Guardian reprints CIA propaganda story 'Cuba bans Michael Moore film Sicko'

According to the Guardian

Cuba banned Michael Moore's 2007 documentary, Sicko, because it painted such a "mythically" favourable picture of Cuba's healthcare system that the authorities feared it could lead to a "popular backlash", according to US diplomats in Havana.


The revelation, contained in a confidential US embassy cable released by WikiLeaks , is surprising, given that the film attempted to discredit the US healthcare system by highlighting what it claimed was the excellence of the Cuban system.

But the memo reveals that when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so "disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room".

Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them."

I may be Quixotic with my ban on flying, I haven't been any where by plane since 2006. I just think while many people need to fly, the idea of greens flying around the world telling other people not to fly, is absurd. I find it quite painful, I like flying and have many friends around the globe but I have stayed on the ground for four years now.

My boycott of the Guardian newspaper, which I used to blog for, seems even more absurd but I just can't read it. I am so conscious of the regular massacre of indigenous people in countries like Colombia, Honduras and Peru, it really makes me weep.

Although imperfect the rise of the Latin American left has done a huge amount to stem the tide of blood. Latin American Left leaders are not perfect and I have sadden by some of the attacks on indigenous people by Ecuador's Correa but advances have been made.

So I have been sicken by almost constant attacks on the Latin America left by the Guardian correspondent Rory Carroll and I have boycotted the paper for the last couple of years. Media perceived to be on the left that pushes right wing stories provides real dangers.

I was immensely encouraged by reading some very good pieces in the Guardian on Latin America by John Vidal recently. I only read them because I bumped into John, so had a look at some stuff he told me he was working on.

Looks like I went back to the Guardian too soon. Yesterday they ran a story which reported a CIA propaganda piece about Cuba as fact.

Retracted today but if this is journalism, I am a penguin, so looks like another year free from buying Britain's broadsheet left paper....oh and they haven't apologised for telling voters to vote Lib Dem either, helping to deliver our current right wing government.

If the Guardian had a vote it would be cast enthusiastically for the Liberal Democrats.

And if I had a blog I would be using it to tell people to stop buying the Guardian....wait a minute I do have a blog