Stories about Cuba from April, 2011
Cuba: Political Opposition
Uncommon Sense republishes “what repression on the island looked like in March”, according to the statistics put forward by Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation.
Cuba: Blame it on the Culture?
Octavo Cerco is reticent to blame Cuba's problems on its culture.
Cuba: Carter's Visit
Different perspectives on former U.S. President Carter's Cuba visit, here and here.
Cuba: Exiled Voice Awarded
“Unmasking the penitentiary system on the island from within its insides was the goal, despite all the limitations attached with being imprisoned”: Pablo Pacheco Avila remembers how his blog was born; Pedazos de La Isla is thrilled that the blog “was awarded a 2011 Mandala Communication Prize.”
Cuba: US Contractor Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison
According to the Cuban daily newspaper Granma, US citizen Alan Gross was sentenced to 15 years in prison in Cuba on March 12, 2011, upon being convicted of illegally distributing information technology equipment to Cubans. Under the court ruling in Cuba, this constituted an “[act] against the independence or territorial integrity of the state.”
Cuba: Hope from the Carter Meeting
“I know Jimmy Carter does not hold in his hands the solutions for all of Cuba”: Still, Octavo Cerco reflects on her meeting with the former U.S. President, saying that it “remind[s] [her] that…there is a light at the end of the road.”