Exiled Cuban writers condemn blogger travel visa refusal
Published on Thursday, May 8, 2008
MADRID, Spain (AFP): Two exiled Cuban writers condemned Wednesday
Havana's refusal to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to
receive a top journalism award in Spain, saying it was a sign that there
have been no real reforms on the island under new President Raul Castro.
Yoani Sanchez, whose blog "Generacion Y" chronicles everyday Cubans'
daily woes, was to collect the prestigious Ortega y Gasset prize, given
out each year by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, on Wednesday night in
Madrid.
But she told AFP on Tuesday in Havana that she had to cancel her flight
after learning she would not be given authorisation to make the trip.
Cuban novelist Zoe Valdes, who has lived in exile for over a decade in
Paris, said at the presentation of her latest book in Madrid that this
showed "there hasn't been any reforms on the part of Raul Castro".
"The most im****tant thing is that Yoani continues to have the courage
that she has always had," said the author of "Dear First Love" and "The
Daily Nothingness".
Cuban poet and journalist Raul Rivero, who lives in Madrid and who was
at the book launch, agreed.
"You can't talk about any real change while there are some 230 political
prisoners and there is a policy, which is not public but which revealed
itself by denying Yoani Sanchez the chance to receive the Ortega y
Gasset prize," he said.
Raul Castro has taken modest steps to improve living standards in Cuba
since he succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro earlier this year.
He has allowed Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, take out mobile phone
contracts, and buy appliances such as computers, motorbikes and pressure
cookers and has also commuted the death sentences of a number of inmates.
Sanchez' blog, hosted on a server in Germany, is Cuba's most popular,
receiving 1.2 million hits a month.
El Pais praised Sanchez's "vivacious" writing style and "shrewdness" in
overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba when it announced
her prize which carries an award of 15,000 euros (23,000 dollars).
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