Iranian media exec is in Cuba to firm up ties
The vice president of Iran’s radio and television broadcasting system, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), arrived in Havana Tuesday (April 1) “to reactivate the cooperation between that Iranian entity and the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT),” the news agency Prensa Latina reported.
Mohammad Sarafraz plans to meet with ICRT president Danilo Sirio López and visit the studios of Cubavisión Internacional, Radio Cubana, RTV Comercial and specific facilities, such as dubbing studios, the agency said.
Sarafraz will also meet with officials of the Cuban Foreign Ministry. The Iranian visitor is director general of HISPANTV, a television network that broadcasts in Spanish and has correspondents in most Spanish-speaking countries.
In the Americas, HISPANTV has cable outlets in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Venezuela — and even the United States. It is not represented in Cuba.
IRIB has bureaus in 45 countries worldwide and broadcasts in more than 30 languages.
Sarafraz’s visit was preceded one month ago by that of Alaeddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the Iranian Assembly’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee.
In late January, Cuba’s ambassador to Iran, Vladimir Andrés González Quesada, said in Teheran that a Cuban economic delegation will travel to Iran in April. He was quoted by Iran’s news agency IRNA as saying that Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla will also visit Iran next July.
González Quesada told IRNA that the recent visit to Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi “proved that Iran attaches great importance to the expansion of ties with Latin American countries.”
On Jan. 14, while in Havana, Takht Ravanchi said that “Iran is ready to boost its bilateral ties with Cuba at different levels.” IRNA reported that he and Rodríguez Parrilla “explored avenues for bolstering and reinvigorating bilateral ties.”
A note in the Cuban Foreign Ministry website points out that “as vice president of IRIB, Dr. Sarafraz visits Cuba as an envoy of the Persian Government.”
[Photo above of Mohammad Sarafraz.]
