Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 27, 1990 TAG: 9003270242
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A/5 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The TV test operation began at 1:30 a.m. EST and was clearly visible on Channel 13 in the Havana area until the jamming began at 2:08, said the official, who asked not to be identified by name.
Cuban officials have been preparing for the operation, denouncing the experiment as a violation of national sovereignty and asserting they had the capability to jam it.
Official Cuban statements have said retaliatory measures besides jamming would be taken, but none was announced immediately, the VOA source said.
The station is designed to be a TV version of Radio Marti, which has provided news and entertainment to Cuban listeners since 1985. Radio Marti was not jammed this morning.
Cuban officials, in addition to jamming Channel 13, also blocked the signals on several other channels, the VOA source said.
He said that at 3:45 a.m. EST TV Marti switched from the test pattern to baseball highlights and musical programming but these signals were jammed as well.
The signal was sent from a transmitter placed aboard a balloon dangling 10,000 feet above Cudjoe Key off the south Florida Coast. Technical problems have delayed testing for months.
After the testing, the administration is supposed to make a legal and technical evaluation of the operation within three months, according to the legislation.
If the operation proves feasible on both counts, formal programming can begin for a two-year period. The funds already have been appropriated.
But if the testing interferes with Florida stations or violates aspects of international law governing such broadcasts, the operation will be scrapped.
President Fidel Castro has reacted sharply to TV Marti. Americans, he said recently, "are not even capable of knowing how much they offend the hearts and sentiments of our people."
"They know it violates international law; they know it violates national sovereignty," he said.
TV Marti's sponsors maintain it is an effective way to bring objective information to the Cuban people via television. They say that Cubans have been fed only propaganda for all 31 years of the revolution.
Cuban officials have said a range of options are being considered in retaliation for TV Marti.
Among others, they said that telephone communications and travel between the two countries might be suspended.
Another possibility is that Cuba will activate transmitters capable of blocking U.S. radio broadcasts over a huge area west of the Mississippi.
by CNB