A plane that didn’t fly for TV that no one saw – cancelled!
MIAMI – On Monday (July 7) it was revealed that the taxpayer-funded ‘Cuban Television Airplane’ was cancelled in April, according to the news agency EFE. Until a State Department Office of the Inspector General’s report revealed this fact not a word had been mentioned by some of its most important proponents. The truth is those proponents have yet to be heard on the issue.
As reported, the U.S. government had officially canceled the flights of Aero Martí, a 1960s turboprop purchased in 2006, used as a platform that emitted signals to Cuba for the sake of transmitting Radio and TV Martí, in the spring.
The problem with Radio and TV Martí? Cuba, citing its sovereignty, easily jammed its signals every day – basically assuring the uselessness of the programs. Cubans on the island called the programming La TV que no se ve (The TV that you can’t see).
The Aero Martí project was definitely done away with in April after spending a year and a half on hold due to shortage of funding caused by the congressional sequestration of the budget in January 2013, said the Cuba Broadcasting Office, and reported by EFE.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors, at the beginning of 2013, had insisted in putting an end to Aero Martí for its ineffectiveness and due to the lack of funding by the congress. But the program was repeatedly protected from Washington budget cuts by a coalition of Cuban American lawmakers and other legislators from Florida. Leading the charge were Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Mario Diaz-Balart, along with Senators Marco Rubio and Robert Menendez.
The situation became so contentious that the plane was put in storage to please these folks, at a cost to taxpayers of $80,000 a year. So you might say they kept the plane; it just never flew again.
At this time I believe that questions should be asked of our esteemed Cuban American members of Congress which might include:
- Miami-Dade finds itself in a precarious situation due to a critical budget shortage. Instead of wasting money on a project that has NEVER worked, should they not have been working harder (instead of wasting time on an airplane that did not fly) to bring home funds to help keep policeman, for example, on the streets of Miami-Dade?
- Radio and TV Martí are still alive and kicking. Now that they don’t have the plane that was supposed to transmit its signals to Cuba, shouldn’t this program be disbanded in order to save U.S taxpayers millions of dollars annually?
- Programming for Cuba Broadcasting in 2014 was budgeted at $27 million. Where has this money and that of other years gone?
The Miami Herald, for example, usually does a very good job of going after corrupt politicians, or at least those that appear to be wasting our tax dollars. Is it not time to ask a few questions of these legislators – who seem to get a pass on what are considered tough Cuba-related questions and who have kept these wasteful programs afloat for too long?
