Cuba Gov. Supporters Intercept Yoani Sanchez at Event in Brazil
HAVANA TIMES — Reports in last night from Bahia, Brazil state that Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was met by a pro-Cuban government protest when she tried to attend a premiere of a documentary film in which she was one of the main interviewees.
Earlier in the day she had been met by organized protests at two airports en route to the event, her first stop on a multi-nation tour to speak out against the policies of the Raul Castro led government.
The protesters at the museum where the film was to be shown were around four dozen, estimated AP, and shouted “Cuba yes! Yankees no!”. They accused Sanchez of being on the US payroll to attack her country’s authorities.
An hour after being taken away from the screening room to safety by security personnel, Sanchez, accompanied by Brazilian Senator Eduardo Suplicy, spoke outside the hall with those present, both detractors and supporters.
“After remaining silent for a long time, after living in a society where not speaking up was the option of the majority of my countrymen, after so much silence, one fine day I couldn’t take it anymore and I started a blog,” she told those gathered, some who cheered, some who booed, reported AP.
See Related Post: Yoani Sanchez Met with Protests in Brazil
I strongly disapprove this type of action because it only feeds the Spectacle.
What Spectacle with a ‘S’? For those who are unfamiliar with, it’s highly recommend a quick, concise and highly precise approach about the type of social control that rose from the post-industrial era:
http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents/4
Yoani and EVERYTHING that surrounds her compose the paradigm of the Spectacle in the early 21st Century. That along with the post-9/11 ‘War against Terror’.
Those papers which as you say are considered “centre-left” in Spain and the US are still right wing in a wider context. Both are opposed to socialism and both support the policies of US imperialism.
El País, for example, is engaged in a vicious propaganda campaign against Venezuela’s socialist government in which they aren’t above using hostile fabrications — and they couldn’t check their prize exhibit, the faked photo of “Hugo Chávez” in a “Cuban” hospital bed, because in place of a Cuban correspondent they had a certain Yoani Sánchez on their payroll.
By the way, Sánchez was first amply rewarded with lucrative prizes by the international bourgeoisie for her “amateur” right-wingery before they started paying her for her services directly as a “correspondent” or author. She’s the empire’s prize dissident.
As for your fatuous stylistic advice, there’s no need for you to worry about me repeating your solecism “sychophantic” too often — when I use “sycophantic” I will spell it correctly. Nor do I worry that leftist phrasing might turn off a right wing true believer like you, Griffin. Your mind is closed anyway.
Some facts might help your writing. Yoani writes columns for the Huffington Post and el Pais, both outlets are considered centre-left in their respective countries. She has also published a book of her collected blog posts. This is how she gets her money. That’s what professional writers do, they earn money by writing.
Do try not to repeat the word “sychophantic” too often if you hope not to appear so yourself. You might also want to lose the tired leftist clichés in your writing as it leaves the unfortunate impression you have no original thoughts of your own. But perhaps that’s your point?
It was always obvious that despite her personal affluence poor-little-she couldn’t possibly pay for the sycophantic press she receives in US-aligned media. Follow the money here: she doesn’t pay THEM, the imperial media pay HER.
The imperialist bourgeoisie were always going to promote her world tour with maximal sycophantic publicity, that’s why they arranged it all and bought her tickets in the first place and why they have given her hundreds of thousands of dollars for her “amateur” writing. Had there been no protests, the coverage from the imperial press would have been every bit as sympathetic to her right wing and pro-imperialist political stances because that is their unanimous political alignment as well.
I thought the protests were helpful because they for once forced into the reporting of the ultra-conformist and servile corporate media a tiny bit the discourse of those who are critical of Sánchez for being bought and paid for by the empire. Normally the US corporate media are able to exclude such critical voices from their coverage quite rigorously.
The protesters’ tactic of flinging photocopies of US currency was particularly apt and amusing. That’s something we’ll no doubt see again.
If the regime did not fear Yoani they would not be devoting so much time and resources to denigrating her. The fact the regime propagandists produced an animated cartoon to mock her is enough to prove the regime does fear Yoani and all the other dissidents. They fear them for what the represent: Cuban people willing to think for themselves. That is poison to the dictatorship.
Why would they fear her? As I mentioned several times, her influence within Cuba is zero and thats what really matters to and compared to the regular propaganda err.. news circulating about Cuba in Miami she is rather tame. In short, harmless and not worth the trouble.
And no, I’m not even remotely under the influence of Cuba propaganda, my opinion on her comes from reading her blog and her biography. And mark my words, the government is going to use this “tour” to reinforce her image as “mercenary of the empire in the lucrative business of counterrevolution” and there is very little she can do at respect.
