Granma (newspaper)

Granma is a Cuban newspaper founded in 1965, which is the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. Its name comes from the yacht that transported Fidel Castro and eighty-one other rebels from Mexico to the Cuban coast in 1956, starting the Cuban Revolution. The word granma comes from an informal graphic and phonetic corruption of the word grandma, diminutive in English of grandmother ('grandmother' in English).

History

Despite the opposition of the conservative sectors of Cuban society and the prediction of the short life of the Diario de la Marina (Cuban conservative newspaper), a daily press organ of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) is created, “ Today news". On May 16, 1938, the first issue of this newspaper was published.

It is quite likely that this first name is due to the fact that “Hoy” was the name of the publishing company created by the Communist Party years before. Initially, its objectives included combating Nazi-fascism, defending the Spanish Republic, advocating class struggle, as well as contributing to creating and consolidating an anti-imperialist national consciousness. All this happened under the direction of Augusto Miranda, who was its first director.

The newspaper was maintained with the result of the collections acquired by the militants in the workers' groups, in addition to other activities that, together with the secure sale of the editions, contributed to its realization.

During the pre-revolutionary stage, the editorial office where it was produced was closed and attacked on several occasions, including some of the governments in power in Cuba before 1959, which banned this press organ. Among the directors of the newspaper were Blas Roca and Carlos Rafael Rodríguez. It existed until October 3, 1965, when it was merged with the Revolución newspaper and the current Granma newspaper emerged.

Since 1966 it has published an international version, called Granma Weekly Review. Since 1991 this edition has been called Granma Internacional.

In September 2012, the editor-in-chief of Granma, Mairelys Cuevas, defected from Cuba and traveled to Miami.

Editions

The Granma is published every day and is widely read within the island of Cuba. There are also several international editions, available in Spanish, English, French, German, Italian and Portuguese, all of them accessible via the Internet.

In the newspaper they appear regularly:

• Addresses by leaders of the Cuban government. Formerly included columns written by the historic communist leader Fidel Castro as reflections.
• Official announcements by the Cuban authorities.
• Stories about the history of the revolutionary struggle in Cuba, since the centuryXIX to the present.
• News and comments of Latin American and global politics.
• Achievements of Cuban workers and farmers in order to defend and advance the socialist revolution.
• Developments in industry, agriculture, science, arts and sports in Cuba.
• Programming of Cuban Television every day.

Special supplements are often published, such as one related to the purchase of trucks and vans from China by the national electricity company, and another related to the start of the 2006 Soccer World Cup.

Directors

• 1965-1967 Isidoro Malmierca
• 1967-1987 Jorge Enrique Mendoza
• 1987-1990 Enrique Román
• 1990-1995 Jacinto Granda
• 1995-2005 Frank Agüero
• 2005-2013 Lazaro Barredo
• 2013-2017 Pelayo Terry
• 2017-current Yailin Orta Rivera