Fernando Ravsberg Closes his Blog about Cuba
HAVANA TIMES – We were surprised on Thursday by the decision of journalist Fernando Ravsberg to close his blog, Cartas desde Cuba, founded in 2007.
Ravsberg had been harassed by the authorities for including articles in his blog at different times that questioned government policies, a sin for the most conservative of the Castro-Diaz Canel government.
For several years we included Ravsberg’s articles in English (translated by us), and in Spanish, on the Havana Times pages, something that was discontinued in February of this year at the request of the Uruguayan journalist, who has been living in Cuba for more than 25 years.
Knowing that he has many journalistic and teaching skills, we are sure that Ravsberg will find other spaces to contribute his knowledge. We wish him the best!
It is communist custom to have a purge following change in the holders of power. These actions are to emphasize that there will be no relaxation of the power and control over the people of Cuba. Any form of change is regarded as weakness.
I think this is a great pity and wish him well for the future. I always enjoyed his writing and found them very insightful.
One can only imagine the pressure that Ravsberg must be receiving to cause him to give up his blog. The Castros, ever more fearful of the end of their reign, seem to be cracking down on all forms of expression critical of the dictatorship. Yoani Sanchez, a very well-known outside of Cuba blogger/activist has also recently received an increase in the threats and harassment from the Castro regime. As mentioned in an earlier comment, the puppet leadership of Diaz-Canel is set to establish itself and make its own mark on oppressing the opposition.
I gained a degree of amusement from the description of some unnamed members of the Castro/Diaz-Canel government as “the most conservative”. Just goes to show how language can mislead! In reality the reference is to the hard-core Stalinists.
One wonders whether Ravsberg’s request to Havana Times to cease publishing his articles was a consequence of pressures (a convenient word to describe threats) applied by MININT, following their undoubted surveillance of these pages.