Armando Franco Senén, ex director of the magazine Alma Materrevealed that his departure from that medium was not a “liberation” because, as he said Aylín Álvarez, first secretary of the Union of Young Communists (UJC) and member of the Council of State, that political organization was “moving pictures”.
Referring to the alleged “clarification” of the facts that Álvarez published after the complaints appeared on networks, Franco Senén underlined: “Of the arguments presented in said post, the only exact thing is that the management positions of the media Editora Abril are the responsibility of the National Committee of the UJC and its Committee of Cadres. The rest of the clarifications are not true or consistent with what happened in my case.”
According to an extensive text by the journalist, published in his facebook wallon April 26, he was summoned to a meeting in which Nislay Molina, whose position is ideological for the National Committee of the UJC, and Asael Alonso Tirado, director of Editora Abril, announced the decision to dismiss him from his position.
“At my request for explanations, both stated that ‘the decision, approved on April 20, was the product of continuous errors in the magazine’s editorial work’. A document was on the table all the time that both consulted indistinctly to list those ‘errors,'” he said.
“For ethical reasons I do not include the details of the indicated works; in my opinion, except for a couple of valid remarks that were corrected at the time, the rest of the texts are probably the best journalistic results of Alma Mater during my direction.
“In that meeting I tried to explain to them the nonsense of what they were exposing. The UJC official interrupted me and among other rather rude criteria, which I omit now out of politeness, said: ‘We should have thrown you out a long time ago, there is nothing more to talk about, we are doing you the favor of freeing you. You can do whatever you want, it’s our decision,'” he quoted.
For his part, the director of the Editora Abril, a unit of the UJC, would have certified what he said and commented “every time he had ‘alerted me about my failures’, with the notable intention of discharging responsibilities,” said Franco Senén.
“The refusal to talk with the team, the disagreement with the ‘release’ and the lack of explanations for it, caused some members of the magazine to request their withdrawal. There were no pressures or conditions. In each case, it was a personal decision. A journalist and the editorial secretary decided to remain. The rest, all young people, today seek other job destinations”said the former director of Alma Mater.
“Although during these two weeks it has been mentioned over and over again that the measure is the product of a natural renewal process, it is hard to believe that this is the reason. (…) A process that did not include a job location for me or a director for Alma Materwhich did not guarantee the magazine’s work upon release. It is inconsistent to make changes to Alma Mater for ‘natural’ reasons, while the publisher is experiencing a crisis of managers and journalists”.
According to Franco Senén, in the meeting with the leadership of the UJC, the official Nislay Molina told him that “‘the president of the Federation of University Students (FEU) of Cuba, Karla Santana, participated in the Cadres Commission and contributed elements against your management. We are also releasing you for the neglect of Alma Mater in the FEU ‘”, he quoted.
“That is an easily detachable argument. Those who frequently read Alma Mater During the last couple of years they witnessed that for us the coverage of the life of the FEU, the Cuban universities and university students was a priority. Of course, from the vision of our team. The multiple published contents are there to prove it,” he disagreed.
“During her months as national president of the FEU, Karla Santana never communicated any dissatisfaction to us about the work of the magazine. So far, the FEU has not ruled on what happened with Alma Mater. We received expressions of surprise and disappointment from almost all the members of the National Secretariat of the FEU, from many presidents of universities and from students from various faculties throughout the country. It would be worth asking, to which FEU’s interests did it not respond? Alma Mater?”
“During these 15 days, I had a meeting with the official Enrique Villuendas [funcionario del Departamento Ideológico del Comité Central del Partido Comunista, que administra la política editorial y de los medios de comunicación en Cuba] and three with Rogelio Polanco, head of the Ideological Department of the CC-PCC. The latter explained to me that, although the decision was to release me, it was a promotion; did not respond to problems with Alma Mater“.
“During the last exchange, last Friday, Rogelio Polanco offered me a job placement which I graciously declined.despite being an option that has a lot to do with my professional intentions,” he said.
Franco Senén had remained silent since the announcement of his expulsion at the end of April caused a barrage of repudiation among official voices.
The Cuban official troubadour Silvio Rodríguez described the dismissal of the journalist as “sad” and said he was worried because the “Revolution ends up being counterrevolutionary” and his opponents seem or end up being “revolutionaries”, in comments posted on his blog, Second date.
Also the leader of the Buena Fe group, Israel Rojas Fiel, showed his support for Franco Senén and asked through a publication on his social networks that they put him in charge of the magazine Bohemiabecause “perhaps this is how such a historical and necessary publication is rescued”.
For his part, the president of the official Union of Journalists of Cuba (UPEC), Ricardo Ronquillo Bello, said that the decision “saddens” him taken by the UJC.
Given this, the first secretary of the UJC assured that the “liberation” (euphemism used by the regime’s bureaucracy to refer to the suspension of an official from his position) of Franco Senén, “has nothing to do with an expulsion or sanction”.
In a publication on his social networks, he commented that “his departure occurs as a natural process of renewal, and responds to the policy of cadres of the UJC and the country, as has traditionally happened with young people like him, who can contribute in other areas. of their respective professions.
And he indicated that “in his specific case, it had been proposed to integrate it into another necessary communication project, which had been communicated to him a few days ago.”
However, Franco Senén had told DIARIO DE CUBA that his removal from office was “a decision of the organization to which he belongs Alma Mater. Other than that, I don’t have much else to talk about. You will understand that there is the heat of the moment and there is an open process around that. We are in the delivery and such, at this time I can not tell you anything else.
Regarding the possibility of appealing the decision of the official organization, the journalist said that “it is not an option that I am evaluating right now.”
At the close of this note, the social network profiles of Alma Mater announced that Asael Alonso Tirado had been “released” from his duties and replaced by Adonis Subit Lamí, an official who directed the official newspapers September 5from Cienfuegos, and Gironfrom Matanzas.
“To direct our magazine was approved Santiago Jerez Mustelierwho belonged to the newspaper Rebel Youth and was a member of their social media team,” indicated the note.