A young Cuban dissident has been given a prestigious Spanish journalism award for using a blog to overcome the limits to free expression in her country, says a BBC News report. Yoani Sanchez has received the Ortega y Gasset Prize in digital journalism for her blog, called Generation Y.
Cuban authorities did not approve Yoani Sanchez's request to travel to Madrid for the award ceremony. Cuban essayist Ernesto Hernandez Busto accepted on her behalf. The prize is given each year by Spain's El Pais newspaper.
The 32-year-old woman was still able to make some points, the Associated Press (AP) reported. "Nothing of what I have written in these 13 months speaks as loudly as my absence from this ceremony," Sanchez said in a tape recording. She said the fact she had to address the group through a recording was "the clearest evidence of the defencelessness of the Cuban people with respect to the state."
Sanchez's blog has drawn a wide audience with her wry comments on life on the Caribbean island and frequent digs at the communist government, the AP report mentioned. Cuban authorities have made no sustained effort to shut down Sanchez's blog, although pro-government sites accuse her of accepting money from opposition groups. On Sanchez' site and others, anonymous Cubans lash out at their government.
Last year, Cuban dissident poet Raul Rivero, who now lives in Spain, won an Ortega y Gasset prize named after Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gasset.
