Havana expels EL PAÍS correspondent alleging "bias"

The Cuban government has pulled the press permit of the EL PAÍS correspondent who had been reporting from the communist island for more than 20 years.

Journalist Mauricio Vicent was recently summoned to the Cuban Foreign Ministry's International Press Center (CPI) where he was informed that his credentials would not be renewed. Under Cuban law, foreign correspondents working in the island need government credentials to report.

Officials at the center argued that for a long time the EL PAÍS correspondent has offered "a biased and negative image" of the Cuban reality, which has been "exacerbated" in recent times to the point, again according to Cuban officials, of influencing the newspaper's editorial line. That was why the Cuban authorities decided to pull his credentials indefinitely.

According to a spokesman for EL PAÍS, which rejected the Cuban government's argument, Vicent's coverage has always been professional, impartial and balanced, and is supported by his long history of reporting from the island.

For more than a year, the CPI refused to renew Vicent's press credentials, preventing him from attending official news conferences and other events. Spanish government officials have made fruitless attempts to have Vicent's permit restored to him.