They'd Get More Letters, But Nobody Can Afford Paper

Reuters is doing their best to prop up the calamitous situation in Cuba.

They actually devote a report to a novel concept washing over the island prison: Letters to the editor.

Let's forget for a moment it's rather unlikely they would ever print anything critical of the brutal Communist regime. But they try and pretend there's a stimulating public debate going on in a country that hasn't tasted freedom in nearly 50 years.

Cubans have a new vehicle to express their opinions: letters to the editor of the ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma.

Letters for and against reforms under consideration by Cuba's new President Raul Castro were published by Granma on Friday.

One writer called for the elimination of the dual currency system, a major source of complaint among Cubans, who are paid in Cuban pesos but must buy many consumer goods in Cuba's hard currency Convertible pesos worth 24 times more.

Publication of the letter was a novelty in a country where the press is controlled by a one-party state that allows no independent media and has a record of suppressing dissent.

Indeed. Ironic how alleged advocates of free speech love to tell us how wonderful Cuba is.

It follows a new trend of stimulating public debate started by Raul Castro since he took over running the government when his brother Fidel Castro fell ill in mid-2006.

For all the talk of debate and freedom of opinion, the irony of this seems to escape these Reuters nitwits.

"The idea is to show the public what people think. It is the people that will write the letter," said a journalist at the newspaper, who asked not to be named.