Yoani Sanchez: dissident Cuban blogger hopeful of digital change

Yoani Sanchez: dissident Cuban blogger hopeful of digital change

Sanchez makes first public appearance in US and calls on international
community to pressure Castro to open up system
Gizelle Lugo in New York
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 16 March 2013 19.50 GMT

"The truth is, all journalists in Cuba are imprisoned," said Yoani
Sanchez, in a downbeat assessment of the plight of free speech in her
home country.

The 37-year old Cuban dissident and celebrated blogger behind Generation
Y, knows as well as anyone the impact of restrictions placed on
chroniclers of daily life in communist Cuba. Despite being named one of
the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine, Sanchez
has, for the past few years, been confined to island life. Until now.

Sanchez, whose attempts to travel abroad have been rejected more than 20
times in the past five years, is currently on an 80-day tour across
Europe, Latin America and the United States to speak to those who have
been following her story. The trip was only made possible by recent
reforms implemented by President Raul Castro, which eased travel
restrictions for many Cubans.

Sanchez's trip has not been without incident, however. In Brazil, she
was met by pro-Castro demonstrators during a visit to the Brazilian
congress. Similar demonstrations, rumored to be staged, also followed
during a recent trip to Mexico.

Little wonder, then, that when Sanchez made her first public appearance
in the United States, at Columbia University on Thursday evening,
stringent security measures were taken. However, Sanchez received a warm
welcome, flowers and a standing ovation as she sat down for a brief Q&A.

Throughout the evening, Sanchez, with her long hair and earth-mother
style dress, could be caught tweeting on her iPhone to her 450,000
followers.

One might think Sanchez is always on the internet. But the reality is
that she and her fellow Cubans face a battle to gain access to the
unfiltered web, like sneaking into a hotel – which, before the reforms,
Cubans were prohibited from entering – and spending half a month's wages
to use a computer. Cubans have also created their own digital version of
alchemy in creating "internet without internet" by downloading
uncensored information to flash drives and sharing it with one another.

Life in Cuba is difficult for dissidents like Sanchez, who have been met
with verbal attacks to physical detention, although Sanchez notes the
worst imprisonment is that of forced silence. "[We are] imprisoned by
censorship, imprisoned by laws, imprisoned on an island that is a prison
surrounded by water on all sides."

But in recent times, the Cuban government, which, Sanchez explained, has
taken note of the events during the Arab spring, has been cautious about
how they deal with the regime's detractors. The Cuban government has
started to engage with bloggers, creating pro-government blogs to
denounce those like Sanchez as agents of outside enemies like the United
States. But Sanchez believes this reveals that the government can no
longer refuse to acknowledge the power and effect the Cuban blogosphere
is having on the people.

And Sanchez only plans to go further in pushing the government's
buttons. "[I]t is time to move beyond the realm of the personal and
individual expression of the blog – the catharsis that is the 140
characters on Twitter – into a more civic exercise that would be
expressed through an independent press in Cuba," she said.

Sanchez will take up the project when she returns to Cuba, and she's
unafraid of being charged with "crimes of enemy propaganda". While the
venture will, for now, remain in the elusive digital sphere, at least,
she says, it will be ready for all Cubans when the change comes.

What were Sanchez's first impressions of the US? "Breathing in [New York
City], a city so enormous that I've only ever seen in films … I am
absolutely in shock'."

After her stop in New York, Sanchez will visit Washington DC and attend
a meeting on Capitol Hill organized by senator Bill Nelson of Florida.

"I see it as an opportunity to narrate Cuba as someone who lives on the
island, [to] answer their questions and provide them with my
perspective. It's an important moment for Cuba right now, a moment so in
flux, where everything can either fall to ruin or be achieved."

Sanchez, a Havana native, wants to highlight the progress and change
that has been taking place in Cuba. But according to Sanchez, the "Raul
reforms" were not enacted from "a position of power"; they were put in
place because the Castros "are backed against the wall" by civil society
in Cuba and abroad. And after Hugo Chavez's death, which could signal
the end of Cuba's supply of cheap oil, Sanchez expects even more reform.

As for relations with the US, Sanchez tells the Guardian that she
retains hope in President Obama. During his first term in office, the
president eased travel restrictions on Americans visiting Cuba, along
with those on remittances to the country. Those have proved invaluable
to Cubans, who earn, on average, just $19 a month.

"I believe we are in times of change," she said. "We need the United
States to acknowledge these changes occurring in Cuba – changes that
transcend politics and are expanding across the digital world. I would
like to be able to say that this new Cuba can count on [President Obama]."

Sanchez acknowledged that the US policy towards Cuba is not entirely
shaped by Obama She is also interested in the views of Florida senator
Marco Rubio, a Cuban American.

Rubio is opposed to lifting the trade embargo, or providing any of the
kind of aid provided by the unrestricted travel and money transfers to
the island. He recently blasted colleagues and Americans who visit Cuba,
saying that travelers are leaving "thousands of dollars in the hands of
a government that uses that money to control these people that you feel
sorry for".

Sanchez said: "I respect the different opinions on the embargo. Why?
Because they are born out concern for Cuba. There are people who believe
the embargo will help Cuba become more democratized. There are also
those of us who believe Cuba will become more democratized without it.
But all of us agree that we want democracy in Cuba."

Though Sanchez wants to see an end to the embargo, she warns that the US
needs to be "cautious" that lifting the embargo does not "end up
breathing life into a regime that is on its last legs".

And what of the future?

"The promises shouldn't be made by a leader, a party or an ideology. The
promise should come from all Cubans, and it's a promise with our
children that they will have an inclusive Cuba, a bountiful Cuba, a Cuba
where no one will be punished for expressing themselves," Sanchez said.

"I would promise the new generation a Cuba for all Cubans."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/16/yoani-sanchez-dissident-cuban-blogger?INTCMP=SRCH