It happened again: don't beat them; they're just bloggers

Thought that going back to the blogging arena suffering from the flu was bad?
Think again.

That's nothing when you realize you're going back to your blogging routine while fellow Cuban bloggers are being beaten up in the streets of Havana, Cuba.



All for having the guts to dissent; and to blog about it.

I will need to repeat again that, despite the many differences in opinion and concepts that some of us may have with Yoani Sanchez, her husband and other bloggers in Cuba, those differences does not set us apart from our common goal of democracy and human rights for Cuba.

Those differences is what make us stronger and it is a fundamental building block of democracy in a future Cuba.

These Cubans are playing an invaluable role by breaking the government's censorship, while putting their own physical integrity at risk. We can only commend them for doing what they do.

And we need to spread the word all over the Internet about these attacks they are suffering, again, just for having the courage to dissent.

Friday was the second time that Cuban state security and the political police teamed up with all sort of thugs to publicly beat up dissident bloggers. Too bad for them; they don't know about Twitter, cell phone instant pics and other technical venues to circumvent the communist's censorship.

This time, even the foreign reporters present in the busy corner of 23 y G, in the Vedado district in Havana, got their ration of punches.

Believe it or not, many reported the incident, obviously including the official version that "the people took the streets to defend the revolution against the CIA-paid mercenaries" 50 years old crap that they always use as forefront to repress dissent.

These are not exactly the same the repudiation rallies from the 80's - previous to the Mariel boat lift - when only the nearby neighbors learned about it; this is the XXI century and we have technology on our side.

This time we have Twitter (@yoanisanchez, @claudiacadelo) this time we have photographic evidences and videos of the government's organization tool behind it.

The question is: is the world paying attention? Where are the useful idiots in the US Congress and Hollywood when you need them the most? Where are you now?

Here is a round up of sites that were on top of it:

Penultimos Dias - mostly in Spanish. But the videos and the images, Getty's included, don't need translation.

Yoani Sanchez, Reinaldo Escobar, Claudia Cadelo have already uploaded their own versions, both in their blogs and in Twitter.

Aguaya, at Desarraigos Provocados, has also been following the events, in Spanish. She has the best parallel ever: the images of Jews being repudiated in Nazy Germany. The differences? The pics from back then are in plain black and white

Babalu Blog has posted a great summary in English.

Capitol Hill Cubans have posted a one-of-a-kind message to Yoani Sanchez and other fellow Cuban bloggers.

Gina Montaner, in El Mundo. El Pais, using the headline "Heart attack days for Yoani Sanchez". ABC and O'Globo...

Reuters has its story with its customary sycophant portion - otherwise, they would lose their man in Havana. Following more or less the same line is AP, via El Nuevo Herald.

Once again, the dictatorship has enter panic mode. They are starting to lose the battle against information censorship. The the sole idea freaks the living hell out of them.