Following the lead of the CBS Evening News who admitted that “communist rule” was responsible for all of the problems in Cuba the previous evening, Tuesday’s NBC Nightly News saw correspondent Morgan Radford call out the island’s “communist dictatorship” for the “dire food shortages” and the crackdown on free speech. She also highlighted the rightfully emotional Cuban-Americans where were protesting in solidarity with those there fighting for their freedom.
And while Radford placed blame for the Cuban peoples’ plight on the “communist dictatorship,” ABC correspondent Victor Oquendo provided little context on World News Tonight for the actual protests.
“Protesters calling for freedom as food and medicine shortages devastate the island,” he reported near the end of the segment. But there was no explanation as to why they would be “calling for freedom.”
After NBC anchor Lester Holt led into the segment by reporting that “Cuba state-run media reports one man has been killed and several protesters and security officials injured during anti-government demonstrations,” Radford played back-to-back clips of protesters in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami, Florida begging America to help:
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 1: A change coming and it is time for a change.
(…)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: This is now a life-or-death situation.
(…)
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 3: They are starving, literally there are food shortages, there are medical shortages and the Cuban people need help.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 4: What is it going to take? If it doesn't happen now, when is it going to happen?
“Where Cubans on the island are grappling with dire food shortages, rising COVID cases and a communist dictatorship that is cutting off the internet while protesters cry out for help,” she said. “Their outrage and desperation captured by a viral hit song called ‘Patria Y Vida.’”
Radford hyped how the song, which meant “homeland and life” in English, was “a spin on the communist-era slogan ‘patria o muerte’ meaning homeland or death.” She also spoke with one on the song’s co-creators “Cuban musician Yotuel Romero, who fled Cuba 25 years ago.”
Together, they talked about how the song was about “life,” “the most important thing”:
YOTUEL ROMERO: [Speaking Spanish]
RADFORD: You changed that slogan?
ROMERO: Si. [Speaking Spanish].
RADFORD: You changed death for life.
ROMERO: Yeah, of course. We need life.
RADFORD: We need life.
ROMERO: Yeah.
RADFORD: Muy importante.
ROMERO: Muy importante
RADFORD: It is the most important thing.
He says they are fighting because their family on the island cannot.
“Just today, an activist Dina Stars was arrested by Cuban authorities while expressing her views to a Spanish news channel,” Radford warned. “Romero was on the show when it happened live.”
Radford concluded her report with one final protestor who cried: “They need their freedom. They deserve it. It has been long enough. It’s enough. It’s enough already.”
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
July 13, 2021
7:15:20 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: In Cuba state-run media reports one man has been killed and several protesters and security officials injured during anti-government demonstrations, as support for the uprising grows here in the U.S. We get more on that from Morgan Radford.
[Cuts to video]
MORGAN RADFORD: A third day of protests in Miami.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 1: A change coming and it is time for a change.
RADFORD: Some demonstrators blocking traffic, many Cuban-Americans, worried about family back home.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: This is now a life-or-death situation.
RADFORD: Where Cubans on the island are grappling with dire food shortages, rising COVID cases and a communist dictatorship that is cutting off the internet while protesters cry out for help.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 3: They are starving, literally there are food shortages, there are medical shortages and the Cuban people need help.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 4: What is it going to take? If it doesn't happen now, when is it going to happen?
RADFORD: Their outrage and desperation captured by a viral hit song called "Patria Y Vida".
[Clip of the song and on-screen translation: My people cry and feel their voice.]
RADFORD: Meaning homeland and life, a spin on the communist-era slogan “patria o muerte” meaning homeland or death. The Cuban musician Yotuel Romero, who fled Cuba 25 years ago, is one of it’s creators.
YOTUEL ROMERO: [Speaking Spanish]
RADFORD: You changed that slogan?
ROMERO: Si. [Speaking Spanish].
RADFORD: You changed death for life.
ROMERO: Yeah, of course. We need life.
RADFORD: We need life.
ROMERO: Yeah.
RADFORD: Muy importante.
ROMERO: Muy importante
RADFORD: It is the most important thing.
He says they are fighting because their family on the island cannot. Just today, an activist Dina Stars was arrested by Cuban authorities while expressing her views to a Spanish news channel.
DINA STARS (in Spanish, via on-screen translation): Security is outside.
RADFORD: Romero was on the show when it happened live.
ROMERO: [Speaking Spanish].
RADFORD: You thought that that could have been my daughter? [Speaking Spanish] No one knows where she is?
ROMERO: [Speaking Spanish] [Shaking his head]
RADFORD: So far, the Biden administration is not intervening but issued a statement in support of the Cuban people. This as Cuba's president blames protests on the U.S. government and its embargo, but Romero says this movement is for Cubans and by Cubans.
ROMERO: [Speaking Spanish]
RADFORD: There's nothing more beautiful than freedom.
And this, he says, is just the beginning.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 5: They need their freedom. They deserve it. It has been long enough. It’s enough. It’s enough already.
RADFORD: Morgan Radford, NBC News, Miami.
