Cuba, Twitter and Freedom of Expression

Cuba’s contemporary history on violations of freedom of expression is broad.  The island runs second in the ranking of countries with more journalists in prison (right after China). Just in 2009, 22 journalists were imprisoned for spreading their ideas.

Yoani Sanchez, the worldwide-known blogger, is maybe the most illustrative example of the limitation of freedom of expression in Cuba. After establishing the freedom of expression panel/magazine Contodos, and becoming famous for her ‘Generacion Y’ Blog, in which she portrays her everyday life in Cuba, Sanchez was labeled as a ‘counter-revolutionary’ by the Government, and her access to her own blog was blocked (she now relies in friends who live outside Cuba and sends them posts to publish on her behalf).

Like Yoani Sanchez, most journalists and bloggers in Cuba must publish their work through back channels – writing from home computers, saving information on memory sticks, and uploading articles and posts through illegal internet connections. The possibility to spread ideas and opinions to those who eagerly desired to do it became slightly more accessible when Twitter started to be an informative channel and a tool to share real-time information that could be uploaded through mobile phone applications, which was especially relevant to Cuban dissidents.

However, since October , 2010, all mobile applications that allow making posts on Twitter have been blocked by the Cuban Government. The Cuban twitter community demands to know if the censorship has been performed by Twitter (under a Cuban Governmental request) or if it has been a local blockage.

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1 Response to “Cuba, Twitter and Freedom of Expression”


  1. 1 Cuba November 8, 2010 at 10:00 pm

    Cuba definitely has some human rights violations that need to be questioned. Journalists are very at risk when they go to countries like Cuba and China.


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