The Cuban blogging world

For a country where only 2.1% of the population has regular access to global internet, Cuba has a surprisingly vibrant blogosphere (see the Committee to Protect Journalists’ special report here). And Cuban bloggers have recently been testing the bounds of free expression and tolerated opinions in the nation, writing vivid accounts of everyday life and sometimes making risky calls for reform and political change. From the BBC:

Most still avoid direct criticism of the government, for fear of provoking a crackdown on the country’s growing internet.

However, the government’s present tolerance could change, as an increasing number of bloggers are beginning to condemn the harassment of independent writers and are demanding structural reforms.

Yoani Sanchez is admired internationally as the “head” of the group of Cuban bloggers. Last week she was awarded one of Columbia University’s Maria Moors Cabot Prizes for advancing inter-American understanding (the first blogger to receive this award), and she has received similar honors previously for her writing in Generation Y, a blog we’ve mentioned several times. TIME magazine, in fact, named her blog one of the best 25 in the world in 2009.

Cuban officials seem to still be determining their response to bloggers. The state tends not to block any of the blogs themselves, but makes accessing them particularly slow and thereby nearly impossible anyway at the price per hour cost of internet access. And Sanchez is not trusted by the Cuban regime: she has been denied an exit visa to receive awards in Spain and Germany, and this past week, in the United States.

As a testament to the loopholes these bloggers are finding in the system, Yoani was able to produce a short video that was shown at the award ceremony for the Maria Moors Cabot prize, expressing her regret that she could not attend, how honored she was to be selected, and her hopes for the future of expression of dissent in Cuba.

For Spanish-speakers, her video message is here: