“Repression and terror”? “Extreme violence by the military”? Who has seen any of this in Cuba? The program from the Colombian channel NTN24 lasts 22 minutes, yet it contains not a single image of agents or soldiers repressing, beating, or detaining protesters. Nothing. It is all a complete lie.
Cuba: Executing the Truth
José Manzaneda, coordinator of Cubainformación
“Cuba can take no more: Miguel Díaz-Canel’s regime threatens to execute political prisoners.” This is the striking title of a program from the Colombian channel NTN24—a textbook example of the hate speech against the island that the U.S. government propagates through media outlets worldwide. (1)
1. The U.S. Blockade That No One Remembers
The program, hosted personally by the station’s director general, Claudia Gurisatti, begins by blaming Havana for the effects of Washington’s economic siege: “Cuba can take no more. Look: between darkness and the firing squad, there is no light; there is not enough food or medicine, and drinking water is scarce. (…) The dictatorship of Miguel Díaz-Canel attacks its own people and is incapable—utterly incapable—of guaranteeing even the most basic living conditions for its citizens.”
It is well known that the Cuban people are living in an extreme situation, the result of hundreds of economic sanctions, threats against foreign governments and companies, and a total oil blockade imposed by the White House. Can you imagine what would happen in Colombia under a similar economic war—one that destroyed its exports and tourism, blocked the receipt of remittances, and imposed a complete financial blockade?
2. The source: a U.S. government-backed NGO
The program presents accusations against Havana from an organization called Cubalex as if they were mere “information”: “This serious allegation was presented today in Washington by the independent organization Cubalex.” An “independent” organization? Cubalex is supported by the U.S. government, which uses its reports to justify economic sanctions and an energy blockade against the island. In fact, when the Trump administration suspended funding for the agency USAID in February 2025, Cubalex—by decision of the State Department—was one of the few organizations that continued to receive such funds (2).
“Thank God for you, Cubalex—always doing diligent, systematic work, gathering information,” the presenter remarked, full of praise.
3. Threats of execution by firing squad: where is the evidence?
“Diligent work”? “Gathering information”? Let’s take a look. Cubalex claims that the Cuban government is threatening to execute so-called “political prisoners” by firing squad. “And do you know what they are doing? Pay close attention to this threat: they are threatening political prisoners with this atrocity—execution by firing squad! (…) They explicitly told them they were going to kill them with an AKM [assault rifle].”
There is absolutely no evidence for these grave accusations—only the word of an organization that works for the U.S. government. Yet, for the program, this is enough to assert that it is “the Cuban government”—not just an individual official, police officer, or soldier, but the Cuban “regime” itself—that is allegedly carrying out these threats: “They would execute them by firing squad; they use them as human shields, in violation of every rule of international humanitarian law.” (…) Look: they are threatened with execution by firing squad if the U.S. carries out a military operation on the island.”
A U.S. military operation—one which the journalist herself legitimizes, describing it as being “against a tyranny”: “Threatened with execution by firing squad if the U.S. carries out a military operation against this tyranny. (…) It could be similar to the one carried out in Venezuela to capture and remove Nicolás Maduro.” “Capture” and “remove”—this is how the reporter sanitizes the kidnapping of a country’s president and the killing of over a hundred people on January 3rd of this year, in a blatant violation of the most fundamental international law (3).
4. Political prisoners: in Cuba or in Colombia?
The program repeatedly cites the figure for alleged “political prisoners” in Cuba: “The tyrant holds 1,306 political prisoners in his dungeons and torture centers.”
What is striking is not only that Cubalex—an entity supported by and linked to the White House—is treated as a reliable source for classifying these individuals as “political prisoners,” but also that there is no mention of the crimes these prisoners committed—such as sedition or acting as mercenaries—offenses that also carry severe penalties in Colombia or the U.S. (4)
It is also noteworthy that this comes from journalist Claudia Gurisatti, an overt propagandist for the regime of former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez (5) (6). During his term, there were as many as 7,500 political prisoners—the vast majority of whom were peaceful social activists (7)—while 7,900 civilians were murdered by the Army and subsequently presented as alleged guerrillas (the so-called “false positives”) (8). Furthermore, thousands of documented cases of torture occurred in the country’s prisons during his tenure (9).
