The Dalai Lama’s recent assertion that he will relinquish his title if the violence in Tibet does not end sent bloggers worldwide into a flurry, keeping them on the edges of their keyboards making predictions for how China’s strict censorship laws will affect international broadcasts during the Olympics later this year. But authorities in another communist country are going to great lengths to silence one particular blogger.Yoani Sanchez writes the most popular Cuban blog, "Generacion Y," but when readers on the Caribbean island logged on today, they found an error message instead of Sanchez’s insights on Daily life in communist Cuba. Sanchez received 1.2 million hits to her site in February, the same month long-time dictator Fidel Castro stepped down from power and appointed his brother Raul as the country’s new leader.
Sanchez parodied the younger Castro’s allusions to major improvements in store for Cubans when she wrote “Who is the last in line for a toaster?” reacting to news that Cubans could now purchase some items that have been banned by the government until recently, like DVDs and computers, but would have to wait two more years to buy their own toasters.
Sanchez expressed similar frustration to the New York Times over the continued discouragement of free-thinking in the still communist country.
Luckily for her readers, Sanchez plans to continue writing her blog. She acknowles the new deterrents to the site, but explains that attempts to censor the citizens’ limited Internet access will not keep fans from reading the blog. Sanchez believes that her fans will continue to read because with basic computer skills, they will be able to get around the censors.
Image from canada.com
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