Jakarta Globe, February 19, 2013
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Cuban blogger Yoanis Sanchez says goodbye to her family upon departing from Havana's airport on February 17, 2013 |
Dissident
Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez was greeted in Brazil on Monday by admirers and
protesters at the start of a "bittersweet" foreign tour, after she
finally won permission to leave Cuba.
Sanchez
arrived in Recife, where she was welcomed by friends, supporters and
journalists, and also by about 20 pro-Cuban protesters who waved signs accusing
her of being "Yoani agent of the CIA."
Sanchez
responded, "Long live democracy. I want this democracy in my country,
too."
The
37-year-old philologist, who found an international audience on the Internet
with her prize-winning blog "Generation Y," is known for her biting
commentary, which has drawn the displeasure of Cuba's ruling communist party.
The
government in Havana repeatedly denied permission for her to leave the country
in response to invitations to speak in Brazil and elsewhere.
But it
finally relented after easing travel restrictions for Cubans in mid-January,
and eliminating the requirement of an exit visa.
Brazil
is Sanchez's first stop on a three-month trip that will take here around the
Americas and to Europe.
"I
am very happy," she told Globo News on her arrival. "It was five
years of struggle, of trying every path. I have that bittersweet feeling. I am
happy for me, but I also have friends who didn't get a passport."
"The
emigration reform brought some flexibility, simplified many things, but I have
friends who were denied passports," she said.
She said
she didn't think the Cuban government would prevent her return at the end of
the tour.
"I
want to stay in Cuba, to help the Cubans. I don't want to be a migrant Yoani
Sanchez in another country," she said.
Besides
Brazil, she is planning to visit Argentina, Mexico, Spain, the Czech Republic,
Italy, Poland, the Netherlands and the United States. She plans to visit
Google, Twitter and Facebook while in the United States.
"I
am going to learn everything I can and I think that after this visit I will be
better prepared," she said on leaving Havana.
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