The Cuban government has lifted access restrictions on the more than 40 of the country’s dissent bloggers’ websites, continuing the apparent drawdown in attacks against the opposition, which included the release of political prisoners last year, the Miami Herald reports.
Two of the four Cuban dissident journalists that remain in prison have begun a hunger strike, Reporters without Borders (RSF) reports.
Dissident Cuban journalist Julio César Gálvez, who was freed in July 2010 by Cuba after seven years in prison, complained that the living conditions of his exile in Spain are not what he was promised.
Dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas – famous worldwide for hunger striking for 135-days before Cuban released more than 50 political prisoners – was arrested for the second time in less than 24 hours for demonstrating in front of the jail where other dissidents were still being held, Reuters reports. He was freed after five hours, The Associated Press reports.
Dissident journalist Guillermo Fariñas and 15 others were arrested on Jan. 26 in the central Cuban city of Santa Clara, EFE and AFP report. They were released without being charged, but ABC and El País report that they were given a “strong warning” for having engaged in civil disobedience.
Cuban journalist Yoani Sánchez, author of the Generation Y blog, won the “iNetworks” (iRedes) prize for the “courage and impact” of her work, ABC and El Mundo report.
The government-run Cuban website Cubadebate denounced Google for closing its YouTube channel for a supposed copyright “infraction” in a video related to the trial of anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles.
The Cuban authorities refused to allow Guillermo Fariñas to travel to France, where he received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in absentia, BBC reports.
The 2010 Jaime Brunet International Prize for Promotion of Human Rights has been awarded to the author of the blog Generation Y, Cuban journalist Yoani Sanchez, in recognition of her "valiant attitude" in defense of human rights on the island, reported EFE.
Yoani Sánchez, the dissident author of the blog Generación Y, was honored for her work toward free expression in Cuba by the Denmark-based Center for Political Studies (CEPOS), AFP reports.
The deadline for Cuba to release 52 political prisoners came and went Sunday night, Nov. 14, and as of Monday, 13 remained imprisoned, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Associated Press. The prisoners were arrested in March 2003 during a crackdown on dissidents and independent journalists known as "Black Spring."
In what the Miami Herald calls a “bold if not brazen move,” Cuban authorities have urged Spain’s government to give $155,000 to a program to counter “daily lies” in European media.