Exporting Exile on TV Martí

Abstract

This essay focuses on U.S. broadcasting to Cuba, specifically the development and programming of TV Martí, a channel whose ostensible aim is to undermine the communist Cuban government and promote democratic transition. Since TV Martí’s first broadcast in 1990, Cuba has successfully jammed the signal, and the question of why the United States should continue to fund a station with no viewers has been the subject of ongoing discussion. Issues of reception have so overdetermined the debate as to obviate analysis of the productions themselves.This article argues that the existence of TV Martí is best understood in relation to Cuban exile nationalism. Fundamental confusion exists on the issues of what TV Martí is supposed to represent and for whom it is created, raising questions not only about its effectiveness as propaganda meant to interpellate Cuban nationals—if there are any watching—but also about what is at stake in exporting the exilic national imaginary.