked a cascade of reactions both from politics and from press freedom defense organizations and journalistic media. The Spanish Ministry of Affairs Foreign Affairs has summoned the charge d’affaires from the Cuban embassy in Madrid, head of the legation in the absence of an ambassador, to ask for explanations on this measure, which Cuba takes for the first time towards the EFE Agency and of which there is no record of having been adopted on another occasion with an international news agency.
What’s more, the Spanish embassy in Havana is taking steps with the Cuban authorities so that they return the credentials to all EFE journalists so that they can carry out their work, official sources said.
The president of the EFE Agency, Gabriela Cañas, has said wait for the Government of Cuba to “reconsider” return the withdrawn press accreditations to the journalists of this medium. “The Cuban authorities have withdrawn the accreditations from the EFE Noticias team in Havana. We hope that the Government will reconsider. The EFE Agency is an objective and responsible medium that has been reporting on the island for more than 40 years and does not understand the reasons for this. this measure, “Cañas wrote on Twitter.
Also, the former president of the EFE Agency Fernando Garea has described this measure as “terrible news for Cuba, for Spain and for freedom”. The Editorial Board of the EFE Agency, the body that supervises the informants of this medium, has expressed its support for the workers of its delegation in Havana and asks for the return of their press credentials to be able to do their work without restrictions.
What’s more, the European Union has requested “clarification” to the Cuban authorities after the withdrawal of press credentials from the EFE team in Havana, which he believes could mean a “serious violation of freedom of expression”. “We have seen the information. We are investigating it and requesting clarifications from the Cuban authorities and we are in contact with Efe,” Nabila Massrali, spokesperson for the EU’s high representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, told EFE.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has also condemned the measure and considered it a “unacceptable attack on freedom of information”. On Twitter, Reporters Without Borders has urged that EFE’s accreditations be restored in Cuba and has asked the Spanish government to intercede, in addition to warning that it will closely monitor the safety of EFE’s Cuban journalists.
The Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE) has also requested the mediation of the Government of Pedro Sánchez so that Cuba “reconsiders” this measure. In a note, the FAPE “categorically” rejects this decision of the Cuban Government, considering it a “clear violation of international standards on freedom of the press” and requests the Spanish Government to “do the mediation efforts that it deems appropriate for Cuba to reconsider the measure. ”
“This measure is a attack on freedom of expression and information and tries to prevent EFE journalists from continuing to report on the situation in Cuba with the professionalism, rigor and impartiality with which the Spanish agency has always been working, “said the president of FAPE, Nemesio Rodríguez.
They have returned two of the five accreditations
Finally, the Cuban authorities have returned the press credentials to two of the journalists of the Spanish agency EFE, something that the Spanish media has qualified as insufficient, while the condemnation reactions continue, to which the US State Department has joined.
The editor Laura Becquer and the cameraman Felipe Borrego already have their documents after the negotiations held between the agency’s management and the body in charge of accreditation of international reporters, the International Press Center (CPI), as well as between the Embassy of Spain and the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “The other four We are still without crediting at the moment and without being able to work“Amerise lamented through a message posted on her Twitter account.
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
