First person - Cuban blogger - 11 May 08

Time magazine has labelled Yoani Sanchez, a Cuban blogger, one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Al Jazeera met her in Havana, the Cuban capital.

She told us how being a blogger in Cuba can bring both inspiration and frustration.

This is her story in her own words.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• AlJazeera
• Al
• Jazeera
• Cuba
• Havana
• Blogging

[invanz0]

@capecodful hahaha 100% of cubans are homeless? what about fidels family he has to be atleast .0001% and your right cubans are "grungry" "1,000s dead by firing squads" proof?

[capecodful]

I love to see the inquiring minds worried where Sanchez got her DELL Laptop or how she access the Internet. I guess Democracy don't teach nescessary survival skills inside a communist state. In Cuba, we get that education for FREE as well.

[capecodful]

@4Barbudos CUBA under Dictator Castro -Castro Family controls 100% of wealth -Castro Family owns 100% arable land -100% of of Cubans are homeless -100% of Cubans are gungry -0% Democratic Elections -Over 2,000,000 Cubans in Exile -1000's Dead by Firing Squad -100's of New Prison's Built -100's of Disidents are in Jail -2% Freedom of speech

[smezec]

"A-hole" ? Oh thta hurts real deep man...

Her laptop looks pretty nice dontcha think?

[SoyMontalvino]

A-hole, there are hotels and institutions that do have web access. People do favors.

[jvarela965]

Where did she get the DELL laptop and by Cuban standards nice APT. She has to be Cuban Intelligence agent or under their control.

[azalori]

Lo mataste, una bala sin nombre. Lo que hoy somos a la epoca anterior es bochornoso. Cuando en la epoca de Batista eramos una potencia ingenua, pero eramos una isla cuyo valor adquisitivo era superior al de los USA. Hoy se suele decir con el socialismo tergiversado, que nos hemos convertido en payasos del capitalismo, y hambrientos por un punado de dollares, el cual nuestra moneda nacional es un bochorno. Este 4 barbudos agarra su cuota todos los meses con la china castra.

[editou]

Her main point (not only in this short in her interview but in her blog as well) is that people are not free to express dissatisfaction. Speak against the government and you 're in trouble.

[editou]

smezec: She explains that in her blog. It involves mainly passing as a tourist in hotels, and paying something like a day's wage for half an hour of internet connection, just to email an already-typed text to friends, who then post it on the blog.

[smezec]

If no one in Cuba has internet access, then how are you able to blog?

Do they honestly think we're that stupid?