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Friday, February 26, 2010

Cubans learn slowly about dissident's death

Cubans learn slowly about dissident's death

The death of political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo after an 85-day
hunger strike brought calls from foreign governments and human rights
groups for Havana to release all political prisoners. But on the island,
the news emerged slowly about Cuba's first jailed dissident in almost 40
years to die after a hunger strike.

Zapata was buried Thursday in the town of Banes, Holguín, some 625 miles
from the capital, but most Cubans had still not learned of his death
because "national media have totally ignored it," BBC Mundo reports.
However, Internet and clandestine satellites are gradually spreading the
word, BBC's Fernando Ravsberg reports.

Blogger Susannah Vila of Global Voices Online reviews some of the
reporting on the Web, including a video of Zapata's mother—who called
her son's death a "premeditated murder" posted on the site of well-known
blogger Yoani Sánchez.

Sánchez was detained and later released after attempting to sign a
condolence book at Zapata's funeral in Havana, El Nacional reports. She
is scheduled to respond to questions on Internet on Friday at 15:00
Spanish time, Spain's antena3noticias says.

Cubans learn slowly about dissident's death | Journalism in the Americas
(25 February 2010)
http://knightcenter.utexas.edu/blog/?q=en/node/6548

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