HAVANA -- The government served notice Thursday that American news media whose reporting is considered hostile to Cuba will not be granted permission to set up operations on the island.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Marianela Ferriol, speaking at a weekly press conference, gave no indication when any new authorization will be granted.
She was reacting to the Clinton administration's announcement Wednesday that is has granted approval for 10 U.S. organizations -- including The Herald -- to begin operating in Cuba as soon as the Havana government gives permission.
Ferriol confirmed that so far only CNN has such permission, granted in November. She said admitting or rejecting foreign news media is ``a sovereign decision'' of the Cuban government.
``All those who lend themselves to the hostile policy of the United States against Cuba are disqualified,'' she said.
Ferriol commented cautiously on Clinton's decision to make an exception to the U.S. embargo on trade with Cuba by permitting U.S. news media to operate on the island.
``That is a decision of the U.S. government that corresponds to its internal policy toward news media based in its territory,'' she said.
Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina, meanwhile, called the U.S. action ``a publicity show'' and said the White House decision to authorize only a few organizations was ``selective and discriminatory'' as well as irrelevant.
``The only one who can give accreditation to the press in this country is our government,'' Robaina said in a Cuban broadcast. ``The fact that the United States has authorized them -- that does not mean that we'll process the application.''
The Cuban Communist Party newspaper Granma said the action was related to the Helms-Burton Act, approved last year, which strengthened the 35-year-old U.S. embargo of Cuba while encouraging support for groups opposed to Castro's government.
``We reject this new act of intervention by Washington and repeat that we have no intention of assisting . . . a law that intends our destruction as a nation,'' Granma said.
Copyright © 1997 The Miami Herald