Prensa Latina Vice President Alejandro Gómez today called on Global South media outlets to pool their efforts to strengthen their capacities and disseminate their own stories in the face of media hegemony.

During his intervention at the Council of the Belt and Road News Network, of which Prensa Latina is a member, Gómez highlighted the importance of having cooperation spaces that allow for joint responses to global problems and the dissemination of a worldview from the perspective of the Global South.

The executive noted that current conflicts, the risk of military escalation, hegemonic pretensions and threats against those who seek to disseminate the truth reinforce the need for such articulation.

Gómez expressed satisfaction with the growth in influence and cohesion of the Belt and Road News Network, which is consolidating itself as a media cooperation platform.

The vice president denounced the difficulties the agency faces due to US economic, political and media pressure measures against Cuba, and stated that these directly affect the work of its correspondents in various countries.

Among the examples, he mentioned Wells Fargo's closure of banking services to the Washington correspondent's office last year and Bank of America's notification of the interruption of its services to that representation.

He also referred to the cancellation of AT&T's telephone and Internet services in Mexico and the obstacles to receiving financial transfers in Italy, where a banking entity demanded additional guarantees due to the Cuban origin of the funds.

Gómez noted that these difficulties are in addition to the prolonged blackouts affecting Prensa Latina's headquarters in Havana, with power interruptions of up to 20 hours a day.

In this context, he underscored the value of cooperation among Global South media and highlighted China as an example of the development of its own technologies and their application for the benefit of the population, as well as a source of aid and cooperation to address common challenges.

The executive considered it necessary to reduce technological gaps, strengthen professional training and bring the agendas, narratives and interests of the media closer together, without undermining cultural diversity.

Finally, he called on journalistic organizations of the Global South to persevere in the face of adversity and work together so that their societies can tell their own stories.

The Belt and Road News Network is a platform that already brings together more than 320 media outlets from some 120 countries.

However, only about thirty media outlets belong to its Council, of which Prensa Latina and Monitor Mercantil are the only Latin American ones.