By Daicar Saladrigas / Pictures by Otilio Rivero

Camagüey City,  It was the first time Adelante Journal was issued in a software mode; for the first time ever its readers were located in who knows how many places in the world; it was the first time some media from Camagüey had an Internet version. Adelante Online was born.

The lunching date was not chosen at random, it was homage for the victory at Bay of Pigs. The digital version would be another weapon in the battle for Cuba.

It was mainly the result of the commitment of Adrián Cansino, the impetuous and passionate young man who is recognized, after ten years, as the heart and soul of the project. Though he works at present as professor and administrative at Camagüey University, he still viscerally united to his “child”.

“It was a challenge, a huge school and a great satisfaction to see the project turned into a reality. It caused tremendous happiness seeing the amount of accesses to the page grow every single day after the other. It meant an enormous achievement for my professional career and I still feel it like something that belongs to me somehow.”

Mabel Guerra, by then vice-manager of Adelante Journal, who works as a reporter for Prensa Latina News Agency, also considers the releasing of the digital page as a test. “We were among the first to have a digital version in the country. Even when Cansino was coached by several people, including his own brother Abel and Joan Hernández, both designers, as well as Rogelio Pérez, CITMATEL Representative in Camagüey, he had to devote months to complete its conception and design”. But the challenges were yet far from coming to an end.

“We always tried not to repeat the same schedule of the printed version, the digital one was originally thought as portal with a broad structure instead of a single page:  more than ten sections, special pages and an English language version. It was also a defy for the journalists, who had to change their working routine after several years working in a weekly review and who had to consider a completely new audience since then on”.

“Since the very beginning Adelante Online has been well positioned among the different seekers, something very valuable that can only be achieved through hard work”

It was precisely such positioning which turned it into one of the main fronts of Cuban journalism regarding ideological confrontation as well as protagonist taking into account coverage of international events, like the attempt to overtake Hugo Chávez government, in 2002, when the staff labored for 38 hours in a row.

“SWEET SLAVORY”

That is how many people who have worked for the site define their job. The phrase resumes the several hours of sacrifice and self improving demanded by such a task.

The uncountable hours spent by Adrián at work can be added to those of Mabel, who took charge of everything for about eight months practically by herself; Yanexis Estrada, who is a designer for the printed version and the late Maricel Balmaseda became indispensable despite never been declared “officially” part of the staff. Many came afterwards as the site gain more readers and visited pages, grow in maturity and organization and eventually became an editing office. Among them were Elio Véliz, a retired editor, Oriel Trujillo, who presently works for the printed version, Luis Viamontes, a collaborator who keeps the English version on before the instability of translators of our own, Nosbel Méndez, an engineer who is the responsible for the latest change of structure and design as well as the migration to free software, an important mission currently fulfilled by Indira Tamarit and Bárbara Valdés, the last one, so far, to join the staff.  

Another important integrant of the team is Jorge Luis Peix, who frowned deeply when he heard he would no longer be a reporter, after 30 years of yielding news “from the street”, and instead will become an editor. His new profession, however, opened a whole new world for him: “It has given me a broader look in my career in accord with the current times and the present news demands as well as the chance to discover the great interest to get to know the reality of Cuba and Camagüey shown by many people in the world…I write differently today, more intentionally, thinking more about those who read our sections.

That is also the case of Diosdada Sagarrra, who confess to be in love with a task that requires “being constantly updated and being open to learn everyday, the media forces you to improve yourself”; she is the head of a department that counts with the commitment and experience of its staff to face the missions to come: “to continue spreading the reality and ideals of our country and to counteract the campaigns of the enemies of the Revolution”.

April 19, 2010. Adelante Online aims its informative cannon, the truth and principles are ready to sum friends and uncover plots. It shall be like that for many, many more times.

Translated by Luis Viamontes
Adelante Online