When an online newspaper directed by dissident Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez went live on Wednesday morning, AFP hailed it as the “first independent media in 50 years in Cuba.” Snags appeared early. Just an hour after its launch, 14ymedio.com was hacked, according to the Associated Press, which reported that within Cuba, visitors to the page were being redirected to a site dedicated to criticism of Sánchez by pro-government writers. Accessed from abroad, the site was unaffected, with content of the site including a report on a Havana hospital which receives victims of violent crime and an interview with imprisoned writer and journalist Ángel Santiesteban.
The site’s “about us” section says the idea for the site grew out of the international success of Sánchez’s blog Generación Y as well as the efforts of “other publications born in societies transitioning to democracy.” A host of websites dedicated to news in Cuba and often critical of the island’s government are already run from abroad, but 14ymedio is only the fourth source to publish from in Cuba -- along with the three major government organs and array of local papers which appear in print as well as online.
“14ymedio comes into being on a digital format in a country with one of the lowest rates of Internet access on the planet,” the site says. “One of our greatest challenges is, as such, to reach Cuban readers inside of the Island and prepare ourselves for the day when -- with freedom and without censorship -- our countrymen will be able to read us on the screen of their own computer or buy a copy of our paper at corner kiosks throughout the country … This is not the first online publication by Cuban activists that seek to break up the monopoly of the government or its affiliated organizations, but probably it will remain associated with the name of its director."
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
