Havana Real One Woman Fights to Tell the Truth about Cuba Today by Yoani Sanchez
Read from her latest blog http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/?p=2409 about her historical meeting with President Jimmy Carter, “the first American president I shouted a slogan at. I don’t remember the precise words of the insult as almost thirty years have passed. However, I can remember the feeling of my clenched fists, my red and white uniform trembling with each scream that I launched at Jimmy Carter who — according to my kindergarten teacher — would destroy the island, the palms, the classroom desks, happiness.”
Today she speaks to Jimmy Carter and considers him a mediator, and even offers him a gift of local delicacies offered, “On behalf of several alternative bloggers and other members of Cuban civil society.” Yoani has come a long way in her political views, and now spends her time speaking out on the rights of the Cuban people and trying to cut through the propaganda-
To read more about this historical planned meeting of Yoani and Mr. Carter click here.
Time magazine listed Sanchez as one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2008, stating that “under the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, Sánchez has practiced what paper-bound journalists in her country cannot; freedom of speech.”
And even Barack Obama has said in reference to her blog, Generation Y, “(It) Provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba… empower[s] fellow Cubans to express themselves through the use of technology.”
Yoani Sánchez is an unusual dissident: no street protests, no attacks on big politicos, no calls for revolution. Rather, she produces a simple diary about what it means to live under the Castro regime: the chronic hunger and the difficulty of shopping; the art of repairing ancient appliances; and the struggles of living under a propaganda machine that pushes deep into public and private life.