Free Republic

Eight reporters and editors at U.S. tax-funded TV and Radio Marti, which broadcasts in Spanish to communist Cuba, have been fired after a report aired portraying left-wing billionaire George Soros in an unflattering light. The Washington watchdog Judicial Watch explained the firings came at the request of scandal-plagued Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey. Menendez, who has been accused of hiring prostitutes and misusing funds for personal benefit, demanded an investigation that resulted in the dismissals, Judicial Watch said. Judicial Watch said that at Menendez’s request, Obama appointee John Lansing of the U.S. Agency for Global Media used “Stalinist...

Four additional staffers at Radio and TV Martí have been fired over a controversial report broadcast last year that referred to Jewish philanthropist George Soros as “anti-Semitic” — bringing to eight the number of dismissals at the station so far following a months-long internal investigation by the Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), which oversees the Martí stations, as well as the Martínoticias digital site. The report, aired by Isabel Cuervo for the Antena Live program, raises conspiracy theories about Soros, who is identified as a “left-wing billionaire of Hungarian-Jewish origin” and a “nonpracticing Jew of flexible morals.” The broadcast, which...

Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, on Tuesday emphatically stated that Iran’s genocidal threats to “wipe Israel off the earth” are “totally unacceptable.” Dieng was at the UN’s headquarters in New York to commemorate the Anniversary of the Genocide Convention that was first adopted on December 9, 1948. Carmen Maria Rodriguez of Radio Marti asked the question that sparked Dieng’s direct censure of Iran’s recent waves of calls for Israel’s annihilation. Dieng went on to elaborate that not only are Iran’s genocidal threats to wipe Israel off the map “totally unacceptable,” but also that...

Sec. Rice Implores Cubans Not to Flee Island WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is sending a message to the Cuban people imploring them not to flee the island for Florida because of political uncertainty.

Washington · Otto Reich, President Bush's chief adviser on Latin America, said on Thursday that the administration will step up efforts to pressure the Fidel Castro regime, aid dissidents and hasten the political transformation of the island. "I know that President Bush is interested in doing more to accelerate the process of change in Cuba, and it's safe to say that in the next few weeks and months you will see some additional steps," Reich said. "It's been very difficult for this president to implement this policy for Cuba and the Western Hemisphere because up to this week he was...

<p>May 21, 2003 -- WASHINGTON - President Bush celebrated Cuban Independence Day yesterday by calling for the overthrow of Fidel Castro and blasting the Cuban dictatorship.</p> <p>"Dictatorships have no place in the Americas. May God bless the Cuban people who are struggling for freedom," Bush said in a 40-second message broadcast on U.S.-funded Radio Marti, which is beamed into Cuba.</p>