Yoani Sanchez

I am beyond excited. I feel like I am truly watching history in the making. Maybe I can be a small part of it real soon. Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez, is planning to launch Cuba’s first online digital newspaper next week that will not be government owned and controlled. I only know what I read in newspapers and on the web. Sanchez is very well known in Cuba for a blog called Generation Y. Now she is going to launch 14ymedio which stands for the date she announced the daring new enterprise and because she lives on the 14th floor of an apartment building in Havana.

When I was in Havana last October, I was told never to go too high in an office or apartment building because the infrastructure was so bad. The building might not fall down but the elevators were always out-of-order. There was also a great possibility that if you got stuck in a high rise elevator it could take a very long time to get you out. I made a mental note of it. I found it pretty fascinating that Sanchez lives so high up. Maybe she takes the stairs. Anyone who is going to take on Communism the way she plans to, has to be very strong, One day when I hopefully meet her, I will ask her about living arrangements.

Meanwhile Cuban government officials have already warned members of Sanchez staff that this was not a good idea. Sanchez is determined anyway she can to get this digital newspaper live and active. She believes the Cuban government is in transition and times are changing. The premise is to write stories about Cuban life in every area newspapers in America cover: news, sports, fashion, education, the arts, tech, etc.

Read a more in-depth story about this new endeavor in the Miami Herald.

Later today, I will call my girl friend Carmen Santamarina, who leads legal tours to Cuba every other week, to find out if she can get me an introduction to Sanchez. I want to help this endeavor anyway I can.

Carmen Santamarina