Summary: Emerged 65 years ago by Cuba's need to make known to the world its Revolution, the Latin American Information Agency Prensa Latina, has been and is the face of the country before the world and has managed to make the reality of the largest of the Antilles known, despite the defamatory campaigns orchestrated since January 1, 1959 itself.
Regarding that birthday and the 15th anniversary of the Canadian magazine CubaPLUS, with which the agency has spent fifteen years of very close collaboration with the objective of promoting the Cuban destination, its beauties, its culture and the affability of its people, we interviewed the president of PL, Luis Enrique González, to find out how these ties have grown and how he envisions the future of that cooperation, considered indestructible by both parts.
-It can be said that Prensa Latina is the mother of CubaPLUS, since this was created Canadian publication as its co-editor. Can you refer to that collaboration?
LEG.-Greetings to CubaPLUS and all its readers. CubaPLUS is a product designed and developed between Prensa Latina and Mr. Dominic Soave, by mutual agreement, which was created when both parties considered that there, was a segment of the market in need of a publication of this type. We decided together to get to work until today. More than a mother, our agency is a partner committed to the editorial project and we feel satisfied to have achieved this collaboration that has now lasted 15 years.
-How do you value the work that CubaPLUS has developed in these 15 years, always with the close collaboration of PL?
LEG.-CubaPLUS, over time, has become more than just a magazine, overcoming obstacles until expanding its reach and receivers every day.
Maintaining any publication is a big task and we can feel satisfied because it became something essential for those who want to know about Cuba, its tourism and the reality of this island. Those who put ideas and desires on the table 15 years ago can feel proud today, to carry it forward and Prensa Latina shares that sentiment.
-Do you consider this collaboration fruitful?
LEG.-The collaboration has not only been fruitful, but I consider that it was necessary and should each day strengthen itself in order to maintain an editorial project that is of age and walks with its own feet.
-Do you think that the reason why CubaPLUS magazine emerged for the Canadian market, taking into account that it is the first source of tourists to the island, it has complied and complies with your expectations?
LEG.- The precursors of this magazine designed it taking into account Canada as an important issuer of tourists for Cuba, but from the beginning they were ambitious in their aspirations, with an eye on other markets, which today is a fact.
However, we think that the presence of CubaPLUS in the northern nation can be greater and in that sense we must work to truly achieve this as a reference and a magazine of mandatory consultation in Canada. It was not by chance that Toronto was the place where CubaPLUS was shown for the first time.
-What is your opinion on the prospects for collaboration between both media?
LEG.- I believe that the collaboration must continue, identify new products and grow in role of strengthening this editorial project. Maybe explore new markets that allow us to have other products and subscribers. In this sense, Prensa Latina always will be able to work together with CubaPLUS.
-Without a doubt, Prensa Latina is an agency of vital importance for Cuba, how do you value the role of the agency during these 65 years?
LEG.- Prensa Latina is very important for Cuba, Latin America and the Global South. Just as its founders envisioned “At the Service of Truth”. Hence our uninterrupted work since 1959 to respond to that high responsibility. There are 65 years of life, something that is easily said, but it is not, especially when having to overcome during these six and a half decades, numerous obstacles, pressures and sanctions from those who tried to bury this project from its birth.
Despite the difficulties, Prensa Latina is active in more than 35 countries, becoming the main multimedia based in Cuba, with universal reach and exchange agreements with hundreds of international agencies and media. We are satisfied to be a reference for those who want to know the truth in the midst of a world where the main information media seek to dominate the news spectrum.
Prensa Latina is today the Voice of the Global South and proudly exhibits its attachment to journalistic ethics and its objectivity, complying with the maximum stated by the first director of the agency, Jorge Ricardo Masetti, that the agency was objective, but not impartial.
-Thanks a lot.