[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Radio Marti
On Monday, May 20, 1985. Cuba awoke and was startled by a new imperialist act of aggression: Radio Marti had just begun broadcasting on shortwave from the United States. The fact that an anti-Cuban radio station used the name of the most venerable national hero and inspirer of the Revolution hurt the people's feelings. The shock of the insult was so grave that Castro had to cancel that day's interviews. Whether the rest of Cuba got the day off too is not certain. Castro retaliated against Radio Marti by canceling an emigration agreement between Cuba and the United States.
Beginning in 1983, when the Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act (RBC Act) was passed by the United States Congress, Cuba and the United States have struggled to find a compromise between the issues of national sovereignty and freedom of expression. (Radio Broadcasting to Cuba Act, 2003). On the northern end of the Straits of Florida, the United States Information Agency (USIA) stands, advocating the freedom of expression. (Howland, 1984) On the southern end, the Cuban government protects its national sovereignty through radio jamming and deliberate broadcast interference. These diametric views are based, in part, on the same principles that each government follows within its borders. Cuba adheres to disseminating only the information that coincides with the government's ideals, and actively polices and controls the media. Cuba essentially operates on a platform of censorship. In contrast, the United States government, under the First Amendment freedom of the press, allows the media to operate without undue interference from the government.
The RBC Act noted its principle objective as "providing for the open communication of information and ideas through the use of radio broadcasting to Cuba." (214) Through the RBC Act, the United States government authorized attempts to break-up the media monopoly held by the Cuban government.......
