Havana Times

Cuba’s Blind Bloggers

Alfredo Fernandez

Photo: Caridad

HAVANA TIMES, Jan 23 — Writing for a site that you can hardly access is something normal here in Cuba. It happens pretty often.

Cyberspace is filled with Cuban blogs whose authors only rarely are able check their entries, much less interact with their readers.

That’s how life is for Cuban bloggers: 19th century beings plopped down into 21st existence, sometimes going for months without reviewing a publication, or worse, never getting to find out what ever happened to their article.

This situation is so common that it also includes me.

I rarely have the opportunity to check my blog at Havana Times, so sometimes I feel like I’m writing for nonexistent readers – or simply for beings from a planet far from Earth.

But I shouldn’t be mistaken; the one who’s far away from the blue and green planet and who lives in another world is me.

And though this happens thanks to reasons “beyond my control,” I still think I’ll continue writing for Havana Times, even in these days as we gradually begin to live lives of normal people, getting closer to for once and for all being able to review what we’ve written as soon as we enter in onto on blogs.

Alfredo Fernandez

Alfredo Fernandez: I didn't really leave Cuba, it's impossible to leave somewhere that you've never been. After gravitating for 37 years on that strange island, I managed to touch firm ground, but only to confirm that I hadn't reached anywhere. Perhaps I will never belong anywhere. Now I'm living in Ecuador, but please, don't believe me when I say where I am, better to find me in "the Cuba of my dreams.

4 thoughts on “Cuba’s Blind Bloggers”

  • Christine
    March 6, 2012 at 9:24 pm
    Permalink

    Hi,

    I have spent much of my wintery Winnipeg evening reading your posts. You must know that your writing is making a tremendous impact. I have spent time in Cuba very recently, and each time I leave, a piece of my heart stays behind. For many of us, there is a strong wish to keep connected to Cuba, and we know that maintaining that connection is “cheap and easy” for us, and not so for our friends on the island. You are writing to a very real audience, and giving us hope that our friends are eager to be in touch with us, even though it is hard for their words to reach us sometimes. It means a great deal.

    Take care,
    Christine

  • Cliff S
    February 4, 2012 at 2:52 pm
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    Cheers Alfredo,

    I have recently visited Cuba with my wife and son. I sometimes visit Havana Times and enjoy yours and others blogs. It shall have to suffice until I am again able to return to Kooba 🙂

    cliff s
    Winnipeg

  • Sandra
    January 23, 2012 at 12:42 pm
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    Hola,

    Greetings from Toronto. Keep writing, I enjoy your entries. They’ve been most informative, especially the ones about your progress in the technology sector.

  • Andrea Tompos
    January 23, 2012 at 9:03 am
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    Hi, Alfredo.

    I send this post to encourage and support you. Please, go on writing. There are people who are interested in your and the other bloggers’ stories, impressions, feelings and opinions. You all represent a unique source of information about your country and its people’s life. We have a wonderful insight in your every day life, your happiness, hardships, fears, hopes and desires.

    I also forward your posts to other sites so your thoughts reach more people than you can imagine.
    Keep on posting and keep on speaking out even if you are blindfolded.

    With the very best wishes and regards
    Andrea Tompos from Hungary

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