Efe considers leaving Cuba after withdrawal of journalists' credentials

Harassment and expulsion: the story of 2 Cuban journalists 1:10

(Reuters) -

Spanish news agency Efe is considering leaving Cuba after several of its employees on the island have had their credentials withdrawn, its president Gabriela Cañas said on Wednesday.

Efe said Cuban authorities withheld the visa of a team member named in July.

All credentials were withdrawn from agency workers in November, just before the planned protests, although two of them were quickly restored, he said.

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"We are beginning to consider our permanence on the island. If we cannot exercise journalism freely, we cannot do more," Cañas said at an event in Madrid, according to a video posted on the Efe website.

Foreign journalists can only work in Cuba with the permission of the communist government.

Most local media are run by the state, although some independent media have emerged in recent years.

Cuban authorities have not specified why they withdrew the credentials of some of Efe's employees, but the island's state media have said their reports were biased and tried to fan the fire of the protests scheduled for November.

Those protests faded under pressure from the government.

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Efe has been left with two employees with official credentials in Cuba, a writer and a video reporter, compared to the seven in mid-2021, Cañas said.

The Cuban embassy in Madrid did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Journalists