Husband of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez attacked

Husband of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez attacked
Published on Monday, November 23, 2009

HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- The husband of Cuban dissident blogger Yoani
Sanchez said he was attacked by government supporters as he waited on
Friday to confront state security agents accused of detaining and
beating his wife two weeks ago.

Sanchez, whose writing about the hardships of Cuban life were praised
this week by President Barack Obama, said men believed to be government
agents forced her into a car and hit her repeatedly in a brief detention
on November 6.

Reinaldo Escobar, also a blogger, said he had gone to a Havana
intersection hoping that state security agents would respond to a
challenge he issued earlier to meet there for a "verbal duel" about his
wife's incident.

He said he was speaking to reporters when, in what appeared to be an
orchestrated event, several hundred people gathered and began shouting
"Viva Fidel" and "Viva la Revolucion."

About 20 of his supporters began shouting back and the situation turned
violent, he said.

"They pulled my hair, hit me with a shoe, tore my shirt, pulled away my
bag of books. I lost my glasses," Escobar, aged 62, told Reuters.

His wife, who was not with him at the attack, wrote on Twitter: "Until
when will the language of force, of intolerance and disrespect for the
opinion of others be the one that prevails in my country?"

The Cuban government responded quickly to Escobar's accusations,
emailing to foreign journalists a story published in the website
laRepublica.es with the headline "The Cuban people are tired of Yoani
Sanchez."

The website, which describes itself as "The free newspaper, for an
informed citizenry," said state security agents saved Escobar from
injury when he was surrounded by young people shouting "This street is
revolutionary" and "Down with traitors" to the beat of a conga drum.

The agents took him from the scene "so he would not suffer the ire of a
people that has tired of so many provocations," the website said.

Escobar said a group of men grabbed him as he was being attacked by the
government supporters, put him in a car, drove him to a neighborhood on
Havana's outskirts and dropped him off without saying a word. He said
they did not strike him.

Cuba's government, which views its opponents as mercenaries working for
the United States and other countries, has said nothing about the attack
on Sanchez.

But laRepublica.es said the "supposed aggression" against her had been
"totally refuted" by comments it published earlier in the day by doctors
who attended her and said they found no injuries.

Sanchez has said she considered the incident a warning from the
government to quiet her criticism.

On Thursday, she published in her Generation Y blog
(www.desdecuba.com/generationy) responses by Obama to seven questions
she had sent him by email.

"Your blog provides the world a unique window into the realities of
daily life in Cuba. It is telling that the Internet has provided you and
other courageous Cuban bloggers with an outlet to express yourself so
freely," Obama wrote.

"The government and people of the United States join all of you in
looking forward to the day all Cubans can freely express themselves in
public without fear and without reprisals," Obama said.

Sanchez, 34, has won several international awards and was named by Time
Magazine last year as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

Obama's response added to her international stature as Cuba's leading
dissident voice, but she is little known on the island where Internet
access is limited.

The Cuban government has made no secret of its distaste for her, but she
is among a growing group of young Cubans who have taken to the Internet
to express their desire for change on the island.

Caribbean Net News: Husband of Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez attacked (23
November 2009)
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/article.php?news_id=20033