Representative María Elvira Salazar ( FL-27 ), together with representatives Mario Díaz-Balart ( FL-25 ), Carlos Giménez ( FL-26 ), Debbie Wasserman Schultz ( FL-23 ), Nicole Malliotakis ( NY-11 ) and Albio Sires ( NJ-08 ), and Senators Marco Rubio ( R-FL ) and Rick Scott ( R-FL ), sent a letter to the directors of the United States Agency for Global Media ( USAGM, ) and the Office of Transmissions to Cuba ( OCB, for its acronym in English ), requesting an explanation of the announced cuts of personnel in Radio and Television Martí.
In the letter, legislators highlighted the importance of the role of this media outlet to inform the Cuban people about the truth of the communist dictatorship and break the censorship imposed by the Castro regime/Díaz-Canel. After the historic protests of July 11, 2021, the repression of the regime has only increased.
"It is unacceptable that the Administration is firing almost a third of the staff of the Office of Transmissions to Cuba at the time when we need them most," Congresswoman Salazar said.
The letter says: "In terms of funding, Congress has yet to receive an adequate explanation of why USAGM has repeatedly called for drastic cuts of more than 50% to the Office of Transmissions to Cuba from fiscal year 2019, and why it continues to do so despite requesting static financing or increases from the rest of its entities".
A copy of the letter in English can be read here.
Original source can be found here.
