That was a bad word, as if it condemned us,' said Rodriguez, who writes a daily column in that newspaper about the complaints of the public.

'Some have come to perceive the healthy exercise of criticism... as an admission of weakness; like giving weapons to the enemy,' he continued.

'What is certain is that the most dangerous missile we can offer to those who would like to dismantle a work of 50 years is silence, pretense, double standards, conformity, the deactivation of intransigence in the face of the evils that are incubating and developing before our eyes,' Rodriguez said.

The state controls all media outlets in Cuba, Latin America's only communist-ruled country.