I’m aware of her position regarding the embargo, but I’m also know that her systematically ignores Cuban laws that regardless of whether we consider them fair or not, are in effect in Cuba. And that particular law I mentioned is very, very vague and just her stated intention with this tour can be interpreted as collaborating with the US regime change policies.
In Brazil, Yoani Sanchez calls for the lifting of the US embargo and the release of the Cuban Five.
Still, she’s a “cyber-terrorist” in the pay of the CIA and the Miami mafia. (…that was sarcasm)
http://joanantoniguerrero.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yoani-sanchez-pide-la-liberacion-de-los.html
AC, first of all, most Cubans don’t know who Yoani Sanchez is. Those that do know her name, know it only because of the negative publicity she has received from the Castro propagandists. Among my many Cuban friends and family, once I have told them what she has really said and written about her Cuba, ALL of them agree with her stories even though some may disagree that she shares them for the purpose of discrediting the Castros. It is her ‘amateur’ approach that is precisely the basis of her appeal. She comes across as this not-so-mediagenic blogger who writes stories about everyday life in Cuba. She does NOT support the embargo.. She does advocate for a new democratically-elected leadership. That’s a comely message in democratic circles, even if it really means regime change. I disagree with you about her appeal with the Cuban people. Her bravery in face of Castro brutaity is a secret desire of a neutered Cuban population. Even her financial success is a dream most Cubans openly share. Finally, I do agree with you that it is not in the Castro’s interest to give her access to the Cuban people by interviewing her on TV. They do not want the Cuban people to know the truth about Sra. Sanchez and rally to her cause.
It is revealing that the regime devotes so much attention and resources to her. They fear her.
For the record, Yoani has repeatedly called for an end to the embargo. It’s clear that your perception of her positions comes through the filter of the regime propagandists.
I recall seeing a Cuban TV news report whihc featured a short clip of Yoani Sanchez, filmed as she walked down the street, edited to make her look like she was up to something nefarious and the screen text referring to her as a “cyber-terrorist”.
Think about that: to the Castro regime, writing a blog is an act of “terrorism”.
Yes, she has the right to speak her mind freely. My only concern is that her message is a distorted, biased and incomplete version of the Cuban reality tailored for get target demography that sadly are not her fellow Cuban citizens but people abroad that blindly accept her word for it since she is a “witness”.
Receiving funds from foreign sources may even be illegal and get her in trouble and depending of the source of the money it can swing her interest and distort her message in the direction her source of income wants it to be. And what she says is not necessarily false, but she is not telling all the truth, so at the very least she is lying by omission in lots of things.
Probably because she deserves it? This “tour” falls perfectly in the role the government assigned to her in the eyes of Cuban public opinion, and no doubt she will be monitored and footage of her indulging herself will be caught in camera and published in time to reinforce the message. And if she does something stupid like ask for the reinforcement of the embargo in the US senate, she will get hit with the infamous “law of defense of Cuban sovereignty”. Lets wait and see what comes out of this, but chances are either way she will be finished as far as Cuban people are concerned.
To put in other words, she is an amateur regarding politicking and is losing the discredit game with the government. Badly.
As for your last question, they have absolute control of what goes into Cuban TV. Why would you think that is in their interest to interview her of all things?
So you speak for Latin America? I hope you will indulge me with a response to the following questions. While you obviously disagree with Yoani Sanchez’ message, do you support her right to speak her mind? Even if she has received funds from foreign sources, do you believe that makes anything she says less truthful?
Mikhail Saavedra!! Why do you think that the Castro “government” tries so hard to discredit Yoani Sanchez and does not allow her to be interviewed on national Cuban TV?
The Castro Repudiation squads spring into action. That kind of thuggish mob behaviour doesn’t play well in the free world.
And of course, a regime apologist uses the standard tactic of character assassination against Moses, rather than discussing the issues.
Sure Moses her “pro-democracy” under the payroll. What you fail to understand, not surprisingly, is that people in Latin American, save for right wing types who never had any love for “democracy” for starters can see exactly what this woman is about and who she works for ultimately. I have lived in Cuba by the way so your attempt to stifle criticism with that pointless perspective is just old hat and just betrays your deep desire to try to preempts attacks on your muse which is kinda on the edge of pathetic. She is ultimately the sort of thing that right wingers pay for so that supposed liberals can feel good about themselves while forgetting the historical context of the Cuban revolution with impunity.
She could not have paid for all this great press these pro-Castro idiots are creating for her. All of this draws more attention to her pro-democracy message. They make her ‘poor lttle me’ image all the more real. The irony is, like the majority of castro supporters who comment here at HT, I would bet most of these knuckleheads have never been, let alone lived in Cuba.