STATEMENT ON RADIO AND TV MARTI SENATE REPORT

CUBAN AMERICAN NATIONAL FOUNDATION

 STATEMENT ON RADIO AND TV MARTI SENATE REPORT

While the report makes several valid points regarding the Office of Cuba Broadcasting’s (OCB) poor performance in recent years, to diffuse the Cuba specific broadcasts within the amalgam of Voice of America (VOA) objectives and bureaucracy would contradict the original purpose of Congress in creating an instrument that would advance the truth and democratic values to the Cuban people. It would do more; it would end any effective effort in reaching and supporting the Cuban people in its effort to break the stranglehold imposed by the Castro regime. We must and we will firmly oppose any effort to kill rather than fix Radio and TV Marti. 

 It is clear that new leadership at OCB is needed and that the Obama Administration should move expeditiously to replace current management but equally, if not more critical, is the need to reinstate the Presidential Advisory Board to Cuba (PABC). It was the “freezing” of the activities and oversight responsibilities of the PABC during the Bush Administration that made possible the continuation over a decade of misguided and mismanaged practices at OCB that resulted in a listenership reduction of over 70% to less than 5% of the Cuban audience.  The Advisory Board’s mission is to review and provide recommendations to the President on the activities carried out by OCB, yet the Board has not been convened in over a decade.  In a 2002 report, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) stated that the Presidential Advisory Board would “provide an important oversight mechanism,” We concur with OIG’s finding and believe that appointing a Board with new, professional and diverse membership, would help to significantly improve the performance of the Marti’s. 

The Senate report places undue emphasis on the geographic location of OCB operations which has little to no influence on the ability to conduct proper oversight on a broadcast operation for a Government, otherwise effectively fighting two wars ten thousand miles away.  Placing OCB under the auspices of the Voice of America (VOA) simply places additional levels of bureaucracy between the International Broadcasting Board (IBB) and the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) that impede rather than facilitate proper supervision.  We must, therefore, conclude that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff report represents a veiled attempt to absorb OCB into VOA as a way to cause its eventual disappearance. 

Cuba is traversing a critical juncture in history.  The Cuban regime has intensified its efforts to censor the Cuban people from outside news and information and has implemented a zero tolerance policy for internal dissent.  Now more than ever, the U.S. should redouble its efforts to maximize the tools at our disposal, including Radio and Television Marti, to support the Cuban people in their desire for change.  We can begin this effort in earnest by restructuring the Office of Cuba Broadcasting and ensuring its effectiveness. 

###