Cuba in Venezuela: Propaganda deep inside the inner city

The regime’s flagship medical program for underprivileged areas, run by Cuban physicians with equipment purchased by Venezuela, has a network of Twitter accounts that orchestrate and promote publications with the Cuban Medical Mission overseas.

By Rodolfo A. Rico

Last April 16, Misión Barrio Adentro (Inner City Mission), an assistance program for low-income neighborhoods launched by the late President Hugo Chávez, reached its 18th anniversary. However, ten days earlier, a  number of Twitter accounts of Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers (Centros de Diagnóstico Integral, CDIs), the facilities where Barrio Adentro operates, and of the so-called Cuban Medical Mission celebrated the mission’s anniversary with the hashtag #BarrioAdentro18Aniversario (#InnerCity18thAnniversary). It was an opportunity to find that the accounts of the Barrio Adentro healthcare centers seem to be used for information campaigns orchestrated by the Cuban government. On that occasion, we conducted an analysis of the hashtag and it was evident that accounts of the Cuban Medical Mission (Misión Médica Cubana), the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and an array of CDIs boosted the anniversary hashtag. We also noted that at least a group of these accounts had been created between February and March 2021.

Methodology

This inquiry set out to identify the actual reach of that group of the network of Twitter accounts linked to the CDIs and the Cuban Medical Mission. We decided to download stats on the handles of 14 CDI accounts from all over Venezuela. These are accounts that boosted the #BarrioAdentro18Aniversario hashtag in general. As a noteworthy fact, they are accounts that range from tens to a few hundred followers. They are itemized below:

Table: Followers, followed accounts, and CDI accounts following each account

Twitter handleFollowersFollowingFollower CDIs
@cdipuertadelli1_1212546
@CDI_arenas36426246
@CdiMichelena227916
@CdiLibertador53138721
@cdihiguerote3n.a.n.a.58
@CdiGilberto27115619
@CDIelRosario677716
@cdicorpo1123218150                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  
@cdicarvajal73273
@CdiBocono1048
@CDI_Tariba3222
@cdi_suiza_999942
@CDI_feyalegria9141,75153
@CdiLagunas18920147
@cdi_sucre532269

Among all these accounts, there are 1,431 unique accounts that include individuals, public health centers, and Cuba Coopera (Cuba Cooperates) accounts, which is what the users of Cuba’s international medical cooperation program – or Cuban Medical Mission – are named. Cuba Coopera has Twitter accounts by state of Venezuela and by country assisted. 

In the 14 accounts reviewed (yet not all that exist), there are as many as 114 unique accounts of Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers distributed in different locations of Misión Barrio Adentro. In 2009, there were as many as 499 CDIs in Venezuela, according to Barrio Adentro sources.

Undoubtedly, the number of accounts indicating Cuba as their location is also striking. Let us remind that, in Twitter, location is stated and can mean that an account user is originally from such stated location or that they are in the place mentioned at the time of posting a tweet. With this in mind, out of the 956 accounts mentioning location, in over 370 instances, they claim to be in Cuba. Furthermore, a third of the accounts’ total followers are not Venezuelans interested in this healthcare service.

In general, the accounts of Misión Barrio Adentro are full of socialist slogans, Fidel Castro, white robes (another allusion to Barrio Adentro physicians), and insistent claims of Cuba’s commitment in support of Venezuela. Additionally, the Cuban flag, even as profile image, appears in these accounts’ profile photos.

Figure 1: The Inner City (Barrio Adentro) business

‘Cuba Cooperates’ – with itself

Likewise, it is possible to identify consistently and repeatedly, in different ways, the official accounts of the Cuban Medical Mission. Some of them, although also mentioned by other accounts, have been suspended by Twitter. There are 22 unique accounts linked to Cuba Coopera. However, the accounts of the program’s operations in Timor, Algeria, Guatemala, Jamaica, and Cape Verde are particularly noteworthy.

The CDIs are part of the parallel healthcare system created by Chavismo, despite the formal and functional existence of a public system for almost a century. Not only did Venezuela buy from Cuba all the items to put in place the different levels of the Barrio Adentro network, but also allows it to use or control the social media associated with that assistance network. Venezuela even bought from Cuba what the latter did not produce to create and operate the Barrio Adentro network. In addition, that country manages a propaganda network to convince us of its support. What a sweetheart deal! 
Figure 2: An overview of Barrio Adentro‘s propaganda network

Medianalisis Cotejo Fake News En Este País
Tags: , , , ,