Cuba bars international press from the island (UPDATED)

The Cuban spin machine is in high gear this week, as it works to control the information about the health of Fidel Castro and the location of his brother Raúl.

Not surprisingly, that includes banning international reporters from working on the island.

Cuba Libre Digital reports, in Spanish, that six journalists, including four from the Miami Herald and Washington Post, were stopped at José Martí International Airport in Havana and placed back on the planes on which they arrived.

"The Cubans have installed an absolute barrier against the international press that arrive in Havana," said Mario Antonio Guzmán, a Chilean radio reporter.

This is further indication that things are not all what Ricardo "Vomit Boy" Alarcon and other mouthpieces say it is, vis a vis Fidel's health.

Of course, that is always how the Cuban communists have done it. Just look at how they treat Cuban journalists who try to get the real story.

But this time, there is much more at stake, and from the dictatorship's perspective, much more reason to try to control the flow of information.

UPDATED, 12:56 a.m., Aug. 4, 2006

Editor and Publisher reports that more than 150 journalists trying to enter Cuba this week have been denied permission.

The Miami Herald has details on how at least four journalists were turned away.