5. Have you seen any “protests suppressed” by “military violence”?
Throughout the program, two terms are repeated ad nauseam: “repression” and “militarization.” For instance: “When it comes to attacking their own people, there is money—there is a budget: unlimited resources for repression and terror. (…) But for maintaining the electrical grid (…) for that, there is nothing. Yet for repression, there is everything.” (…) “We are witnessing intense repression; we are seeing the use of extreme violence by the military—surely ordered by the highest echelons of the Cuban government.”
“Repression and terror”? “Extreme violence by the military”? Who has actually seen any of this in Cuba? The program lasts 22 minutes, yet it contains not a single image of agents or soldiers suppressing, beating, or detaining protesters. Nothing. It is an absolute lie.
The program itself acknowledges that protests are taking place in Cuba—with no authority preventing them—and that they are linked to the hardships caused by the U.S. oil blockade: “Citizens are protesting peacefully over blackouts—because they lack energy, they have no electricity, and they have no way to cook.” (…) “In February, there were 71 protests.” (…) Look at the spikes in protests—the spikes in protests that coincide with the spikes in power outages.” Could it be any clearer? The U.S. blockade is the root cause of these protests, which—being peaceful—are taking place quite normally.
But why, then, do they speak of “repression”? Because—they claim—there is a “military presence” in Cuba. Let us recall that Trump and Rubio have repeatedly threatened the island with potential armed aggression, just as they did against Venezuela and Iran. Consequently, there is a visible mobilization of troops and militia members in Cuba: “Look at what there *is* money for: military actions. (…) There have been 39 instances of militarization. Extremely serious. (…) Meanwhile, the military deployment—as we saw in the previous graph—continues to grow, aimed at suppressing peaceful protests (…) In other words, these are military forces that exist to attack their own people, not to defend them.”
“Military forces” used to “suppress peaceful protests”? “To attack the people”? And where is the evidence—the images, the witnesses? There is nothing. The journalist finds it “extremely serious” that there is a military presence on the streets of Cuba—a presence that, in reality, does nothing to hinder peaceful protest. Yet, in 2021, this same journalist vehemently condemned social protests in Colombia while supporting the government’s actions (10) (11)—actions in which the police *did* intervene, and with extreme violence: 44 people were killed, and 83 others suffered eye injuries (12).
A journalist linked to paramilitary-aligned administrations, an NGO funded by the Donald Trump administration—what could possibly go wrong when it comes to the truth? Journalistic?
1 https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-actualidad/cuba-no-aguanta-mas-regimen-de-miguel-diaz-canel-amenaza-con-fusilar-presos-politicos-si-estados-unidos-interviene-la-isla-639046
2 https://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/america-latina/cuba-es/article302382184.html
3 https://desinformemonos.org/captura-de-maduro-fue-secuestro-transfronterizo-senala-academica-ibero/
4 https://www.cubainformacion.tv/especiales/20230915/105134/105134-asalto-al-capitolio-de-presos-y-condenas-en-eeuu-y-cuba-italiano-english-francais-deutsch
5 https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-actualidad/una-decada-del-triunfo-del-no-en-el-plebiscito-por-la-paz-santos-el-gran-timador-de-la-historia-colombiana-655542
6 https://www.pulzo.com/nacion/claudia-gurisatti-critica-orden-detencion-contra-alvaro-uribe-PP947203
7 https://carlosagaton.blogspot.com/2010/04/colombia-7500-presos-politicos.html
8 https://www.swissinfo.ch/spa/casi-7.900-civiles-fueron-asesinados-por-militares-en-colombia-entre-1990-y-2016/91332063
9 https://www.acnur.org/fileadmin/Documentos/BDL/2005/3356.pdf
10 https://www.pulzo.com/economia/canal-rcn-claudia-gurisatti-hablo-desabastecimiento-por-bloqueos-paro-PP1048618
11 https://www.ntn24.com/noticias-actualidad/buscan-desestabilizar-al-pais-marco-rubio-en-entrevista-con-ntn24-sobre-violencia-en-protestas-en-colombia-134074
12 http://centromemoria.gov.co/las-cifras-del-horror-documentacion-y-sistematizacion-de-violaciones-a-derechos-humanos-del-paro/
[ SOURCE: www.cubainformacion.tv ]
