Cnn Starts Broadcasts From Havana Bureau In Cuba

Cable News Network (CNN) launched broadcasts from its new bureau in Havana on Monday, the first time in 28 years a US media outlet has worked from a permanent bureau on the Communist-ruled island.

Hello from CNNs new Havana bureau at long last, correspondent Lucia Newman told anchor Bernard Shaw on the 6 pm (2300 GMT) news programme World View, before presenting viewers with a report on Cubas view of the year-old US Helms-Burton law against the island.

Although US news organisations visit Cuba on reporting trips when Havana grants them visas, CNN last week became the first US news organisation to be accredited with a permanent bureau on the Communist-ruled island since 1969.

 

Mondays broadcasts, live from CNNs offices on the 20th floor of the Habana Libre hotel, coincided with the launch of the networks 24-hour Spanish language service.

Cuba gave CNN, an Atlanta-based division of Time Warner Inc, permission to open its office last November and President Bill Clinton gave the network the go-ahead to come to Havana in February.

Newmans debut report on Helms-Burton showed culture minister Abel Prieto and parliamentary president Ricardo Alarcon denouncing the law. Helms-Burton toughens Washingtons 35-year-old economic embargo on Cuba and aims to increase pressure on President Fidel Castros government for change.

The report also showed Castro telling a rally last week that those countries that have followed Washingtons prescription and embarked on a political transition have transited towards hell.

Few would argue that Cuba is exactly heaven, Newman said, noting Cubans suffer chronic economic difficulties.

Shaw asked Newman if she had complete freedom to report from Cuba. Newman replied that she had been assured by authorities there would be no interference in CNNs coverage and hoped this would be the case.

CNNs office high over Havana gave the network a sweeping view of the city.

The political backdrop is long hostile relations between Havana and Washington, especially sour of late because of the Helms-Burton law, which seeks to deter foreign investment in Cuba and demands that the island dump its Communist system and Castro himself as a condition for normalized relations.

When he granted a licence to CNN in February, Clinton also approved nine other US news organizations to come to the island. But Cuban authorities said the Cuban government alone would decide when and if it allowed more US news organisations in. There has been no indication of whether Havana will let more US news groups come to Cuba.

In November 1996 Cuban authorities noted what they called a respectful relationship that had developed with CNN in recent years. The network had pressed to set up a bureau for the last two years, Newman told reporters in a break between broadcasts Monday evening.

Newman, who has worked for CNN in Latin America since 1986 and was last posted in Mexico City, has made frequent visits to Cuba in the last 11 years.

She said she was aware she was going to be under scrutiny both from authorities and from the Cuban exile community in Florida, calling herself a fish in a fishbowl. But she said she was determined not to let this influence her reporting.

Foreign media interest in the CNN bureau made itself felt in Newmans first few days. A gaggle of foreign reporters gathered in her offices Monday afternoon to watch the first broadcasts.

While CNNs bureau-opening was historic for the US media, several non-US media outlets have operated from the island for many years, including Reuters, Agence-France Presse, Notimex, EFE, Financial Times of London, El Pais and the BBC.