MIAMI -- (AP) -- Ten months ago, the U.S. government launched a new effort to beam TV broadcasts into Cuba via a Gulf Stream jet, an end-run around the communist government's close grip on the island's media.
A U.S. State Department draft report circulated last month called the jet "a best practice'' to beat the Cubans' jamming efforts and said the $10 million (euro7.3 million) startup cost was "a big investment but appears to be paying off," with viewership on the rise. Watching American TV broadcasts is
illegal in Cuba.
But more than two dozen Cuban immigrants who recently arrived in Florida paint a very different picture. In interviews with The Associated Press, they said while the U.S. government's Radio Marti is heard throughout the island, TV Marti can rarely be seen. The TV operation costs U.S. taxpayers more than $20 million (euro14.6 million) a year.
Welcome back.
Posted by: Mambi Watch | July 30, 2007 at 07:53 PM
Wow, who could have predicted this? TV Marti still being jammed by the Cuban govt? And the drum major for this bandwagon, Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart stating: "It's a yearly occurrence," he said. "I've never seen a program more reviewed than the Martis." I'm so very glad my hard earned tax dollars can go to this project which just like the embargo has coast us much, and produced so very little. Thank you hard like exile community!!!
Posted by: lmh | July 30, 2007 at 09:03 PM