Q: In your acceptance video, you say that the Cabot award has been a “protective shield” for you against repression and state control. How is this so?

 

First of all, the Maria Moors Cabot Prize has an international prestige that will help to validate the new phenomenon of the alternative Internet blogosphere. The fundamental protection it has given me is because it shines a bright light upon me and upon all those who are utilizing the infrastructure of the Internet to express different opinions and critiques about the Cuban reality. In general, the prize does not give me a total immunity, but it is a kind of protective umbrella that allows me to continue a bit further. I am going to take full advantage of the protection that it gives me, and I am going to try to use this protective umbrella to cover other bloggers that may need it as well.

 

Q: Why did you decide to start a blog?

 

I started the blog fundamentally because I felt suffocated with … questions, frustrations, and most of all the eternal question as to why the country in which I live seems nothing like the one I was promised as a little girl. And so all those disappointments and questions were analyzed through a blog. I have said of my blog that it is like a personal exorcism where I release all the demons of apathy, indifference, as well as frustration.

 

Q: What do you think your Cabot award and your blog mean for the future of Internet reporting?

 

The special citation of the Cabot Prize has surprised me, especially because I know it is the first time that it is bestowed upon a blogger. And I think that it is a good recognition of citizen journalism on the Web, and it can be—for the special case of Cuba—a magnificent precedent. I hope that in the future, the next Cuban bloggers will also win many other international prizes. The Cabot prize that I received last night I believe is shared by the entire phenomenon—fresh, young, and difference—that is emerging now on the island.

 

Q: Are there many others like you in Cuba, whose websites have been banned by the government?

 

Yes. For over a year now, the Cuban blogosphere has gained a lot of momentum—especially the alternative blogosphere, that which is made by the people by their own freewill, not created by the government or by any institution. And there are, for example, at least two blogger platforms—one is DesdeCuba.com, where my blog is, and the other is called VocesCubanas.com—that have been blocked within Cuba. The Cuban government has put an electronic filter that impedes Cubans on the island from accessing those sites. That has been the official response in view of our space.

 

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

 

I would like to thank all those who tried to push the wall so that I could travel outside of Cuba. Not only the institutions but also the small people, those who spread their opinion about their desires for my trip to the United States via the Internet, through Twitter, on Facebook and to everyone who did something small or big. Really, I would like to thank them. And I would like to say to them that if one day the travel restrictions end for Cubans, to come in and out of their own country, it could be due in some small part to everything related to my receiving this prize and to my denial for travel. I think that we have helped to point out this violation of my rights, and we are probably closer now to absence of those rights.

 

Thank you very much.