U.S.-CUBA RELATIONS
Blogger in Cuba has D.C.'s ears, not Raúl's
A blogger in Cuba who's not afraid to take on the authorities has gained
attention at the White House and on Capitol Hill.
BY JUAN O. TAMAYO AND LESLEY CLARK
lclark@MiamiHerald.com
WASHINGTON -- Cuba's celebrated and increasingly brassy blogger Yoani
Sánchez emerged Thursday as a player in U.S.-Cuba relations, scoring a
lengthy reply from President Barack Obama to her questions and playing a
starring role in a congressional hearing on efforts to let American
tourists visit Cuba.
Sánchez's blog, Generación Y, posted Obama's responses to seven pointed
questions she asked him in what she describes as a foray into ``popular
diplomacy.'' She also queried Cuban leader Raúl Castro -- but he hadn't
replied as of late Thursday.
Obama broke little new ground in his responses, largely reiterating his
administration's stance on Cuba: a desire for more contact between the
two governments and its peoples, while insisting that Cuba improve its
human rights record.
But the fact that the U.S. president replied to the blogger served to
highlight Sánchez's role as a distinctive voice of dissent in Cuba, a
34-year-old who has won a string of international prizes for her elegant
and sharply worded blog -- officially blocked in Cuba, yet exceedingly
popular. Her blog gets 1 million visitors a month, and by 5 p.m.
Thursday the Obama post had 986 comments.
Sánchez wrote that she had sent the questions to the two leaders because
for too long ``Cubans have resigned themselves to having no one `up
there' explain or consult with us the road this island will take, so
much like a ship taking on water and at the point of sinking.''
TRAVEL BAN DEBATE
In Congress, as critics and supporters of the decades-old travel ban
used Sánchez's recent beating, presumably at the hands of Cuban security
forces, to criticize the Castro regime, House Foreign Affairs chairman
Howard Berman read an essay Sánchez wrote in support of lifting the ban.
``An opening of travel for Americans could bring more results in the
democratization of Cuba than the indecisive performance of Raúl
Castro,'' Sánchez wrote. ``Along with suitcases, Bermuda shorts and
sunblock, support, solidarity and freedom could come, too. Both peoples
would come out winners.''
The hearing -- the first time a full congressional committee has delved
into the hotly contested issue of lifting the travel ban -- came as
proponents suggest they've got their best opportunity to date to scrap
the prohibition that prevents American tourists from spending money in
Cuba. Berman made it clear he plans to continue pushing -- perhaps
scheduling a hearing on legislation as soon as next spring.
``I don't want just a hearing, I want to eliminate the travel ban,''
Berman, a California Democrat, said after the hearing. ``I think there's
a better chance than ever before.''
Opponents of lifting the ban suggest the votes aren't there to pass the
legislation, and critics of easing sanctions outnumbered supporters on
the committee Thursday. They also pointed to House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi's remarks to suggest House leadership is unlikely to engage in a
floor fight on Cuba policy anytime soon.
The legislation could face an even tougher reception in the Senate,
where several senators are prepared to block it.
Proponents of lifting the ban argued that 50 years of isolating Cuba had
done little to bring democracy to the island and that Americans should
have the right to travel to the island. They suggested that Americans
could be ambassadors for change.
But Miami Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and others argued that
tourism dollars would only enrich the Castro regime -- which James
Cason, the former chief at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, noted
penalizes Cubans for talking to foreigners. Ros-Lehtinen noted that
Europeans and tourists ``from around the world'' have been going to Cuba
``for rum, music, sex, cigars and sun for years.''
``Have they brought about democratic reform and change?'' Ros-Lehtinen
asked.
Sánchez wrote in her blog that she sent the questions to the two world
leaders in an attempt to find out ``from my diminutive position as a
citizen, how this conflict is going to evolve.''
Though her blog is blocked in Cuba, savvy cybernauts can get around the
block, and her posts are distributed within the island via CDs,
flash-memory drives and home-printed compilations.
GETTING NOTICED
Sánchez told El Nuevo Herald in a telephone interview that she sought
out several ``citizen roads'' to deliver the questions to Obama.
``Evidently, one of them worked, but I don't know which.''
She said Obama's replies came as a ``great surprise,'' though ``a high
official'' suggested to her that Obama had ``personally written the
replies.'' Sánchez declined to identify the official, but the U.S. has a
diplomatic mission in Havana.
The blogger noted that in the Spanish version of his answers, Obama
refers to her with the familiar tú instead of the formal usted, and
added: ``I liked that. It breaks the scheme of power vs. citizen.''
Obama, who has opened up travel to the island for Cuban Americans and
sought greater engagement with Cuba, wrote to Sánchez that her blog
``provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in
Cuba.'' He noted he was disappointed the Cuban government did not allow
her to travel to New York last month to receive a major journalism prize.
A State Department spokesman confirmed Obama wrote to Sánchez. The Cuban
diplomatic mission in Washington declined to comment.
In his response, Obama appeared to sidestep a question about whether he
would ``recognize the legitimacy of the Raúl Castro government [in] . .
. eventual talks.''
``I am prepared to have my administration engage with the Cuban
government on a range of issues of mutual interest,'' Obama wrote
Sánchez. ``It is also my intent to facilitate greater contact with the
Cuban people, especially among divided Cuban families. . . .
``We seek to engage with Cubans outside of the government as we do
elsewhere around the world, as the government, of course, is not the
only voice that matters in Cuba. We take every opportunity to interact
with the full range of Cuban society.''
HER REPUTATION
Sánchez's questions to the leaders are the latest in a string of actions
that have raised her profile.
After she was denied permission to travel to New York last month, she
had someone film her complaints to a Cuban migration official, then
posted the video. A week later, she sneaked into a government building
hosting a seminar on the Internet and asked why the government was
blocking free access to the Web. Again, she posted a video of her complaint.
On Nov. 6, Sánchez said that she and another blogger were punched and
thrown into a car by presumed state security agents as they walked to
join a peaceful protest in downtown Havana.
Sánchez told El Nuevo Herald on Thursday that she could not predict the
government's reaction to her Obama contact, but that she had posed the
questions in a respectful manner and was proud of the ``journalistic
weight of all this -- an interview!''
Blogger in Cuba has D.C.'s ears, not Raúl's - Cuba - MiamiHerald.com (19
November 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/cuba/v-fullstory/story/1343131.html
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