In mid-November 2021, a social media user shared a fake headline mocked up to look like one published by Vice News that said people were being thrown "straight into the woodchipper" in Cuba:
We found no such headline published by Vice News on Nov. 14, 2021, and the meme appears to have been created as backlash to coverage of Cuba, a country run for decades by a socialist government.
The timing of the fake headline coincided with reports in various mainstream news sources accusing the Cuban government of repression of political dissent, describing an anti-government demonstration, planned for Nov. 15, 2021, that failed to materialize. Vice News may have been singled out for use the above meme because the outlet has been critical in its coverage of the Cuban government's treatment of political dissent.
Sources
Gilbert, David. "Cuba Took Away Protesters’ Biggest Weapon: The Internet." 14 July 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/4av7nb/cuba-took-away-protesters-biggest-weapon-the-internet.
Perlmutter, Lillian. "Cuba’s Crackdown on Protesters Is Getting Even More Brutal." 15 July 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5g8k3/cubas-crackdown-on-protesters-is-getting-even-more-brutal.
Perlmutter, Lillian. "'We’re So Hungry': Why Cubans Are Taking to the Streets in Biggest Protests for Decades." 12 July 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgx5zk/were-so-hungry-why-cubans-are-taking-to-the-streets-in-biggest-protests-for-decades.
Robles, Frances. “As Cuba Crushes Dissent, a Nationwide Protest Fizzles.” The New York Times, 15 Nov. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/15/world/americas/cuba-protests.html.
Bethania Palma is a journalist from the Los Angeles area who started her career as a daily newspaper reporter and has covered everything from crime to government to national politics. She has written for ... read more
