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Media professionals from 34 countries gather in Cuba for international journalists’ forum

The event coincides with the 65th anniversary of "Operation Truth" ("Operacion Verdad"), initiated by the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro

HAVANA, January 22. /TASS/. New Operation Truth (in Spanish, "Nueva Operacion Verdad"), an international forum of journalists organized by Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, began in the Cuban capital with more than 60 delegates from 34 countries, including Russia, in attendance.

The main topics for discussion at the forum include countering the spread of disinformation and fake news, the impact of social networks on the dissemination of news, and the digitalization of information flows. The participants will also be discussing contemporary Cuba’s relations with the world under the conditions of sanctions.

The event coincides with the 65th anniversary of "Operation Truth" ("Operacion Verdad"), initiated by the leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro. A few weeks after the overthrow of dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, a number of US media outlets launched a large-scale media manipulation campaign to discredit the revolutionary process on the Caribbean island and its revolutionary leadership. After that, Castro invited several hundred journalists from around the world to the country to show foreigners the real situation in Cuba. The original Operation Truth implied an alternative coverage of historical events in the region and prompted the emergence of the Prensa Latina news agency, which brought together dozens of journalists from Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Sixty-five years ago, Cuba faced an information war aimed at ending the dream of freedom. The historic leader of the Cuban revolution, Fidel Castro, gathered almost 400 journalists from all over the world in the midst of the campaign that he called the most shameful, criminal and unfair unleashed against a nation," said Enrique Gonzalez Acosta, head of Prensa Latina, at the opening ceremony of the information forum, at which Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel was in attendance. The news agency now plays a significant role in representing the positions of the countries of the Global South in the global information space, he noted.

The New Operation Truth international forum for journalists runs through Monday, January 22.

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