Reuters Uses Havana Correspondent Who Wrote for Communist Daily

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First Reuters had a photo scandal to face. Now Go Pundit Go has discovered that Reuters is currently employing a former writer for the People’s Daily World, a Communist Party USA publication. And it turns out his propagandistic tendencies haven't left him, as he recently wrote a glowing review in the Financial Times on how Cubans are dealing with their leader's poor health:

"Cuba remained calm on Sunday as people engaged in voluntary work, cleaned neighbourhoods and donated blood in Mr Castro’s honour."

You can see Marc Frank's latest Reuters work here.

Says Go Pundit Go:

Havana-based Reuters correspondent Marc Frank is a former writer for the People’s Daily World, a Communist Party USA publication.

In Frank’s little-known 1993 book, “Cuba Looks to the Year 2000,” he admits having written over 1,000 articles for the communist publication as their Havana-based Latin American correspondent during a five year period in the 1980’s. According to its website, the publication (which has since changed its name to the People’s Weekly World) shares a “special relationship” with the Communist Party USA:

The PWW is known for its partisan coverage. We take sides — for truth and justice. We are partisan to the working class, racially and nationally oppressed peoples, women, youth, seniors, international solidarity, Marxism and socialism. We enjoy a special relationship with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1919, and publish its news and views.

Mr. Frank, whose recent articles on the decline of Fidel Castro’s health have been picked up by Reuters affiliates across the world, has been harshly critical of US policy towards Cuba in the past. In his book he accused the CIA of waging “biological warfare” on Cuban agriculture and suggests the US media knew about it but said nothing:

His piece praising Cubans who are coping with the crisis was written for Sunday's Financial Times.

Cuba remained calm on Sunday as people engaged in voluntary work, cleaned neighbourhoods and donated blood in Mr Castro’s honour.

Throughout the leadership crisis, people have gone about their daily business and enjoyed summer holidays, though there is an unmistakable undercurrent of anxiety over the future without Fidel - the only leader most Cubans have ever known.

What explains Reuters' use of Marc Frank?

Reuters is either unaware of Marc Frank’s decidedly pro-communist past or believes the 1,000 articles he wrote as the Havana-based correspondent for the communist People’s Daily World have little to do with his current reporting of communist Cuba, which he once accused the United States of “terrorizing…while trying to starve them into submission.”