Yoani Sánchez is a Cuban blogger and philologist. Here, she speaks about why she started her blog Generación Y, why it is hard to silence a blogger, and why she continues to blog despite social and physical threats from the Cuban government. She explains how the death of Orlando Zapata has catalyzed unity and indignation against the Cuban government, and how that government has recently lost the mask that it was projecting to the international community of a country that protected freedom and human rights.

About

Yoani Sánchez is a Cuban blogger and human rights defender who has achieved international fame and multiple international awards for her critical portrayal of life in Cuba under its current government. She is best known for her blog entitled Generación Y, which as U.S. president Barack Obama wrote, “provides the world a unique window into the realities of daily life in Cuba" and has been translated into 17 different languages.
"Cubans are not circus animals, content with basic instructions and maybe with a bit of food. We want more, we want freedom."

She is able to bypass strict censorship in Cuba by e-mailing entries to friends outside the country, who then post them online. She explains that it is not proof of free speech in Cuba that she is able to write - it is rather "proof of people's audacity that in a frame of no liberty and no technological infrastructure, we have been able to direct our eyes to the outside." In 2008, Time listed her as one of the world's 100 most influential people, applauding her advocacy for freedom of speech despite living under one of the world’s most repressive regimes.