Fourteen and a half

On May 21, well-known Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez opened the first independent media on the island on the Internet.

14ymedio, or “Fourteen and a Half”, is the name of the media and is a news and analytical site, very traditional in form: it publishes reports on what is happening in the country, there is a column of opinions, cultural events are announced, in a separate section are given advice to women. In short, nothing out of the ordinary. Except for one. The website of Yoani Sanchez is the only media resource that is not controlled by the Cuban authorities.

38-year-old Yoani Sanchez is a figure better known outside of Cuba than in her homeland, where the Internet is no longer banned, but is inaccessible to most citizens due to its high cost (in specialized Internet centers, an hour costs $ 4.5, and this is a quarter of the average monthly salary of a Cuban). Seven years ago, Sanchez founded the blog Generacion Y (“Generation Y”) - from the first letter of her name. It stirred up the country: over the years it has published over a thousand texts and over a million comments by Cubans about the plight of the health sector - a showcase of Castrovian socialism; about non-working transport and the absence of roads, about the shortage of everything and everything that has persisted for more than half a century - from vegetable oil to toothpaste.

The first issue of the new website 14ymedio features a nightly report from the emergency department of Havana's largest hospital, Calixto Garcia, where victims of violence on the streets of Havana are brought, and an interview taken in prison with the writer Ángel Santiesteban, who was included in the "Reporters Without Borders" list of "Hundred Heroes - freedom fighters."

The creation of an independent Cuban media was supported by a galaxy of the most famous people in the world. The list of almost fifty people includes the classic of Latin American literature Mario Vargas Llosa, the former president of Poland and the leader of Solidarity Lech Walesa, and the Cuban writer Carlos Alberto Montaner.

The Cuban authorities reacted to the emergence of independent online media immediately. Just hours after 14ymedio went live, Cubans seeking access to the site were automatically directed to the Yoanislandia page, which hosts articles by numerous pro-government bloggers and journalists. However, Sanchez herself said via Twitter that she had found a way to bypass the blocking of the site imposed by the authorities. Yoani Sánchez says her online publication is the product of nearly four years of searching with her husband, journalist Reinaldo Escobar: 14ymedio's technical support comes from Madrid.