(AFP)
HAVANA — Internationally-renowned blogger Yoani Sanchez said the human
rights award she received from a Danish think tank Tuesday provides a
measure of consolation for years of government harassment and loss of
personal freedom in her native Cuba.
"It is an encouragement," said Sanchez, 35, after the announcement in
Copenhagen that she had received the 300,000 Danish kroner (40,000 euro,
54,000 dollar) cash award from the CEPOS think tank.
"I feel that it is giving an award to a civic movement in Cuba that is
has succeeded in creating cracks in the information monopoly in this
country," she told AFP.
Sanchez was given the award to recognize her struggle for freedom of
expression in Cuba despite the risk of imprisonment, the organization said.
She thanked the foundation for having chosen to honor "a citizen who has
used civic paths for expression" rather than "a politician, or someone
from a political party" with an ideological axe to grind.
"I have had to live with a number of restrictions on my personal freedom
and with a lot of police harassment, and propaganda campaigns against
me," she said.
This prize will compensate me somewhat for all of that pain," said Sanchez.
Her "Generacion Y" blog, launched in 2007 has a huge following in Cuba
and abroad. The website has since created such a stir that Cuban
authorities blocked access to it from all of the country's public
computers, CEPOS said.
CEPOS, which stands for Center for Political Studies, said Sanchez
risked imprisonment for criticizing Cuba's government, "a fate
experienced by other Cubans who have dared to utter the mildest critique
of the Communist regime."
Her blog, http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/, is translated by
volunteers into 15 languages.
The blogger has been invited to come pick up prize money at an official
ceremony to be held in Copenhagen "in the near future." She has been
blocked from traveling abroad to prior awards ceremonies, Sanchez says.
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