Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez says her digital newspaper will be published Wednesday

Posted on Wednesday, 05.14.14

Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez says her digital newspaper will be published
Wednesday
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO
JTAMAYO@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

Cuba's best-known blogger, Yoani Sanchez, announced Wednesday that her
digital newspaper would begin publishing next week despite the
government's monopoly on the mass media, and will be named "14ymedio."

"It will be a difficult road," Sanchez wrote in a post on her blog,
Generation Y. "Already, in fact, several people on our work team have
received the first warning calls from State Security."

"However, we have no reason to be hesitant. 14ymedio emerges with
nothing to hide. Information regarding its editorial approach, ethics
and financial commitments will be available on our Web page, which will
go live on May 21," she added.

The 38-year-old Havana woman became one of the Cuban blogosphere's
most-followed writers with her at times poetic, at times biting
commentary on the failings of the island's communist system.

She has said she wants the digital newspaper — the government owns all
the presses and runs all the newspapers and radio and television
stations on the island — to chronicle "the real Cuba" and accompany the
political transition she believes is approaching.

Sanchez said the name of her newspaper, 14ymedio — 14 and a half in
English — comes from the year of its birth and her 14th floor apartment
in Havana. The "medio" is also Spanish for media, and the letter "Y"
harks back to her start with Generation Y.

"Now, all that's missing is that it pleases you, generates debate, and
provides you with information. Thanks in advance!" she wrote in her post.

Sanchez has said she hopes her newspaper, with a staff of 12 that
includes her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar, will have the usual
sections of a newspaper such as sports, opinion, fashion and even business.

Recent posts by Sanchez and Escobar have shown a thinly veiled concern
for how the government will react when the newspaper, which they have
been working on for several months, finally hits the Internet.

The Cuban government blocked local access to Generacion Y and more than
40 other blogs it considered to be critical for several years. Police
have detained her at least once, the first time when she was heading to
an opposition street protest.

But in February 2011, the government lifted what Sanchez called the "the
long night of censorship" on the critical blogs, implicitly admitting it
could not really control what Communications Minister Ramiro Valdes once
called the "wild pony" of the Internet.

She has won several prestigious awards that included hefty sums of money
— Colombia University's Maria Moors Cabot prize, Spain's Ortega y
Gassett award and The Prince Claus award from the Netherlands. Time
magazine put her on its list of 100 most influential people in 2008, and
President Barack Obama did a written interview with her in 2009.

Source: "Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez says her digital newspaper will be
published Wednesday - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com" -
http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/05/14/4117438/cuban-blogger-yoani-sanchez-says.html#storylink=misearch