Blogger: Cubans thirsty yet wary
As Cuba embarks on economic reforms, blogger and author Yoani Sanchez
said islanders are embracing change with a dose of skepticism.
By SARAH MORENO
smoreno@ElNuevoHerald.com
In one of her rounds through the streets of Havana, Yoani Sánchez once
again confirms that "we Cubans are thirsty for change." The hustle and
bustle of small kiosks selling fruit shakes and other snacks on the most
centric avenues of the city show that its inhabitants have set their
hearts into achieving a certain degree of prosperity amid cracked
pillars and balconies on the brink of collapse.
"This rebirth is tremendously fragile because it depends, first of all,
on the little knowledge we Cubans have of managing an enterprise," said
the founder of the Generation Y blog in a phone interview with El Nuevo
Herald. Sanchez's new book WordPress: A Blog to Speak to the World
(Anaya Editorial) is arriving in Miami bookstores.
"Behind the economic reforms, there is government urgency because it has
its coffers empty and has been forced, to its chagrin, to grant economic
power to the citizens," said the 35-year-old philologist from her New
Vedado apartment in Havana, adding that the population viewswith
skepticism the changes which, "though heading in the right direction of
an opening, are slow and superficial."
"Looking at the excessive taxes and the short list of businesses
permitted, you realize that the government has no intention to allow
these small businesses to grow and become small and medium enterprises,"
said Sánchez, who nonetheless considers that through this opening "the
self-employed of today can become the empowered of tomorrow."
Using her own case as reference, Sánchez has no doubts that "economic
autonomy results in political autonomy." After receiving in 2000 a
degree in Philology from the University of Havana and facing the
frustration of having a monthly income of barely $10, she opted to work
teaching Spanish to tourists visiting the island. She survived more than
a decade doing this while creating, in 2007, the blog Generation Y,
currently visited by 14 million people monthly and translated into 17
languages. In 2009 she also discovered the possibilities of Twitter to
send SMS tweets from her mobile phone without the need of Internet access.
"Twitter has saved the alternative user's skin on numerous occasions,"
said Sánchez, who gives classes in her home, at a hotel or on the street
"to teach people how to have Internet without having Internet."
"The only requisite is that the student must have a mobile phone and
then I show him how to tweet in limited situations," said Sánchez, who
in her new book shares her experience. The book, published in Spain in
March with a prologue by the President of the Madrid Community,
Esperanza Aguirre Gil de Biedma, is available in Cuba only in photocopies.
In a country with limited Internet access, Sánchez is part of the
growing blogger movement, which includes her husband, journalist
Reinaldo Escobar, photographer Orlando Luis Pardo — who provided the
images for her book — Claudia Cadelo, Miriam Celaya, Dimas Castellanos,
Eugenio Leal, Rebeca Monzó, Regina Coyula and Baptist pastor Mario Félix
Lleonart.
Sánchez began to tell the world about Cuba's reality after being
inspired by her son Teo, then a child.
"In 2003, a great family friend [dissident Adolfo Fernández Saínz] was
sent to prison during the Black Spring. When our son asked us why, we
told him, 'because he was a very brave man.' " Her son's response: "Then
you are little cowards because you are still free."
Now 16, Teo brings his mother the vision of a generation eager to know
the world. "When I see my son interested in Japanese Mangas [animated
drawings], speaking fluent English, feeling a part of the global
village, and asking 'who is this person' when he happens to see Fidel
Castro on television, I feel happy because I can foresee a healthier
generation," Sánchez said.
st and C in the Vedado neighborhood — are a part of her life in which
she prefers not to dwell.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/17/2318744/blogger-cubans-thirsty-yet-wary.html
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