Lawmakers Question Biden Over Marti News Cuts

Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R) has joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers in criticizing the Biden administration. The group, which includes House and Senate members from across the country, directed a letter to the Office of Cuba (OCB) and the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

In the letter, Salazar and the lawmakers ask the Biden administration to provide an explanation regarding staff cuts at Television and Radio Marti.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Agency for Global Media said that there would be a “drastic” reorganization in the Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

What this means is staff cuts at Radio and Television Marti, which first aired on May 20, 1985.

As per a press release from Salazar, the “reduction will include broadcasters, journalists, editors, and technicians.”

In the letter, the lawmakers discussed the important role that Radio and Television Marti have played in providing information for the Cuban people “of the truth about the communist dictatorship and bypassing the censorship imposed by the Castro/Diaz-Canel regime.”

Florida lawmakers aside from Salazar include Florida Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R), Carlos Gimenez (R), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D), and Florida Senators Marco Rubio (R) and Rick Scott (R).

In a statement, Salazar commented on the effort, directing blame at the Biden administration over the staff cuts.

“It is unacceptable that the Administration is laying off nearly one third of the staff at the Office of Cuba Broadcasting at a time when we need them the most.”

Urging the Biden administration to “re-examine the measures to ‘reorganize,’” the lawmakers note that “in the wake of the historic July 11, 2021 protests, while the Cuban regime’s media and internet blackouts stifled access to information across the island, we believe that firing many of OCB’s experienced personnel should not be the next course of action.”

A copy of the letter can be read here.