Editor of the daily Granma is replaced

HAVANA, Oct. 8, 2013 – Radio Progreso Alternativa (RPA)/ Progreso Weekly – Lázaro Barredo, editor of the newspaper Granma, official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC), has been relieved of his duties.

According to wholly reliable sources, Barredo was notified today about his removal, which obviously was ordered by high officials in the PCC. Replacing him, the same sources said, is Pelayo Terry, who until now edited the newspaper Juventud Rebelde (JR), organ of the Young Communists (UJC).

The new editor of JR will be the journalist Marina Menéndez Quintero, a professional with a long trajectory in that newspaper.

In the local journalistic world, where the news has spread and is the cause of much comment, the most remarkable aspect is the suddenness of the decision and the question of whether the replacement of Granma’s editor and the rise of new executives will be followed by changes in the policy drafted for the press by the PCC.

“We cannot say if this will mean a change in names, or an opening toward journalism attune to the national reality, where the topics that appeal to and affect the population may be reflected, discussed and analyzed from different perspectives,” a media professional told Progreso Weekly.

Until the moment of publication of this news, the National TV Newscast, in its 8 p.m. broadcast, had not mentioned the replacement. It is expected that the printed edition of the newspaper Granma will publish a note about it tomorrow Wednesday.

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