The Cuban regime published this Wednesday (5) the new Social Communication Law, which gives power to communist authorities to monitor journalistic activity on the island and censor any type of information that could destabilize the dictatorship of Miguel Díaz-Canel.
The new rule was approved more than a year ago by Parliament, however it will only come into force within 120 days, further increasing the persecution of opponents in Cuba.
The legislation is accompanied by two regulatory decrees that politically “align” the media with the regime’s vision of events in the country. Some highlights of the standard are the regulation of “digital phenomena”, which will be focused on monitoring influencers who work on the internet, as well as independent news portals.
The vice-president of the Institute of Information and Social Communication (IICS), Onelio Castillo, referred to the date of announcement of the new law as a “transcendental day”. According to him, the “historic” implementation of the legislation represents a decades-long political will on the island.
The text has been the target of harsh criticism by several NGOs and media outlets opposed to the communist regime, who argue that the law censors content contrary to the official narrative and leaves independent digital newspapers adrift.
Excerpts of the regulations explicitly prohibit the dissemination of information that could “destabilize the communist state” both in the media and on the internet.
In Cuba, the press must be linked to the state apparatus, being constantly monitored by the communist party (PCC). The 2019 Cuban Constitution states that national media “are socialist property” and “cannot be subject to any other type of property.”
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