Blogger Yoani Sanchez Freed in Cuba

HAVANA TIMES — Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was released on Friday by the Cuban authorities after being detained for 30 hours, she reported on her blog Generation Y.

Sanchez was arrested on Thursday along with her husband Reinaldo Escobar while on their way to the city of Bayamo, in the east of the country, to be present for the start of the trial of the Spaniard Ángel Carromero, reported DPA news.

Carromero, a 27-year-old conservative politician, is accused of manslaughter in the deaths of Cuban dissidents Oswaldo Paya and Harold Cepero when the vehicle he was driving crashed on July 22.

Yohandri Fontana, a blogger close to the Cuban government, was one of the first to publicize the arrest of Yoani.  He said that Sanchez had intended to distort the legal process against Carromero with  a “provocation and a media circus.”

According to Sanchez: “my intention was totally journalistic. To attend the trial and report @ AngelCarromero from # Bayamo through my # Twitter account. ” The couple were taken in convoy back to Havana, said Yoani on her blog.

Meanwhile, DPA notes that Yoani’s husband Reinaldo Escobar, would be accused of receiving “instructions” from the US Interests Section in Havana.

Carromero is a youth leader of the governing Popular Party in Madrid. The prosecution is seeking a seven-year prison sentence.

According to the official website Cubadebate.cu, a ruling will be announced in the coming days.
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See: Yoani Sanchez detained in Cuba.