Exiled Cuban writers condemn blogger travel visa refusal
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| Published on Thursday, May 8, 2008 |
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MADRID, Spain (AFP): Two exiled Cuban writers condemned Wednesday Havana's refusal to give a travel visa to a Cuban blogger who was to receive a top journalism award in Spain, saying it was a sign that there have been no real reforms on the island under new President Raul Castro.
Yoani Sanchez, whose blog "Generacion Y" chronicles everyday Cubans' daily woes, was to collect the prestigious Ortega y Gasset prize, given out each year by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, on Wednesday night in Madrid.
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| Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez, speaks during a interview with AFP in Havana. AFP PHOTO |
But she told AFP on Tuesday in Havana that she had to cancel her flight after learning she would not be given authorisation to make the trip.
Cuban novelist Zoe Valdes, who has lived in exile for over a decade in Paris, said at the presentation of her latest book in Madrid that this showed "there hasn't been any reforms on the part of Raul Castro".
"The most important thing is that Yoani continues to have the courage that she has always had," said the author of "Dear First Love" and "The Daily Nothingness".
Cuban poet and journalist Raul Rivero, who lives in Madrid and who was at the book launch, agreed.
"You can't talk about any real change while there are some 230 political prisoners and there is a policy, which is not public but which revealed itself by denying Yoani Sanchez the chance to receive the Ortega y Gasset prize," he said.
Raul Castro has taken modest steps to improve living standards in Cuba since he succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro earlier this year.
He has allowed Cubans to stay in tourist hotels, take out mobile phone contracts, and buy appliances such as computers, motorbikes and pressure cookers and has also commuted the death sentences of a number of inmates.
Sanchez' blog, hosted on a server in Germany, is Cuba's most popular, receiving 1.2 million hits a month.
El Pais praised Sanchez's "vivacious" writing style and "shrewdness" in overcoming hurdles to freedom of expression in Cuba when it announced her prize which carries an award of 15,000 euros (23,000 dollars). | | | | Reads : 75 |
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