La Cultura Cubana

La Cultura Cubana

Yo sueno con los ojos

abiertos, y de dia

y noche siempre sueno

y sobre las espumas

del ancho mar revuelto

y por entre las crespas

arenas del desierto...

~Jose Marti

The media has always been one of the most important ways that human beings communicate. It is a form of personal and political expression that reveals important and intimate information about a culture. In the case of Cuba, where society is influenced by many peoples, and political alignments are in constant reform, culture is very rich. By examining the information presented in the media and the public's reaction to it, the heart of a nation is revealed and the world is brought closer together through television, newspapers and radio.

In Cuba, the mass media “are an essential channel for mass mobilization and control, management of domestic conflict, and the maintenance of the Cuban revolutionary process” (Nichols, 71). The media is a force often employed by the revolutionary government; the New York Times described it as the “government of television”(71). However, it is not a government of exclusively television communications: radio and print media reach virtually the entire population and television reaches most (Nichols, 72). All television and radio stations are controlled by one central government agency, the ICRT. There are more than one hundred newspapers and magazines published independently by separate government run organizations: “it would not be and exaggeration to say that most organizations have their own publication” (Luis, 66). Regardless of which agency is in control, all media in Cuba in controlled by the government (Nichols, 75). This has an enormous eff...

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... Despite the embargo with the United States and government control of all forms of communication, the flow of knowledge cannot be stopped. With the flow of information comes the ability to think and to learn, the hunger for knowledge in Cuba is strong. People seek out the media and respond to it. Cuba is a nation that is rich in intellect, culture and diversity and this is reflected in all their interactions and forms communication.

Works Cited

1. Casablanca. Ed. Dolgin, Gail and Franco, Vincente. Videocasettte. San Francisco:

Cuba Va Video Project, 1993.

2. Luis, William. Culture and Customs of Cuba. Westport, Ct: Greenwood Press, 2001.

3. Hichols, John Spencer, “The Mass Media: their functions in social conflict”.

Cuba and Internal Affairs. Ed. Dominguez, Jorge I.

Beverly Hills: Sage Publications, 1982. 71-106.