The Latin America news agency Prensa Latina has officially reopened its correspondent´s office in the United States to tackle down political, economic and social developments after a half-century of absence.
Its high progress has not been quite easy to reach, since it has faced up to obstacles of all kinds due to the origin and editorial policy, according to Prensa Latina (PL) President, Luis Enrique Gonzalez, during the official reopening ceremony.
The PL´s office in Washington, where its first wire stories after reopening were transmitted on February 24 last, appears following the reestablishment of the diplomatic ties between Cuba and the United States and amid the process aimed at the normalization of their relations.
The work of PL´s journalists and all the staff has enabled us not only to persevere, but to keep on growing and opening other areas in correspondence with the new times of communication, he stressed to representatives of other media, diplomats, Cuban residents in USA and to people interested in Cuba´s reality.
Gonzalez recalled at the Bolivarian Hall in Washington DC that Prensa Latina started off by working in the United States, with offices in this city and New York, just eight days after its first news report from Havana in June 1959.
However, he added that the then Head Correspondent in Washington Francisco Portela received a refusal for the resumption of the operating license in 1967, and no other journalist hds been since then granted by a US government visa.
In addition, he acknowledged that PL, during nearly 58 years, ‘always at the service of truth’, has had the support and solidarity of close colleagues and their professional associations.
According to Gonzalez, a great number of Cuban, Latin American, US, Canadian and European professionals have contributed high-talent shares to this news agency, which boasts websites translated into six languages and presence in various social media. (Taken from Prensa Latina)
