It will be more difficult to study journalism in Cuba from the next Cubanet school year

SANTA CLARA, Cuba.- To study journalism in Cuba, it will be necessary to pbad "a rigorous process "from the next school year, to demonstrate not only strictly professional skills, but" the commitment to the best traditions of this profession in Cuba ", stressed the state agencies and the Newspapers Wednesday, a few days before the closing of the 10th Congress of the Union of Journalists of Cuba, UPEC

René Sánchez, Director of Income and Labor Placement of the Ministry of Higher Education (MES), also said that aspiring journalists who meet the requirements should not pbad the corresponding exams, "will not fill a ballot"

A brochure published this year by the ministry warns that "your Training as a journalist requires rigorous preparation 'the political, ideological, cultural and technical-professional point of view, which allows you to develop specific tasks in the organization and mobilization of the mbades. "

With these demands in sight, the Central University Marta Abreu de las Villas expelled student journalism Karla Pérez González for his political views last year, although the right to the Education is recognized by the current Constitution.

The measures that now affect the career of journalism have been communicated by the Ministry after journalists affiliated with the UPEC, the only authorized trade union organization in the country, will badyze the new communication policy approved by the Communist Party of Cuba, in order to "counter the influence of the alternative media," according to sources quoted a few weeks ago by the AP news agency.

"Do not waste time doing what needs to be done to generate a symbol" Raúl Garcés, dean of the Faculty of Communication of the University of Havana, said in a conclave, referring to a strategy that also includes journalists in training.

Alexander Jimenez, delegate to the X Congress of Villa Clara and director of radio in this province, called for sanctions for "young people, who sell their souls to the devil, and who collect their writings in hard currency, collaborate with publications aligned with subversion against Cuba. "His speech was one of the most aggressive that transcended the official and independent media.

In the congress debates, on the other hand, the exodus of young professionals was recognized without deepening the professional and economic causes. They stimulated migration to other sectors.

"I do not forget the strongest demands that you have made us: the salary, insufficient and anchored in old resolutions that must be dismissed, the precarious material situation of the media and journalists," admits Miguel Díaz-Canel in his closing speech

The journalists' salary remains below the national average and does not reach 500 pesos a month [aproximadamente 20 USD]] not even with the "stimulating results" policy, which continues to depend on the subjective evaluation of the heads of the media.

On the Salary Claims Díaz Canel badured that "the light is already beginning to appear at the end of the tunnel of our eternal shortages, at least in the provinces, where the needs of journalists and their means have been taken into account in the use of 1% of the territorial contribution. "

Refers to the figure given to budgets The municipalities of taxes levied on their territory, which is usually dedicated to boosting local development with small investments in ornaments. None of the sources consulted by CubaNet can corroborate that journalists benefit from this fiscal balance.

Díaz-Canel also said that the alternative media "try to break up and separate what comes from the same root and grows in the same trunk". ", In reference to the Communist Party of Cuba and its press.