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State-run media in Latin America criticize US government, candidates

Madrid — In their coverage of the U.S. presidential election, countries with repressive media such as Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela have taken aim at the American system of government and, to some degree, the candidates themselves.

Following the two assassination attempts targeting Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Cuban state-run newspaper Granma ran a headline, “The guns speak again in the U.S. elections,” an apparent reference to gun violence in the United States.

But the newspaper made no mention on its front pages Wednesday of the previous night’s vice presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz in which the two candidates clashed on issues that included gun control. The paper did cover the face-to-face debate last month between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, saying they traded “low blows.”

Overall, Cuban press coverage of the U.S. has not favored either candidate during this election cycle, said William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University in Washington.

“The Cuban press has been very even-handed in coverage of the U.S. elections, mostly offering simple factual accounts of the campaign — no doubt because they will have to deal with whoever wins,” said LeoGrande.

“To the extent that they have offered any critical commentary, it can be summed up as a ‘plague on both your houses,’” he said.

LeoGrande noted that one Granma report said, “There is only one certainty: Whoever wins will be the face invested with the arrogance of the empire with a desire for power.” Cuba has long referred to the U.S. as the “empire.”

To understand how Granma views the U.S. election, VOA emailed its editor, Yailin Orta Rivera, for comment but did not receive a reply before publication. 

In Nicaragua, ‘hate and criticism’

In Nicaragua, state-controlled media have used reports about the U.S. election as a chance to repeat traditional criticisms of Washington, independent media monitoring groups say.

Abigail Hernandez, director of Galeria News and a member of the Independent Journalists and Communications of Nicaragua, said state media such as La Nueva Radio Ya have run reports critical of the American political system.

“These analysis reports concentrate on the judicial and electoral system of the U.S. and criticize the candidacy of Trump,” she told VOA. “I say ‘analysis’ because in reality, these articles are the traditional line of hate and criticism toward the U.S. empire.”

Hernandez added, “They try to say that the U.S. is a sham democracy and that the elections are a reflection of this.”

The government of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega did not respond to an emailed request for comment before publication.

In Nicaragua, state media are controlled by Ortega or members of his family, independent media monitoring groups said.

In 2010, Canal 8, which had been an independent television network, had a new chief executive — Juan Carlos Ortega Murillo — the president’s son.

Until then, the channel had been known for scrutinizing governments of the left or right, the Reuters news agency reported. Its new owner is the wife of Rafael Ortega Murillo, another of the president’s sons.

Media analysts say that in Nicaragua and Venezuela, reports on the U.S. election criticized the U.S. political system in relation to key issues of interest to their core audiences, especially migration.

Tens of thousands of Nicaraguans desperate to escape the Ortega government have headed north, seeking to cross into the United States.

Earlier this year, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Nicaragua over issues related to migrant smuggling and human rights.

Venezuela, US in tense relationship

Venezuela’s government has also had a tense relationship with the United States over human rights and the conduct of elections.

Driven by political turmoil, 7.7 million people have left Venezuela since 2014, according to a United Nations report published earlier this year.

Most have headed for other Latin American countries or Spain. Others have ended up in the United States illegally, although there have been efforts to allow some Venezuelans into the U.S. lawfully, the U.N. report said.

Marivi Marin Vazquez, founder and director of ProboxVE, a nongovernmental organization that studies disinformation in Latin America, said state media in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela all used reports about the U.S. elections to criticize the American political system.

“They all look at problems in the political system so they can justify their own systems,” she said in an interview with VOA from Washington, where she has lived in exile since leaving Venezuela four years ago.

“They pick holes in things like contradictions, inequality and the power of corporate interests.”

The Venezuelan government did not respond to emailed requests for comment on coverage of the U.S. election.
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