A B O U T    R I C A R D O    A N D    M I R I A M   |   The War of the Airwaves Jorge Mas Canosa, an extremely wealthy Cuban exile, is said to be the eminence grise behind Radio and TV Martí. For liberal American media he is a bugbear among Cuban exiles, as he embodies virtually every aspect of the extreme right-winger who absolutely refuses to make any concessions to Castro. TV Martí is also unique. It is the only tv station in the world to broadcast exclusively to receivers in a foreign country. The Americans thereby violate international agreements that they themselves have signed. What is even more absurd is the fact that TV Marti is completely unknown in Cuba and cannot be seen by anyone. This is because Castro has set up hundreds of jamming transmitters in the Havana region. Nevertheless the Americans have been producing one hour of programming every day for the past seven years, beaming it to Havana by way of a captive balloon - despite the fact that no-one is watching. In the film we see TV Marti's complicated broadcasting set-up on the Florida Keys, 90 miles from Havana. For a television signal to be transmitted to Havana, a captive balloon must be raised to an altitude of 10,000 feet. Every night. It is a war of the airwaves.

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