By Karen Phillips/CPJ Americas Staff
Acclaimed Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez has had her share of honors
lately. Last year alone, her blogging, which offers a personal and
critical view of life in Cuba, was honored by the Dutch Prince Claus
Fund, the International Press Institute, and the Danish Centre for
Political Studies. This week, Sánchez received a very different type of
distinction--from the Cuban government. She was featured on Monday
night's installment of "Las Razones de Cuba" (Cuban Reasons), a
state-sponsored TV program and website that chronicles perceived threats
to the government and singles out independent journalists as enemies of
the state.
Monday night's half-hour program was dedicated to the topic of
"Cyberwar." ("Not a war of bombs and weapons, but one of information,
communications, algorithms, and bytes," the announcer intoned). About
halfway through the half-hour broadcast, sinister music announced
Sánchez's appearance, next to the word "cybermercenary." The program
went on to list her international accolades along with the prize money
that accompanied each award. Next came some fuzzy footage of Sánchez
entering foreign embassies in Cuba. She was criticized for having
secured an interview with U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.
The program's message was clear: Independent bloggers such as Sánchez
are being paid by foreign interests to undermine the state.
Luckily, we are told as the music changes, there are hundreds of
bloggers who believe in the government. "Las Razones de Cuba" ends on a
positive note with Cuba striding triumphantly into the future with an
army of pro-government techies to overcome the menace of
cybermercaneries such as Sánchez.
While "Las Razones de Cuba" is designed to discredit and humiliate the
critics it features, being singled out on the program can have a
positive side effect. In an interview with CPJ on Tuesday, Cuban blogger
and lawyer Laritza Diversent explained that a mention in "Razones de
Cuba" generates substantial publicity in certain circles.
In a blog post last week, Sánchez herself commented on the program's
unintended effect after watching Dagoberto Valdes, director of the
online news magazine Convivencia, get a mention on the program:
A websurfer is well aware of the hits an attack on national
television can bring to any website, even in a country with connectivity
as low as this one. But beyond my enthusiasm for these statistics, I
realize that my friend is taking a public stoning on prime time
television. Dago is strongly denigrated with no right to reply,
demonized in a way that causes several colleagues to call me,
frightened, "Will he be imprisoned? Shot?"
Public campaigns against critical online voices are not new, CPJ
research shows. The government sponsors hundreds of blogs devoted to
promoting Cuba's image and attacking its critics. In addition,
independent bloggers are called in for questioning, followed, denied
visas to travel abroad, and told to curb critical commentary or face
sanctions, CPJ found.
In reaction to the program, Sánchez and a number of her colleagues have
created their own program, "Razones Ciudadanas," a sort of citizen
round-table, whose first chapter was posted Monday night on the
video-sharing site Vimeo. In the video, six men and women sit in a
semi-circle and have an informal discussion about something more
frightening than a perceived "cyberwar"--the enormous barriers that Cuba
citizens face in expressing independent ideas.
http://www.cpj.org/blog/2011/03/for-cuban-blogger-sanchez-a-government-distinction.php
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