Yoani Sánchez Brings News From Cuba
This Thursday, Georgetown welcomed Yoani Sánchez, Cuban journalist and political activist to speak in the Center of Latin American Studies. In light of the recent launching of the government-censored newspaper 14ymedio, pioneered by Sánchez and her blog Generación Y, she spoke from both a personal and a journalistic perspective about the current economic, political and social situation in Cuba. In the anecdotal manner idiosyncratic to Latin Americans, but with precise and very well-articulated ideas, Sánchez addressed issues ranging from freedom of the press to homophobia in Cuba, ending the coffee chat with a personal forecast of the political future of Cuba.
Sánchez began the chat by sharing some of the personal experiences that led her to the create 14ymedio. Highlighting Cubans’ high professional, creative, and intellectual level, she lamented the emigration of most of Cuba’s youth, who inevitably found the place of their roots incompatible with their professional and civil endeavors: “when the youth leaves, there goes our source of rebellion, of inconformity.” Yoani decided to help her country from within, and began divulging news through her newspaper 14ymedio, with the purpose of helping Cubans make decisions with a better understanding of the country’situation. Each issue of 14ymedio includes reports on international and domestic news, tips personal finance and SMEs, and columns of social criticism.
Only 6 months old, 14ymedio has already faced countless challenges, including the lack of access to print press, which Sánchez describes as being completely monopolized by the communist party and “better guarded than the military barracks.” Born as an online-only newspaper, and now censored by the government, 14ymedio relies on USB flash drives to spread its news in pdf form, and on foreign correspondents to provide internet research for articles, given the low connectivity in Cuba. However, Sánchez seems hardly discouraged by these obstacles, as she knows Cuba “is a country well-trained in finding what’s prohibited and rationed” and is ready to participate in illegal markets to obtain critical news.
During the Q&A session, Sánchez first addressed Cuban immigration to the US. She stated her respect to those who emigrate in search of a better future, and commended countries’ openness to immigration, making the point that when Cubans emigrate from their home country, they are simply escaping from a terrible living situation. Later, she spoke about Cuba’s relations with Brazil and Venezuela, the latter she declared as “crucial” to Cuba’s future and assuring that Venezuela’s program of exchanging oil for professionals with Cuba is still in place. As for Brazil, she spoke shortly about the recent Brazilian concession for port Mariel, which she labeled as the Cuban government’s latest universal—and ineffective—cure to the country’s many economic woes. She also shared a personal anecdote of her visit to Brazil, where she was received by a group of protestors that opposed her arrival. “I felt very welcome” she said, “in Cuba we receive some of the worst people in the world, dictators from Africa, representatives of North Korea, and nobody is allowed to protest… I find the right to do so profoundly democratic.”
On more social matters, Yoani spoke about racism and homophobia present in Cuba. Discrimination against blacks and mestizos, and the general favoring of whites is still the dominant racial situation in Cuba. As for gay rights, although Mariela Castro, daughter of Raul, is currently a vocal activist for LGBT rights, the government has done much harm to this group in the past. Homosexuals were systematically discriminated against by the communist government, and even put in working camps just because of their sexual orientation. Sánchez said that, if the government wants to be at peace with the LGBT community, it would have to acknowledge the mistakes committed in the past, because “the problem with a 50-year old regime is that they can no longer blame the problems in the country on the past government; it’s been too long.”
Finally, Sánchez elaborated on her views on Raúl Castro’s 2012 economic reforms. Western newspapers praised these reforms, suggesting that perhaps the Cuban economy was beginning to open and progress. However, the reforms merely address “ridiculous” laws of the communist government, laws that once barred Cubans from entering hotels and owning personal telephone lines. One of the reforms, the privatization of certain business activities, got the West particularly excited, but as Sánchez clarified, the 201 occupational categories deemed legal in the reforms are but the most primary and basic: “You can’t even make clothes, but yes, now you can be a private button manufacturer,” she illustrated. The reality is that the high taxes, constant government inspections, low credit capacity, and lack of currency convertibility still prevent real economic change in Cuba.
Sanchez concluded by reflecting on the inevitable death of the Castro brothers and the oncoming power transition. Sánchez says the brothers hope to leave succession very well established, probably to Miguel Díaz-Canel, current vice-president. She made an analogy to Russia, saying that it will probably include an amicable international representative like Medvedev (Díaz-Canel for Cuba) but with a Putin in the back, which would be probably Castro’s son. The only hope, she says, is that there is a rupture from above, in the high ranks of the communist party when the different “clans” of the party will fight for power. It is here, she states, that the civil society could have an opportunity, and with the help of the international community, hopefully make a change, but she rules out the possibility of Cubans erupting in protests and going out into the streets at the time of succession of power.
We hope see more of Yoani Sánchez on campus given her recent appointment as the Yahoo! Fellow of Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. It is through people like her that we can get true access to the situation in Cuba, one of the few remaining communist countries in the world, whose people are, as Sánchez put it, the David awaiting its slow victory over the Goliath of their own government.