Dear Friends,

I just this minute had a call from Andrew Barry who is at the Texas - Mexican border town of McAllen.
He is travelling with Janine Bandcroft and others we know in the Pastors for Peace Caravan to Cuba.
The American border officials have confiscated all of the (mostly old) computers which were intended for the children of Cuba.
No reason has been given for the confiscation, although in past years they have said 'computers could be used as weapons.'
Andrew feels the border officials are stepping up the aggression against these more than 100 Pastors for Peace volunteers who are attempting to cross the US-Mexico border with nearly 100 tons of humanitarian aid destined for Cuba. Participants in the 19th US/Cuba Friendshipment Caravan are demanding an end to the 47-year-old US blockade against Cuba.

Andrew asked if I could please put this out widely, so could you please put this news out on your networks.

Thank you
Jane Brett

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Citizen Network

Written by: Yoani Sanchez in Generation Y, July 1, 2008

What began as an individual impulse, is becoming a meeting place for discussion and debate. Generation Y has managed to involve a lot of people all over the world to help me with the upgrade, translation and dissemination of the texts. The main collaboration has been to hang up the posts because since the last week of March I have been unable to access the site at the public internet cafe or in hotels. So I send my texts by email, and my friends publish them, and then send me, by email, the remarks that are left by readers. I am a blind blogger, a cybernaut with a leaky raft that manages to float, through the support of a spontaneous citizens' network.

The entire portal, http://www.desdecuba.com is still blocked on the servers in public places. I have been making a copy of the error messages and here – aquí – here is a sample. I also know that the blackout is not total because friends who have internet at their workplaces can visit it, but that doesn't help me because those are places I cannot go.

Nevertheless, I have the same desire to write in this blog as when I started. Now with more stubbornness, because there is nothing that is more attractive to me than doing that which I am told I cannot do. In order to overcome the difficulties of connectivity and to reach readers on the island, other friends have created a CD with the contents of the blog, which they distribute free of charge. To all, I want to say thank you for the support, for the oars and the wind that allow me to stay the course.

Escrito por: Yoani Sanchez en Generación Y , Julio,1,2008


Lo que comenzó como un impulso individual, se está convirtiendo en una plaza de encuentro para la discusión y el debate. Generación Y ha logrado involucrar a un montón de personas en todas partes del mundo que me ayudan con la actualización, las traducciones y la difusión de los textos. La colaboración principal ha sido para colgar los posts, pues desde la última semana de marzo no he podido acceder al sitio en los cibercafé públicos ni en los hoteles. De manera que envío mis textos por email, algunos amigos los publican y me mandan -también por correo electrónico- los comentarios que dejan los lectores. Soy una blogger a ciegas, una cibernauta con una balsa que hace aguas y que logra flotar gracias al apoyo de una espontánea red ciudadana.

Todo el portal http://www.desdecuba.com sigue bloqueado en los servidores de locales públicos. He ido haciendo una copia de los mensajes de error que muestran los navegadores cuando intento acceder y aquí les dejo una muestra. También sé que el apagón no es total. Amigos que tienen internet en sus centros de trabajo pueden visitar el sitio, pero eso me sirve de poco, pues a esos lugares soy yo la que no puedo entrar.

No obstante, tengo los mismos deseos de escribir en esta bitácora que cuando empecé. Ahora con más testarudez, pues no hay nada que me resulte más atractivo que aquello que se me impide hacer. Para saltar las dificultades de la conectividad y llegar a los lectores dentro de la Isla, otros amigos han creado un minidisk con el contenido del Blog, que distribuyen gratuitamente. A todos quiero agradecerles el apoyo, los remos y el viento que me permite mantener el rumbo.

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Cuba | 31.03.2008
Free expression must go with better communications, says Reporters Without Borders as blogs prove hard to access


Reporters Without Borders today expressed concern that Cuban Internet users are struggling to get access to blogs on the desdecuba.com platform that hosts, among others, one of the most popular in the country, Generación Y, a blog run by Yoani Sánchez.

The platform (www.desdecuba.com) has been inaccessible from public connection points in cybercafés and hotels since 2O March. The few private connections, used for professional reasons or in secret, take at least 20 minutes to download the home page. Editing and moderating posts has become impossible.

“It is hard to believe that after ten days desdecuba.com is simply having technical problems, even if there is a real problem getting an Internet connection from Cuba. This situation is in contradiction to recent steps taken by the authorities to ease access for Cubans to communications, especially the Internet,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said.

“Since you cannot have one without the other, the promise of greater openness given by Raúl Castro must include greater freedom of expression.”

Desdecuba.com hosts an online review, Consenso, and six blogs, including Generación Y (http://www.desdecuba.com/generaciony), created in April 2007 by Yoani Sánchez and regularly visited by large numbers of Cubans. More than one million Internet users visited the young blogger’s page in February 2008.

Elsewhere, there have been difficulties accessing http://www.cu.clasificados.com and http://www.revolico.net, both posting small advertisements. The public company ETECSA, Cuba’s sole access provider, has not provided any explanation.

The problems getting access to website pages comes at the end of a month marked by several announced decisions to ease private acquisition of some consumer goods. And on 28 March the government said it was allowing Cubans to buy mobile phones and that the entire population would have access to a mobile phone service. Three days earlier, it legalised the sale of computers, televisions and tape-recorders and authorised the import of DVDs. Moreover, from today, Cubans are allowed to go into hotels, which were previously reserved for foreigners, allowing them access to the international Internet network.

These steps are part of a policy of greater economic openness promoted by Raúl Castro, who officially took over as head of state from his brother, Fidel, on 24 February this year, after 20 months of interim power. He promised Cubans that he would put an end to “excessive bans and regulations”.

The Internet in Cuba is highly controlled. There is a “national” network which gives users an email address and allows them to send emails abroad but not to surf the net. The “international” network, which costs three times as much, gives access to foreign news websites like the BBC, Le Monde, and Nuevo Herald (Miami-based Spanish-language daily). But if you type in "google.fr", for example, you are redirected to the pages of the official Cuban newspaper Granma or the news agency Prensa Latina. Cuba figures on Reporters Without Borders’ list of “Internet Enemies” , which was released on 12 March 2008.



Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has more than 120 correspondents worldwide.

© Reporters Without Borders 2008

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keep us posted... I hear you're snagged.. I've called my US Rep from Sweden this morning... good luck!

Anne Feeney
http://annefeeney.com

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