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Cuban state media bosses attend a world media summit in Beijing on artificial intelligence
The Cuban delegation at the 7th World Media Summit, opened on Saturday in Beijing and organized by China's state agency Xinhua, is led by the deputy head of the Ideological Department of the Communist Party's Central Committee, according to 14ymedio. On the island, that same week, three independent journalists were detained.
The 7th World Media Summit opened on Saturday in Beijing with nearly 500 representatives from some 330 news organizations in 112 countries and regions, Cuba among them, according to 14ymedio. Activities began on November 5 and run until November 9, and the event is organized by China's state agency Xinhua, which is marking 95 years, together with the Beijing municipal government.
The Cuban delegation is led by Liudmila Álamo Dueñas, deputy head of the Ideological Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, and includes executives from the main state outlets: Prensa Latina vice-president Alejandro Gómez; Randy Alonso, director of IDEAS Multimedios, which coordinates outlets such as Cubadebate and the Mesa Redonda; Juventud Rebelde director Yuniel Labacena; and Cuban Television director José C. Zaragoza.
The agenda centres on artificial intelligence solutions for the media, the sharing of technological resources and narrowing the digital gap with "the nations of the Global South." At the opening, the head of China's Propaganda Department, Li Shulei, called for artificial intelligence to be developed for the benefit of all nations and "not as a game for powerful countries and powerful people." Randy Alonso told Xinhua that Cuba is besieged "politically, militarily and in the media" by the United States and that showing "the reality of the island" is therefore key; the director of Cuban Television warned that the tool can also be used "as an instrument of information manipulation."
The image of the delegation, with the Party's ideology official at its head, contrasts with the situation of journalists working outside the official system: in recent days Adelth Bonne, Camila Acosta and Yoani Sánchez, director of 14ymedio, were among those harassed and detained. Reporters Without Borders ranks China 178th out of 180 in its 2026 press freedom index and calls it the world's largest prison for journalists.
Sources: 14ymedio
Data updated: 2026-11-08T04:15:00.000Z