Cuba: Bloggers keep speaking out vs. gov’t

Last week’s news of several Congressional Black Congress members meeting with Fidel Castro may’ve been a key step in the thawing of frosty relations between the U.S. and Cuba. For that meeting to be a step in the right direction, however, major changes need to be enacted in both countries even if it causes heavy debate.

As we’ve mentioned before, the Castro administration and Cuban bloggers have had a fractious relationship. The government has severely restricted access to the internet and affording a personal computer is out of the reach of the common person. The police have also harassed some bloggers and warned that their activities “run afoul of the law”.

During last month’s Havana Biennial art show, artist Tania Bruguera set up a particular installation. Residents were granted the chance to go speak for one minute at a podium with a microphone. Well-known anti-Castro blogger Yoani Sanchez took her opportunity to speak against the government:


Bruguera’s installation was approved by the government who ran the art show. A government communiqué shortly after Sanchez’ performance implied that she is a "professional dissident" employed by the U.S.

Sanchez remained defiant in an entry written to the Huffington Post earlier this month:

I confess to you that I do not want them to allow me to travel as if it were a gift. I have a feeling that I will travel from Cuba when everyone can do it freely, but in the meantime, I will continue besieging them with my demands, my posts and my questions.

The Cold War may’ve been over for years yet the U.S. and Cuba have permitted such a farcical political and economic rift to continue. While the U.S. can relax travel restrictions and possibly drop the decades-old trade embargo, Cuba needs to relax its restrictions on personal freedoms. The end of the government’s ongoing conflict with the island’s bloggers would be a very welcome step.

Online Sources- Huffington Post, AP, The Latin Americanist, Reuters, miamiherald.com