Thursday, February 21, 2013

Dear Yoani: We need to talk por favor!

As you know, Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez is on a world tour.   She is a great writer and should be hailed as a courageous woman for criticizing the Castro dictatorship.  

However, her comments in Brazil are very confusing.  She called for an end to the embargo and for the "5" to be released.     

Her reasoning was rather weird.  She wants to see them released because the Cuban government is spending too much money talking about it:

""The amount of money that my country’s government is spending on this worldwide campaign, on [ad] space of international media by the Interior Ministry, the number of hours spent in schools talking about those five people, in order to bring that campaign to an end, they should free them,’’ said Sánchez, 37. “I’m worried about my country’s coffers and would prefer their release to see if they save more [money] because there are more issues on the table.""  (MiamiHerald)

What other issues are on Yoani's table?  What could be more important than the rule of law?  or bringing justice to people who kill innocents?  or what about the money that the dictatorship spends defending the jailing of Mr Gross?  or misleading the world about the "counter-revolutionary activities" of Las Dams en Blanco?

Furthermore, there is no evidence that lifting the embargo or releasing the "5" will make life easier for Yoani or other Cubans.  On the contrary, Castro will hail both of these changes as "victories" and engage in more repressive behavior.

Her comments about the embargo are wrong but understandable given that she grew up in Cuba.  I don't think that she has seen the whole picture.  We need to sit down with Yoani and show her that "fidelismo" not "el embargo" has destroyed Cuba.

Last, but not least, let's remember that Yoani's husband is back in Cuba.  We don't know for sure whether there may be repercussions against him or other family members.  Let's remember that the Cuban government is still a repressive dictatorship.

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