US Illegal Broadcasts to Cuba: So Much Money for Such Small Audiences

The Mexican news agency Notimex reported that the US plans a slight reduction in funding for Radio and TV Marti that broadcast illegal transmissions to Cuba and are hardly watched or heard by anyone in Cuba.

It seems like the crisis is even affecting these two ill-named broadcasters, whose budgets will be reduced from US$ 34.8 million a year to 32.4 million.

According to the Miami Herald, the cut comes as part of large reductions to the federal budget. The article also points out that the new objective of both broadcasters is to produce “shorter, more frequent TV news segments and an all-news radio format,” to try to attract audiences to
programming that receives too much money and has very small audiences.

Critics based in the United States say that very few of the 11.2 million Cubans who live on the island listen to Radio Marti or watch TV Marti.

Less than 1 percent of the 1,200 Cubans who were interviewed by phone had heard Radio Marti during the week before the survey, according to a study published by the Government Accountability Office.

Barely two weeks ago, Cuban Ambassador to the United Nations Abelardo Moreno denounced the illegal broadcasts to the UN Information Committee.

Moreno said that both stations transmit 1,955 hours of radio and television each week through 31 different frequencies (short and medium wave, FM and TV) of programming that has a profound lack of “objectivity and balanced reports.”

British Singer-Song Writer Sting Thanks Cuban Music Festival for Award

HAVANA, Cuba. British singer-song writer Sting described as an unexpected honour an award granted to him by the organizers of the 13th Cubadisco Music Festival that began on Saturday in Havana.

The award to Sting, former leader of The Police, is for his CD ‘The Journey and the Labyrinth’, which he shares with Bosnian Edin Karamazov.

In a letter read during the awards ceremony with which the event began on Saturday, the prestigious singer and composer also expressed his admiration for Cuban music and culture.

“To be honoured in this way has a gratifying flavour for us,” wrote Sting in the message read by Cuban maestro Leo Brouwer, who received the award on behalf of the British famed artist at his own request.

In the text, Sting recalls that when he visited Cuba a few years ago with his wife, he learned to dance and listened to music in concert halls, hotels, bars and even in the street. “It was extraordinary and inspiring.

Music and arts are the living blood of Cuba,” he wrote.

In his letter, Sting notes that he accepts the award on behalf of John Dowland, an English composer of the 16th century who created an enduring legacy for singers and musicians that transcends until today.

The top awards of Cubadisco 2009 were granted to singer Omara Portuondo and to the world famous band ‘Los Van Van’.

(Sting considera un honor Premio Cubadisco)

Cuba on Track to Eliminate Acute Hepatitis B

HAVANA, Cuba. Systematic immunization campaigns carried out in Cuba over the past 17 years have allowed the Caribbean nation to reduce the incidence of acute Hepatitis B in more than 99%.

According to Granma news daily, the prevention campaign is being implemented by the Cuban Ministry of Public Health using a highly efficient vaccine produced by the Havana-based Center of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering.

In 1992, a total of 2,194 cases of acute Hepatitis B were diagnosed. The figure decreased to 1,344 in 1997 and the number of cases dramatically dropped to 34 in 2006; 17 in 2007 and 15 in 2008, while there are no cases reported in the first quarter of the current year.

The Granma article recalls that according to criteria from the World Health Organization, form the epidemiologic point of view, when the number o cases reported are below 10, the diseased is not regarded as a health problem.

However, vaccination strategies and the strict control of blood donations remain in place in order to prevent chronic patients from transmitting the disease to people that have not been immunized.

Cuba will mark the World Day against Hepatitis on May 19 with a series of activities that include events and panels to discuss current strategies to diagnose and treat Hepatitis B and C.

(En vías de eliminación en Cuba la hepatitis B aguda)