Not an April Fool's joke...

…just a regular, everyday joke: TV Marti has been on the air for 20 years.

Actually a little longer – its first transmission was March 27, 1990.

I was sort of hoping someone else would have marked the anniversary, maybe the government itself or someone who supports the program.

No such luck.

This is the only broadcast operation that has been on the air for any period, much less two decades, where there is a debate about whether it has an audience.

The signal simply “is not seen,” according to Salvador Lew, the first Cuba broadcasting director appointed by President Bush. The State Department assessed that it can “rarely if ever be received.”

But the program chugs on, about $10 million per year, a monument to the idea that in this corner of U.S. foreign policy, intentions can count for more than results.