Nov 24, 2009

Are Reuters and AP Censuring Video of Attack on Cuban Dissident?

Claudio Fuentes has reported (in English) that video footage relating to the violent confrontation between Reinaldo Escobar and a pro-Castro group in Havana Cuba was taken from him by the Cuban police. According to Mr. Fuentes, his video camera was taken away after having been arrested as he was shooting the arrest of one of the people accompanying Mr. Escobar. Censorship by the Cuban regime won't surprise anyone but Reuters and the AP were present for they reported on it. Why haven't they published the full and unedited video footage of all that happened after Mr. Escobar finished speaking?

As reported in my blog post of November 21 the video released in YouTube (first one on said post) and circulating on the Internet cuts off right after showing Mr. Escobar attempting to establish a dialogue with a group of reporters.
According to Reuters: "He (Mr. Escobar) said he was speaking to reporters when, in what appeared to be an orchestrated event, several hundred people gathered and began shouting "Viva Fidel" and "Viva la Revolucion."
Yet we haven't been able to see and listen to said subsequent interaction between them or perhaps Mr. Fuentes' alleged arrest, or that of the person he was allegedly filming. So where's the video footage that would help establish the truth?

The Cuban regime has claimed that Mr. Escobar provoked the violent outrage that followed. So where is their footage to prove that? Wouldn't it serve their interests to publish it, since it could prove their allegation that Mr. Escobar somehow provoked the violence? Why don't they return Mr. Fuentes his video footage? What are they afraid of?

Why don't Reuters and AP just hurry up and publish their unedited footage of all that happened right in their faces so the world can know the whole truth? Isn't that their job, that is, as the free press?

RELATED:

Pro-Castro Mob Attacks Cuban Dissident But Castro Claims Saving Him

AP 'covers' attack on Cuban Dissident


Google, the Mainstream News Media, Blogs and Cuba : What I thought was not so crazy after all

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