Following the news of the assault on Yoani Sánchez and other bloggers by security forces last Friday in Havana, the United States has decided to intervene. Late on Monday, the Department of State issued the following statement, openly denouncing the Cuban government and promising “inquiries” on the status of the bloggers: (more...)

Exclusive In the two years since she started writing her blog Generation Y, Yoani Sánchez has become one of the most notorious voices of Cuban dissidence. Using different methods to overcome the restrictions for Internet access on the island, this former philologist has turned posts on her daily struggles into metaphors for the Cuban drama. Her blogging has also produced two books and received awards such as Spain’s Ortega y Gasset and Columbia Journalism School’s Maria Moors Cabot. But the Cuban government has denied her permission to travel to receive them. What makes Sánchez’s story more compelling is that she emigrated to Europe in 2002, but decided to return to the island two years later “for family reasons and against the advice of friends and acquaintances.” Last Friday, while she was on her way to a demonstration for nonviolence in Havana with friends, Yoani says she was kidnapped and beaten by men in plain clothes — presumably state agents — in what seems to be the first documented physical attack on members of the growing network of Cuban bloggers. She described her injuries as "No blood, but black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest.'' (Update: The U.S. Department of State has written a letter to the Cuban authorities saying it “strongly deplores the assault on bloggers.”) We spoke to Yoani on Sunday night. (more...)