Twitter censors official Prensa Latina account

Havana, March 26 (RHC)-- The Cuban news agency Prensa Latina (PL) denounced the blocking of its official profile on the social network Twitter and three of its reporters’ accounts.  The news agency says that the maneuver is part of the hostile policy of the U.S. against Cuba.

The blocked accounts were those of editors Luisa M. González (@luisamgg) and Fausto Triana (@prensalatinaft), Prensa Latina’s  president Luis E. González (@LuisEGonzalezA3 ) and Prensa Latina's institutional account (@PrensaLatina_cu ). 

The Latin American Federation of Journalists (Felap) supports Prensa Latina facing these aggressions against its freedom of expression and press rights.  The representative of the organization published: "Felap raises its voice indignantly against this new aggression of Cuba at a time when the world needs to be informed of the reality affecting it with the coronavirus, a fight in which the Antillean nation is in the vanguard with its doctors."

According to Prensa Latina, their Twitter accounts required daily code verification for weeks until they were completely blocked without warning.  Their profiles had 109,000 followers and reported on the Latin American reality and recently about continental COVID-19’s spreading.  Cuba's solidarity with other peoples to restrain the virus and Venezuela’s situation under the infection and economic blockade are other topics in their publications.

The media uses alternatives to this situation, such as publishing its information in English on Twitter in the profile Latin American News Agency (@PLEnglishNEWS).  Several users have started using the hashtag #PrensaLatinaRegresa and sharing their contents in the form of microblogs.

Twitter previously blocked other profiles of news media related to Cuba and Venezuela, as Cubadebate and Mesa Redonda, back in 2019.