US State Dept 'deplores assault' on Cuban bloggers
HAVANA -- The U.S. State Department issued a statement late Monday
decrying attacks on three Cuban bloggers, including one who has gained
international attention for her searing observations about life on the
communist island.
"The U.S. government strongly deplores the assault on bloggers Yoani
Sanchez, Orlando Luis Pardo, and Claudia Cadelo," the department said.
Sanchez, who has won international awards for her blog "Generacion Y,"
said Friday that two Cuban state agents in civilian clothes stopped her
and Pardo in Havana's Vedado neighborhood as they and other friends
headed to a nonviolence march.
Sanchez said she and Pardo were ordered into a car where the agents
pulled her hair and kicked her. Both she and Pardo were held briefly
before being let out at their homes, she said. Cadelo was picked up by a
car separately around the same time.
The Cuban government has not commented. There was no way to corroborate
Sanchez's assertion state security was involved, but agents routinely
follow members of Cuba's tiny political opposition.
The State Department said the three bloggers were "beaten" and called
"on the Government of Cuba to ensure the full respect of the human
rights and fundamental freedoms of all its citizens."
Many Cubans who openly criticize the country's single-party system say
they are harassed regularly by the state, particularly if they try to
attend or plan street demonstrations. The government does not recognize
the legitimacy of the opposition, claiming they are paid mercenaries of
Washington.
Earlier this year, Time magazine named Sanchez one of the world's 100
most influential people. In October, the government denied her
permission to travel to New York to receive a journalism prize.
While her blog gets about 1 million hits a month, Sanchez enjoys more of
a following off the island than on it. Internet access to her blog is
blocked in Cuba and Sanchez blames the government, which severely limits
freedom of speech and assembly and controls all newspapers, radio and
television stations.
US State Dept 'deplores assault' on Cuban bloggers - Technology -
MiamiHerald.com (10 November 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/technology/story/1325258.html
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