UPEC: 60 years of journalism.
As one of the most emblematic organizations of the country, the Union of Journalists of Cuba is one of the most emblematic organizations of the country with an unquestionable prestige and countless precursors in its sixty years of history.
Founded on July 15th, 1963 as the sum of the National College of Journalists, the Havana Reporters Association, the Cuban Press Association and other entities, the organization not only brings together journalists, reporters, correspondents, photographers, cameramen, cartoonists and/or humorists, but also defends them in the ethical and legal exercise of their profession and promotes their cultural, professional and technical improvement based on the political, patriotic and democratic thinking and principles of Cuban society.
Voices such as those of the most universal of Cubans, José Martí and his brothers in struggle Fermín Valdés and Juan Gualberto Gómez, the words of Enrique José Varona, Pablo de la Torriente Brau, the unforgettable actions of Julio García Luis or the leading role of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz are not enough to summarize six decades of journalism in Cuba, but they are evidence of the greatness of the profession that Gabriel García Márquez defined as the best in the world.
Much remains to be amended. We must avoid triumphalism, energize the journalistic genres with which we bring reality closer to the listener, viewer or reader, as well as educate them and encourage them to reflect, study and debate. We must value even more the opinions of the people who trust us to inform them and, above all, we must consider critical and self-critical, ethical and deontological thinking in our daily work.
In a context characterized by the confluence of the once recognized as traditional media and the colossal and changing maelstrom of the Internet, the Union of Journalists of Cuba, which has become a faithful spokesperson of our press and with marked prestige, responsibility and professionalism, bets daily to materialize a journalism more akin to the largest of the Antilles, to its people, its interests and its needs, deserves to be praised.
