Obama Pens Response to Dissident Cuban Blogger

Cuban Blogger Yoani Sanchez has been in the news a lot lately. First she jumped into the spotlight as a winner of Columbia Journalism School's prestigious Maria Moors Cabot Prize for Outstanding Reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean, and her work on her Generacion Y blog was recognized "for her courage, talent and great achievement."

But since Sanchez is a Cuban who speaks critically of the Cuban regime, it wasn't too much of a surprise that the Cuban government denied her visa to go to New York to accept the prize.

Last week she was on her way to a anti-violence march when she was detained and beaten by Cuban security forces.

Now her popularity and recognition as a force for change in Cuba has gotten President Obama's attention. Sanchez posted a set of seven questions regarding Cuban-US relations on her blog and asked that both Obama and Cuban president Raul Castro respond. Obama grabbed the initiative and this morning Sanchez posted his responses.

Whether Raul will follow suit remains TBD.

Image Source: Generacion Y
Online Sources: Generacion Y, The Economist, Huffington Post, Miami Herald