Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Blogger Yasmín S. Portales comments on the challenges of mapping the Cuban blogosphere, including everything and anything written in blogs. This is her most recent project:

A directory is a map: you have the swamps of glorious battles swamps and the mountains of infamy. You include it all, or it's not a map. In other words, there is yet to be a map of the Cuban blogosphere.

The worst: The Cuban blogosphere is chaotic. Luckily I do not pretend to make sense of it, only reveal its current demographics.

Detail of the official poster of the VI Conference against Homophobia in Cuba. “Family is love, respect, inclusion.”

Cuban blogger and LGBT activist Francisco Rodríguez announces the events [es] of the VI Cuban Conference Against Homophobia to be held during the month of May in the island.

Journalist and Global Voices author, Leila Nachawati, writes an open letter [es] to Cuban blogger Yoani Sánchez, who has been touring the United States, Latin America and Europe talking about Cuban technopolitics. Sánchez has been embraced by some, and criticized by others during her voyage. In her open letter, the Spanish-Syrian blogger Nachawati refers to some of Sánchez's comments on the Spanish state and society:

I was struck by your admiration towards the policies and institutions of this country [Spain]. I cannot deny that you may value aspects that pass unnoticed to many of us who live live here, but the truth is that our reality is far from a mirror to want to look into. I think we are far from being a model to follow or a formula to imitate.

Flisol 2013 Banner.

From the Patagonia to Havana, hundreds of computer users across Latin America are choosing freedom over control by installing free software on their computers. On April 27th, groups of free software enthusiasts will be installing free software in dozens of cities across Latin America as part of FLISOL [es], the Latin American free software installation festival.
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Cuban blogger, teacher and GV author Elaine Díaz Rodríguez was denied a visa to enter the US [pt] Wednesday, April 3, 2013, preventing her from participating in the International Congress of Latin-American Studies. Brazilian journalist Alex Haubrich reported Elaine's frustration with and criticism of the US government's criteria.

How do Cubans feel about the new pope? Iván's File Cabinet gives us an idea.

On January 23, 2013, an excerpt from the annual report of l'ACAT-France, A World of Torture 2013, makes a fresh assessment of the state of torture in the world [fr]:

“A report called A World of Torture in 2013, assesses torture practices that continue to be alarming, from Pakistan to Italy, by way of South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Australia and Bolivia. From authoritarian regimes to democratic countries, none are exempt from criticism on the topic. In 2013, torture remains as endemic, omnipresent and multi-faceted as ever”.

Cuban bloggers, both on-island and from the diaspora, react to the announcement of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation here, here and here.

If you took a poll in our streets about Cubans’ most serious problems, the youngest…would list…lack of access to the Internet. They want to dive into that sea of kilobytes!

Translating Cuba explains that “this situation of disconnect could be about to change…the great World Wide Web may be closer than it appears.”

The academic and blogger Ted Henken offers his year in review of the Cuban blogosphere.

Iván García suggests that Cuba needs a constitution that serves the interests of the entire population.

Notes from the Cuban Exile Quarter calls Fidel Castro “Cuba's longest and most damaging hurricane”, while Through the Eye of the Needle refers to Hurricane Sandy as “‘The Matador,’ — The Killer — who has come to give the final mortal blow to a bull already greatly injured by stabs and thrusts, received during these gray decades.”

The Cuban Triangle reports that Angel Carromero, the Spanish Popular Party leader has been sentenced to four years in prison for vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Cuban human rights advocates Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero. Carromero was at the wheel when the vehicle, carrying Paya, Cepero, and Swedish national Jens Aron Modig, crashed on a highway in the eastern province of Bayamo. See Global Voices coverage of the crash and its aftermath.

Puertasabiertas [es] reports that thousands of Cubans are purchasing cell phone service for the first time because of a new plan offered by Cuba's cell phone company, Cubacel, that began offering a new low rate for users last week. Cubacel centers in Havana and Santiago de Cuba have been reportedly overrun with customers since the new rates were announced.

The digital magazine Café Fuerte informs of the major blackout on September 9, 2012 that left almost half of the Island–from central to western Cuba– and 5 million people without electricity.

Blogger and gay rights activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz offers a critique [es] of the fact that the Cuban Census-which will start next September 15, 2012-will not count same sex partnerships under the category of civil unions.

Blogger Miriam Celaya offers a critique [es] of Cuban official press and it's coverage of the impact of recent outbreaks of cholera and dengue on the Island.

At The Cuban Triangle, Phil Peters comments on the allegations of foul play surrounding the accidental death of Cuban activist Oswaldo Payá.

[The] many efforts to accuse Havana of assassinating Payá, or in most cases to insinuate that it did so, seem hasty and very political, even as those who make the accusations complain that Havana is making its own political points.

“Dengue fever is now a fact of life in our country”: Through the Eye of the Needle explains.

Blogger, journalist and Global Voices author Elaine Díaz analyzes [es] the nuances of the different practices and definitions of freedom of press, after being interviewed for the Boston Globe.

On Sin EVAsion [es], Havana-based Cuban blogger Miriam Celaya comments on the death of rights advocate Oswaldo Payá: “I did not share all of Payá’s points of view, I was even critical at times of…his proposals. I would be again; but I always respected the man who created them… [...] [To] feel resentment at this time would profane the memory of this fighter for peace….I would have wanted us to be able to count on him in the democratic future that we will have some day, no longer so far off, because we need leaders of his stature in a nation that is left bereft of values.”

“General Raúl Castro acknowledges that beans are more important than canons”: Iván García explains why “food is a matter of national security.”

Iván García suggests four possible scenarios for Cuba ten years from now.

Pedazos de la Isla reports that “Andrés Carrión Álvarez, the Cuban who shouted ‘Down with Communism’ during the papal mass in Santiago de Cuba this past March…is still on hunger strike.”

Journalist, blogger and Global Voices author Elaine Díaz problematizes the pervasive stereotypes [es] on the Cuban government.

Further to this, babalu reports that another elderly lady “suffered a fatal heart attack after her home was violently attacked by a paramilitary mob.”

Blogger, journalist and LGBT activist Francisco Rodríguez Cruz (Paquito el de Cuba) discusses Mariela Castro Espín's [es] message on occasion of the 5th Cuban Congress against Homophobia recently celebrated on the Island. Castro Espín is the daughter of President Raúl Castro and head of the state-run agency on sex education.

Havana Times reports that dissident Jose Daniel Ferrer Garcia was released by authorities late last week “after being held for more than 24 hours without his whereabouts being made known.”

“Radio Marti last week published and broadcast an editorial, ‘The Cardinal’s limits,’ that asserted that Cardinal Ortega is involved in ‘political collusion’ (contubernio) with the Cuban government…”: The Cuban Triangle suggests that Radio Marti also has its limits.

A member of the Ladies in White has been charged with “disobedience” and could face prison time for marching with the dissident group; bloggers hope to raise awareness of the case.