The Cuban government has revoked the credentials of a longtime foreign correspondent because of his alleged negative reporting, news reports said. The journalist has reported from Cuba for Spanish newspaper El País and the radio network Cadena SER for 20 years but is now barred from working as a journalist on the island, El País reported.

Mauricio Vicent, 47, is married to a Cuban woman and has two children who were born on the island. Pedro Zuazua, El País’ communications director, told IPI that although the reporter is not obliged to leave the country, he is not allowed to report – which he has interpreted as a ban on working for the newspaper.

The International Press Center, part of Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, informed Vicent that they would not renew his work permit, based on article 46 of Resolution 182 from 2006, which establishes that accreditation can be permanently or temporarily cancelled when a correspondent “lacks journalistic ethics and/or does not adjust himself to objectivity in his reports,” El País explained.

The government claimed that Vicent “offers a partial and negative image which has become worse recently, to the point of influencing the editorial stance of the newspaper”, Zuazua told IPI. Vicent refutes the allegations. El País considers Vicent’s work “an example of professionalism, impartiality and balance, which has been endorsed throughout his career.”

Zuazua said: “We strongly reject the accusations of the Cuban regime and we believe the decision is an attack against freedom of expression and information. The decision demonstrates the Cuban government’s inability to understand the role of the media.” He added that the newspaper had made inquiries about solving the problem through the Spanish embassy in Cuba, but did not believe anything else could be done.

During the last year, Vicent had been banned from covering public events and press conferences, but was still allowed to report. He published his last piece in El País on 19 August.

Several correspondents based on the island have not had their press credentials renewed in recent months, the Associated Press reported. Moreover, state-run media have accused the foreign press of misunderstanding the country’s economic changes. Even CNN’s Spanish service was removed in January from a package of channels provided mostly to hotels, foreign companies and diplomats on the island, though no reason was given.

According to the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, since 2007 the Cuban government has banned reporting by foreign correspondents from the Chicago Tribune, the BBC and El Universal in Mexico.