TV satellite dishes are a "germ-filled stew" which receive subversive propaganda, Communist officials told Cubans Wednesday as Washington increased transmissions of its TV channel to the island while Fidel Castro recovers from surgery. The Communist Party daily Granma also alluded to Miami news programs and talk shows that have been filled in recent days with speculation about Castro's health and the island's future. The shows are received on illegal dishes, highly popular here among those who can afford them. | '...a good part of the programming received this way has content that is destabilizing, interventionist, subversive and encourages, more and more, the carrying out of terrorist activities,' Granma said. |
The U.S. government this week scaled up transmissions by its TV Marti, which features anti-Castro programming. TV Marti's stated objective is to break Cuba's "information blockade" by offering its own current affairs shows as alternatives to state television programming, the only thing Cubans receive if they don't have TV satellite dishes.
The government's attack on satellite dishes comes as Cubans' uncertainty over the health of the man who has ruled them for 47 years begins to ease. State-run media on Wednesday ran messages of support for Castro, who turns 80 on Sunday. Youth organizations said on the front page of the Communist Youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde: "We will fight and work harder every day to maintain and cultivate the values that the Revolution has sown in us."