By A. Ross Johnson and S. Enders Wimbush
A.
Ross Johnson, a fellow at the Wilson Center and the Hoover Institution,
was director of Radio Free Europe from 1988 to 1991. S. Enders Wimbush
was director of Radio Liberty from 1987 to 1993 and a member of the U.S.
Broadcasting Board of Governors from 2010 to 2012.
When
the Berlin Wall came down, Eastern Europe liberated itself and the
Soviet Union collapsed, the role of U.S. international broadcasting was
universally recognized. In the wake of these world-changing events,
Václav Havel, Lech Walesa, Boris Yeltsin and other new leaders insisted
that
Radio Free Europe (RFE), Radio Liberty (RL) and the
Voice of America
were central to the peaceful democratic transitions in their countries.
Western broadcasts provided essential information to all those
dedicated to change and helped accelerate that change. Cuba is
approaching such a moment, and once again the United States has a
powerful instrument in place to help shape the outcome.
Miami-based
Radio and TV Martí
was established in 1984 on the model of RFE and RL as a “surrogate”
broadcaster to provide accurate information about developments in Cuba
and the world otherwise denied to Cubans. The RFE/RL experience suggests
that Martí’s role will become more important as diplomatic relations
with Cuba are restored and cultural, educational and economic ties with
the United States expand. With domestic media still tightly controlled,
Cubans will turn to Martí for information on civil society, human rights
protests, local opposition blogs, travel rules, economic developments,
controversy within the regime — in short, for all domestic news and with
a focus on voices from Cuba about Cuba.
This comprehensive
surrogate media role will not be performed by CNN or other commercial
media. Nor should it be viewed — as some U.S. diplomats have viewed RFE
and RL from time to time — as an irritant to improved state-to-state
ties. One day, when Cuba is as free and democratic as the former
communist countries of Eastern Europe with their own thriving free
media, Martí will not be needed. Until then, it can play a key role in
fostering peaceful democratic transition in Cuba.
Martí has impact. Once derided for its unsuccessful efforts to telecast from an airplane flying just beyond Cuban airspace,
TV Martí grounded that plane in May 2013.
Its programs are now carried 24/7 on Hispasat satellite TV and on
DirecTV, which penetrate not just Cuba but most of Latin America. Martí
distributes both DVDs — 59,000 in 2014, and currently about 15,000 per
month — and flash drives containing its radio and TV programs throughout
Cuba, where they are copied and distributed by volunteer networks of
activists, journalists, bloggers, members of opposition political
parties and churches. Martí launched Reporta Cuba in May as a social
platform that collects complaints and other information through dozens
of citizen reporters across the island. And every day, Martí airs video
packages produced on the island itself by independent video journalists
denied access to Cuban media.
Martí
also reaches Cubans on the Internet, almost nonexistent in Cuba only a
few years ago. On the day President Obama announced his intention to
reestablish diplomatic relations with Cuba, more than 27,000 visitors
visited martinoticias.com for news, analysis and context. The
president’s speech was broadcast live with simultaneous translation, and
when prisoner Alan Gross landed on U.S. soil, his news conference was
carried live to Cuba on Martí’s broadcast and Internet channels.
Martí
programming is classic surrogate fare — information Cuban media would
carry if it were free. Martí reports on the Cuban economy, including
corruption, are among the only objective assessments anywhere. Martí
provides extensive coverage of women’s issues, and it covers Cuba’s
public health challenges. It devotes continual attention to the
activities of dissidents and human rights advocates — such as the famous
Ladies in White. News of its hemisphere — for example,
protests in Venezuela — is a daily offering, and its special programming on media and a free press is extremely popular.
An
indicator of Martí’s effectiveness is the efforts by the Cuban regime
to block its programs. The regime continues to jam Martí radio
broadcasts with some success, especially in Havana. But Martí has
countered by buying time on commercial stations in Miami whose signals
reach the island successfully. The regime also attempts to prevent
access to the Martí Web site, which the Martí leadership circumvents by
providing proxy servers.
No one should assume that Obama’s
overture to Raúl Castro will result soon in a free press, any more than
were Mikhail Gorbachev or Wojciech Jaruzelski ready to relax their
control of Soviet and Polish media until domestic pressure forced them
to do so. We should expect the Castro regime to fight tooth and nail to
prevent media freedom, and it is likely that the regime will intensify
measures to derail Radio and TV Martí as the broadcaster informs Cubans
about the deepening crisis of the current system. Again, Radio Free
Europe and Radio Liberty are precedents. Attacked and vilified by
flailing regimes (Jaruzelski constantly complained to the U.S. Embassy
about RFE Polish broadcasts), the Radio Frees doubled down and fulfilled
their historic role.
Post-communist transitions may be
protracted and suffer reversals. But we know from our experience on the
front lines of U.S. international broadcasting that unforeseen events
can enhance the role of surrogate free media and accelerate change.
Obama’s decision to
reestablish diplomatic ties with Cuba, regardless of
whether
it is followed by liberalization or more repression, is likely to be
this kind of game-changer for Martí. This is the moment for which Radio
and TV Martí were created. The White House and Congress should make
available the resources necessary for Martí to provide Cubans with
information that will help them gain their freedom.