EDITORIAL

Propaganda is often disguised as fact

Thursday,  March 2, 2006

The role of the Government Information Service (GIS) is to impart information to the public and, usually but not always, it does this well.

However, while we are used to the regular feel-good press releases, or, in the case of Cuban migrant arrivals, official news that is so empty of facts that it is almost worthless, the recent release on the visit by a Cuban delegation is a blot on the reputation of GIS.

It is true that, when Cubans are repatriated, speeding up the process is to the benefit of the Cayman Government and the migrants themselves, but there are questions about the repatriation process that the release makes a ridiculous attempt to stifle.

One major criticism of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that the delegation came to discuss, is that there is no mechanism in place to ensure there are no serious repercussions to Cubans that are sent back home. 

The Cuban official’s assurance that returned boat-people are resettled “at their usual workplaces and back at their normal lives” sounds far too good to be true.

The idea that returned Cubans are seen by their Government as persons who had learned from their “mistake” has a disturbing Orwellian ring to it.
There were notably no comforting assurances from the UK representative who accompanied the delegation, though it is the British Embassy who should rightly be voicing such news if they are convinced of the truth of it. 

The release by GIS, therefore, begs several questions, and Net News is probably not the only media house that would have liked to put them to the delegation.

However, we would not for a minute expect officials who are used to keeping the media on a tight leash, and jailing those journalists who dare question the system, to submit themselves to a free press.

It should never be forgotten that the current Cuban regime has been criticized by such international bodies as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and there are plenty of first-hand accounts of its harsh treatment.

Cuba does not allow the International Red Cross to monitor its prisons; the state severely represses dissident voices, and rules its people (and its media) with an iron fist. 

Before swallowing the Cuban delegation’s dubious assurances whole, the Cayman Islands and the UK Governments should be investigating the truth of the matter and seeking proof that no harm does, in fact, come to those who are repatriated. 

The delegate’s words should certainly not have been released by GIS in a vain attempt to quell the unease of the Cayman residents over the return of desperate people to a place they left because of unease.

It is true that the Cayman Islands is in a bind over the issue of Cuban migrants. Cuba unfairly compromises all its neighbours with the threat of flooding them with its disaffected citizens, and careful diplomacy is needed.

The Cuban Government has nothing to gain from speeding up the repatriation process, so the question must be asked why the diplomatic wrangling of communist and capitalist systems was described as “fruitful”.

The suggested use of construction workers from Cuba should also be read carefully. Communist countries vet their people very carefully before they are allowed to work in foreign lands. These are not the same individuals who are trying to escape by boat.

An information service is to inform, and to omit important facts from official news is tantamount to a cover-up of the truth.

In this case, there is reason to believe that a portion of a GIS release might well be a tall tale.

Spreading another country’s propaganda is a disgraceful use of a democratically elected government’s information service, and the people of these Islands should be discouraged that it has been used in this way.

Our Government may have to deal with the Cuban Government, but it does not have to capitulate quite so weakly.

Real and impartial information is a precious commodity that we should fiercely defend.

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