Story by Robin Elisabeth Kilmer
Cuba's best-known dissident, blogger Yoani Sanchez, shows her work permit which was issued by Cuba. (Photo: Ueslei Marcelino | REUTERS)
Dissident Cuban blogger Yoani María Sánchez Cordero is hoping for a tribute to democracy in her native country.
What she envisions isn’t an obelisk, or an individual memorialized in marble, as is prevalent in many plazas across the world.
“Someday, this,” she said, holding up a flash drive, “will be a monument to democracy in Cuba.”
The drives, she explained at a forum held on Thurs., March 14th by the Columbia University’s School of Journalism, are how information and ideas not sanctioned by the Cuban government are spread as people download and upload content.
“Technology has created a hole in the information wall that surrounds Cuba,” she explained.
For this reason, she said the Cuban government is “petrified of the Internet.”
Sánchez is best known for her blog, Generación Y (Generation Y), in which she has written frankly and critically of the Cuban government and its policies.
Read more: Protest by the keystroke.
Check out the NY Times interview with Cuban blogger Yoani María Sánchez Cordero below.
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