A blog from Cuba wow

[Jammyisme]

I went into the spanish side and thats where the most current stuff is posted. *makes sense* and this is her biography with a identification card posted. I think shes for real. I did  a copy and paste into google translator. Amazing reading.

 

Yoani Sánchez
La Habana, 1975

Estudié durante dos cursos en el Instituto Pedagógico la especialidad de Español-Literatura. En el año 1995, me trasladé a la Facultad de Artes y Letras – con un hijo nacido en agosto de ese mismo año- y terminé, después de cinco cursos, la especialidad de Filología Hispánica. Me especialicé en la literatura latinoamericana contemporánea y discutí una incendiaria tesis titulada “Palabras bajo presión. Un estudio sobre la literatura de la dictadura en Latinoamérica”. Al terminar la universidad había comprendido dos cosas: la primera, que el mundo de la intelectualidad y la alta cultura me repugnaba y la más dolorosa, que ya no quería ser filóloga.

En septiembre del 2000 me fui trabajar a una oscura oficina de la Editorial Gente Nueva, mientras arribaba al convencimiento –compartido por la mayoría de los cubanos- de que con el salario ganado legalmente no podría mantener a mi familia. De manera que, sin concluir mi servicio social, pedí la baja y me dediqué a la mejor remunerada labor de profesora de español –freelance- para algunos turistas alemanes que visitaban La Habana. Era la etapa (prolongada hasta el día de hoy) en que los ingenieros preferían manejar un taxi, los maestros hacían hasta lo imposible por trabajar en la carpeta de un hotel y en los mostradores de las tiendas te podía atender una neurocirujana o un físico nuclear. En el 2002 el desencanto y la asfixia económica me llevaron a la emigración en Suiza, de donde regresé –por motivos familiares y contra la opinión de amigos y conocidos- en el verano del 2004.

En esos años descubrí la profesión que me acompaña hasta hoy: la informática. Me di cuenta que el código binario era más transparente que la rebuscada intelectualidad y que si nunca se me había dado bien el latín al menos podría probar con las largas cadenas del lenguaje html. En el 2004 fundé junto a un grupo de cubanos –todos radicados en la Isla- la revista de reflexión y debate Consenso. Tres años después sigo trabajando como web master, articulista y editora del portal

[flopnfly]

rumrunner, that was my first thought as well.

She sounds very much like a Miami Cuban. 

[Jammyisme]

Nope I dont think so. She has been the subject of lots of news specials as the voice from Havana. I wish Steve was here. He would have lots to say. 

[JohnnyCastaway]

From yahoo news:
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080507/technology/cuba_spain_internet_media_prize



Cuba refuses to give blogger visa to collect prize

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuban authorities have refused to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to have flown to Spain to receive a top journalism award, the writer told AFP Tuesday.

 
"I have canceled tonight's flight" to Madrid, writer Yoani Sanchez, 32, told AFP, after learning that she would not be given authorization to make the trip.


"It's another way to remind us that we are like little children who need to get our parents' permission to leave the house," she said.


The blogger now apparently will not be able to personally receive the prestigious Ortega y Gasset prize given out each year by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, which she was to have been given Wednesday.


Last month, El Pais announced it had awarded the prize to Sanchez, whose blog "Generacion Y" chronicles everyday Cubans' daily woes.


An El Pais official in Madrid told AFP that the island's communist government had been "complicating" Sanchez's exit.


Sanchez has said her request for a travel visa is the "perfect test" to see if Cuba's new President Raul Castro, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro in February, is serious about opening up the regime.


El Pais praised Sanchez's "vivacious" writing style and "shrewdness" in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba when it announced her prize.


The blog, hosted on a server in Germany, is Cuba's most popular, receiving 1.2 million hits a month.


Since becoming president, Raul Castro has taken modest steps to improve living standards, including allowing Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, take out mobile phone contracts, and buy appliances such as computers, motorbikes and pressure cookers.

[Jammyisme]

Thanks for validating what Ive been saying little John     So basically she has been a big pain in Cuba's butt.  Interesting

[Jammyisme]

well well well I just tried to check her blog . And its unavailable.

http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/