TV Marti and its radio counterpart remained on the air
Monday after a fire forced employees out of the main newsroom.
The broadcasts, overseen by the Broadcasting Board of
Governors (BBG), were launched in 1983 under President Ronald Reagan to deliver
news and information to Cuba.
According to the BBG, no one was injured in the fire, which
was started by a lighted cigarette left in a trash can in a designated smoking
area. The trash can caught fire, the heat from which broke the windows,
allowing smoke into the Miami headquarters of the Office of Cuba Broadcasting,
which houses the TV Marti and Radio Marti studios. The smoke set off the
sprinklers.
"It could be a week or more before employees can return
to the central newsroom, which sustained most of the damage," they said in a
statement.
TV Marti has taken some heat in the past,
including callsfor defunding it and complaints when a balloon-born transmitter--dubbed Fat
Albert--broke from its moorings on more than one occasion.
