Radio/TV Marti in Miami (Cuban-directed propaganda) takes more money than you knew to run.

[Judi Lynn]

This ALL comes right out of the incomes of U.S. workers and goes directly to the right-wing hardliner "exiles" who control, program, staff these government propaganda outlets.

This Miami Herald article discusses the departure of the current director:

Posted on Friday, 08.27.10
Head of Radio and TV Martí resigns
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
[e-mail]

Radio/TV Martí director Pedro Roig resigned Friday after more than seven years at the head of the often controversial U.S. government stations that broadcast to Cuba.

``We have, most certainly, achieved the goals of bringing the news and information denied by the communist regime to the Cuban people,'' Roig, a 69-year-old lawyer, wrote in his resignation letter.

The twin stations have spent an estimated $500 million over the years broadcasting news and entertainment to Cuba, but they have been dogged by complaints of meager audiences, biased politics and journalism and cronyism.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/27/1795452/head-of-radio-and-tv-marti-resigns.html

[flamingdem]

1. A comment recommends reading the resignation letter saying it's hilarious

so I found a copyable version:

No one ever listened to that garbage..




Mr. Walter Isaacson
Chairman

Broadcasting Board of Governors

Dear Mr. Chairman:
Seven and a half years ago I was honored with the unique opportunity to serve our great nation. With profound gratitude for the trust the Federal Government bestowed upon me, I hereby submit my resignation from the position of Director of the Office of
Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), effective Sept. 1, 2010, or at the Board's timely convenience. I will be available to help in the directorate transition.
I arrived in the United States in 1960 as a young political exile from Cuba and joined the freedom fighters' struggle to free my beloved motherland. As my family grew, I worked hard and took the educational opportunities offered by this generous society.

My appointment as Director of Radio and TV Marti is a testament of the validity of the American Dream. It was a difficult mission. I accepted gratefully and with the unwavering determination to fulfill my duties to the best of my abilities. It has been a challenging and rewarding experience.
The professional and dedicated men and women of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting have much to be proud of. Their commitment has made possible the outstanding impact of the Radio and TV Marti mission. With the unyielding support of the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) we have, most certainly, achieved the goals of bringing the news and information denied by the communist regime to the Cuban people.

Some of these accomplishments include, but are not limited to:
a) Reformatting Radio Marti to a 24 hour all news station, where 70 percent of the daily broadcast is dedicated to live newscasts.
b) Increasing Radio Marti's signal strength from 50,000 to 100,000 watts from sunrise to sunset.
c) Attaining multiple TV transmission platforms. We have gone from an obsolete aerostat to a plane outfitted with state of the art capabilities that broadcasts simultaneously on VHF channel 13 and UHF channel 20.

We also have made TV Marti available to thousands of Cubans who have satellite antennas. Television Marti enters Cuba via channel 8 on DirecTV, including Saturdays and Sundays at prime time hours.

d) Upgrading OCB's website with in-depth reporting and special interviews with Cuba bloggers in network sites such as You Tube, Twitter and Facebook.
e) The IBB results from the April-May 2010 survey of a large sample of recent arrivals interviewed (within six months of their departure from Cuba) show that 43 percent reported listening to Radio Marti while 6.5 percent saw TV Marti.
It is evident, by their impressive background, that the U.S. International Broadcasting has an excellent new Board of Governors, chaired by you, an experienced leader. I am thankful for the support received from the BBG-IBB managers and personnel. You are a great professional team!
I will ever remain grateful to our friends in Congress, Robert Menendez, Lincoln and Mario Diaz Balart, Ileana Ros Lehtinen and Albio Sires. You have fought for Radio and TV Marti's mission with unyielding devotion. To Joaquin Blaya, former BBG governor and a Latin America legendary TV personality, my gratitude for his valuable advice.
To my dear colleagues at Radio and TV Marti, thank you for your integrity and dedication to excellence in journalism. We have walked together, through some difficult times, and always came out as honorable professionals in the never-ending commitment to freedom. For all of you my love and eternal gratitude.
The time has come to close this chapter of my life. I am proud to have served the American people, and I hope that my efforts at Radio and TV Marti have helped advance the cause of freedom in my beloved Cuba.
Sincerely,
Pedro V. Roig, Esq.

Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2010/08/head-of-radio-tv-mart%C3%AD-resigns.html#ixzz0xuBM9Sar

[Billy Burnett]

2. Cuba is directing this propaganda?

The OP headline had me thinking ... hmmmmm ... could the loons in Miami actually think Radio/TV Marti is a commie plot?

Lol.

Then I read the article.

Shameful waste.



thanks for posting this, and adding more evidence to the giant heap of wasted anti Cuba programs we are paying for. :puke:

[Peace Patriot]

3. Interesting that the Miami Hairball admits that Radio/TV Marti has a bad rep--

--is "dogged by complaints of meager audiences, biased politics and journalism and cronyism."

I wonder if this is evidence that the Hairball is part of the new CIA campaign to smoosh some democracy cosmetics on U.S. relations in Latin America--notably, in Colombia--with their new "smiley face" former Defense Minister president--and quite raw in Honduras, with that U.S.-funded 'election' held under martial law while rightwing death squads made hits on leftist leaders all over the country. (And the U.S. just can't understand why almost nobody in Latin America will recognize that rancid government!)

U.S. bullying, lying, funding of local death squads, installation of fascist dictators, etc., are just not making it, in most of Latin America, as in days of old, so a new tack is very much needed to accomplish the same goals--U.S. corporate/war profiteer looting. And if this doesn't work, believe me, it will be back to Bushitis, via ES&S/Diebold in 2012, and all those U.S. war assets that are being put in place in Latin America--most especially in an arc around Venezuela's Caribbean oil coast and northern oil provinces--will be used.

Really, hell must be freezing over, to see the Hairball admitting reality, for once--in this case, that anti-left propaganda radio/TV stinks. Is it a harbinger? And of what? Two years ago I would have said, of Obama's new policy of "peace, respect and cooperation" in Latin America. But that was so quickly overruled by Jim DeMint (SC-Diebold), John Negroponte and the other psychotics of the right who have been running U.S./Latin America policy under Obama, that I do NOT think that this is a good harbinger. What we may be in for is something rather more sophisticated than the Bush Junta (and its Reagan era vultures), but still full of ill intent and backed up by a big U.S. military buildup in the region, to coerce the region into U.S.-dominated "free trade for the rich" and to stop it from 'wasting' the profits from resources such as oil, which could be enriching the few, on the poor majority.

The real rulers of the U.S. want very much into Cuba, to loot its public good programs--such a free, universal, very high quality health care, and its superior educational system, and stop these ideas from spreading like wildfire throughout the region--and to overturn its government with destabilization activities. The Bush Junta retarded these and other such goals. Now we're going to see what old CIA hand, Leon Panetta, can do for instance to trick Latin Americans into thinking that the U.S. has good intentions. I think that's what the change at radio/TV Marti is all about--and perhaps to provide a more credible "news" narrative for the destabilization activities when they begin.

[flamingdem]

4. Maybe Hairball can act liberal since a wave of tea is about to wash over us in November

.. so nothing to worry about.

I really do wonder who defines Cuba policy over there. I don't think they fully love the what the right wing pulls off in the local scene.

[Peace Patriot]

5. The Teabagger financiers commandeth; Diebold/ES&S answereth.

And my further take on things is that Leon Panetta is far more skilled than all the Bushwhack assassins and mercenaries and their commanders put together. The Chinese curse comes to mind: "May you live in interesting times."