Lies on the Internet

Citizen Donald Trump, who is not even well-regarded by the current administration and does not enjoy the considerations with which former presidents are treated, shows a shocking record of mistruths posted on his social networks or simply voiced out in press conferences or public statements.

The impudence has been so evident that proving Trump is a liar has been really easy. His lies are quite obvious, to the point that the perverse enthusiasm with which he defends his ideas is actually eye-popping.

But they have not been just lies on the Internet, as some of his government’s decisions were made based on them. Lies as State policy. In the particular case of Cuba, many of the sanctions and setbacks in the bilateral relation were built on the light of false claims, biased, not serious, and easily refutable made by the then-President and his staff.

The list is long. And it started soon with the claims of “sonic attacks” to the personnel working at the US embassy in Havana. So far, no evidence has been found. But Trump used it to implement a series of measures that pushed the consular ties between the two countries to their lowest level in decades.

The inclusion of Cuba in the US list of nation promoting terrorism is one of the most recent calumnies. And again we witness manipulation as a pretext for absurd policies.

And if it was carried out by a government, we could not expect any less from its representatives, its propaganda apparatus (both the official and the unofficial), the Anti-Cuban machinery that has turned into a den for lobbying and blackmailing the US government. And, obviously, their “branch offices” abroad…even in Cuba.

Trump is not ashamed (nor he will) of lying. Neither are any of his followers.

Social networks are a fertile field for lies. Shielded by their “democratic” attitude (quite relative, we must say), in the sacred “freedom of speech,” they do not hesitate in spreading absurd mistruths to create an opinion matrix.

Too much narrative interested in a regime change. Too much noise, but few arguments. The daily practice of hatred that do not need to rectify data because they are made up or manipulated.

Some notions of “citizen journalism” ignore the most basic code of ethics.

Social networks have become now a field of confrontation, an aggressive platform that certain circles of power conceive as part of their strategy. Here, legitimate governments can do the dirty work they are forbidden to do plain sight.

The government of Trump undermined, as we know, many of these “codes.” The explicit degradation of the public practice.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff