I have been blogging here about my big, fat, Cuban family totally at my leisure. I write about the everyday comings and goings in my little corner of the world and all it really costs me is $8.95 a month for TypePad's Pro Plus service.
I have the supreme luxury of writing about anything that excites or amuses me at any given time. And I do.
Today I want to make you aware if you're not already, of a group of dissident bloggers presently under fire for blogging in Cuba.
Unlike me, they write about the everyday indignities of living in castro's gulag. You understand, of course, that in a communist country, dissension is not just discouraged, it is oftentimes attacked.
Yet these brave bloggers persist.
It costs them much to get their information out to the world and yet they continue, fearlessly, to write about the reality of life in Cuba today. The reality that seems to escape the notice of such Hollywood elites as Sean Penn who went to Cuba to meet with the castros a week ago.
Still the dissidents continue to write and get the word out about the repression and the aggression of their slave masters.
There's a particular young blogger, 33 year old Yoani Sanchez who writes the fabulous blog, Generacion Y. Yoani and dissidents like her are absolutely fearless in telling the truth of life in Cuba. She is so masterful that she has been honored multiple times by various countries to receive awards and honors, which she sadly cannot claim. You see the castro goons will not let her leave the country.
Even after writing her insightful posts they cannot be read from inside Cuba, where her blog has been blocked.
Tonight, Yoani Sanchez and a group of dissidents were picked up, harassed, detained and beaten as they prepared to attend, ironically, a demonstration against the use of violence.
They knew and called her by name and forced her into a car where she figured that this was a kidnapping which would end in her execution. Although she and her dissident companions were beaten severely they were subsequently released.
Her safety lies here. On blogs like mine. Anywhere the story of the injustices of the Cuban people can be told to the rest of the world is a safe place. Here you will not be penalized for your opinion.
I welcome Yoani to my big, fat, Cuban family. Here's what happened to her today. She tells the story in Spanish.
Welcome Yoani, my blog casa is your blog casa.
UPDATE 11/7/2009:
More about Yoani Sanchez and the Cuban bloggers/freedom fighters:
Generation Y (in English)
Octavo Cerco (in English)
I am so sadden by this news. I read her blog almost every day and just recently she had made a video that showed her asking an official of the country why she was not allowed to travel outside of her country. She turned them on their heads with her words. I thought to myself, she is coming close to being imprisoned. And now to hear that it has happen is very sad. My prayers are with her and the many dissidents that are in castro’s gulad, like Bisset and Ferrer. Some of them are on a hunger strike as we speak. I wish the useful idiots like Sean Pen and Michael Douglas and many others would see the truth. These people wouldn’t last a day living as a regular cuban. Thank you Marti for making this a part of your blog today. I know you don’t get much into politics on your blog, but it’s a good reminder and a good way to spread the word and inform others of what’s happening in Cuba.
thanks for posting, these episodes of violence by the regime remind us that after 50 years of evil the human spirit endures. It’s true what she says, they can silence her voice but they cannot quell the desire to voice opinions and pursue freedom and liberty. It is apalling to me that many in our country not only ignore these human rights violations but go around touting Castro as ‘ a hero ‘ or ‘brilliant’.
This breaks my heart for her and the others. I have referred people to her blog when they talk of how “wonderful” Cuba is. Yet these people believe that Yoani’s blog is not real or just for entertainment. Thank you for sharing your blog with Yoani. I am not Cuban by birth but married one as fast as I could and the people of Cuba are dear to my heart. (I have a sister in law still living there.) We along with you will keep getting the word out about the atrocities that happen day in and day out in Cuba. Thank you so much
Her blog affected me, too, and made me see that what she is yearning for, what the blog is about, what she is crying out for is what we fat Americans take so for granted… freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to vote, freedom to make a living… freedom.Ironic that I read her blog the day so many of our freedoms were being flushed down the toilet of overtaxation and the State’s incursion into our personal lives and pocketbooks by healthcare.
God bless this brave soul. Her blog makes me want to live the way she lives, as an ascetic, so that I can see things from her perspective just a little bit. I actually prayed for food for her and her son today.