AN EDITOR with Cuba's Communist Party newspaper Granma has defected to live in the US after criticising the state's hold on the press.

Aida Calviac Mora, 29, arrived in the US through Mexico and plans to join her husband in Miami, Florida.

The former international news page editor said there was a "crisis of credibility" in the relationship between the public and the Cuban news media. She said whenever she approached the paper's directors with new ideas she was told "it's not a good time" or "the enemy could use it against us".