WEBVTT

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exactly the same

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freedom of expression

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have taken place.

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people were talking about.

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Hello Eliane, tell me about...

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Well, besides your life in Cuba

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and everything

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how do you see
and what problems do you have

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in the coverage you do
for Global Voices

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on the island?

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I write for Global Voices since 2010

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when the regional editor in Spanish

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asked me if i wanted to collaborate

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and i started to write

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very sad news for us:

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the fall of a plane

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in a province called Sacti Spiritus.

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From that moment on

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i tried to reconstruct

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the voices of what was being said

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by the bloggers in the island
the people who had internet

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people still with limited means

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and slow conection.

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Currently, the main problem i have

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for the coverage with Global Voices

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is trying to give voice to the blogosphere

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and spaces in the Internet

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but many times things happen in Cuba

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and it takes time to get to the Internet

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especially because of
this limitation with technology

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or with the usage of Internet.

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Then we asked ourselves during the summit

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if we waited and lost a week

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or we tried to go on with the events

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as if it was a live coverage,

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without having yet
a reflection of the Social Media.

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It is a debate that maybe

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doesn't affect much to other countries

NOTE Paragraph

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but for us in Cuba,

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it belongs to our day-to-day.

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We also try to make the posts
as comprehensive as possible.

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Cuba is politically controversial

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and there are distant spaces
in the blogosphere

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opposed to each other.

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It is an everyday challange

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trying that the coverage in Cuba

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is as neutral as possible

NOTE Paragraph

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although i personally think

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it is something difficult to achieve.

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At least we try
it is as balanced and honest as possible.

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From all the articles you have written

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which reactions have you harvested

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to say it somehow

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thanks to comments

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from the website or other means?

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Well, almost all the articles

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get very polemic comments

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but we always try to answer them.

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The most interesting thing it's happened

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is all the people who try to contact me

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by email

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to learn more about Cuba

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from what i write in Global Voices.

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And also from the series i wrote

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about the Wikileaks cables,
i mean,

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what the cables said about Cuba.

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It generated many comments and replicas

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within the official media.

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They started to copy the post

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in the mainstream media

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for trying an analysis in 3 posts

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that i wrote essentially

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about the topics

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A quantitative analysys at the beginning.

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Then explaining the topics, the postures

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about the topics

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and it was very interesting

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because it was published

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exclusively for Global Voices

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and suddenly other media started to publish it.

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Translations are also interesting.

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It is not as exciting and new to me

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to see the posts translated into English.

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But to enter one day and see the posts

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in Magyar or Aymara

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or languages not very known in the world

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is exremely good because you know

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people there can read about Cuba

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or at least have the possibility

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of having those stories about Cuba.

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You take part in the Cuban blogosphere

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How is the relationship with your parents?

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To take part in the cuban blogosphere

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is something complicated and complex.

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A blogosphere is in constant growth.

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Cuba has almost 600 blogs nowadays.

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It can seem not much,

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but for a country with just a 14%

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of Internet penetration, it's a lot,

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because some people are dedicating

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their free time
and the connection from their jobs,

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because they hardly ever have at home,

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to tell something about reality in Cuba.

NOTE Paragraph

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Suddenly being immersed in this dynamics

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in 2009 when i created my blog
it was something

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very solitary, there were not many people

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not many bloggers

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and we barely talked to each other.

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But in 2012
some national in-person meetings

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of bloggers in Cuba

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There have been citizen actions

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such us the cleaning 
of the river Almendares

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completely announced by the social network

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that gathered people from inside 
and outside Cuba.

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There have been computer teaching

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programs related to technology

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for citizens with less knowledge.

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It starts to be a big community

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where it is still difficult 
to reach a consensus

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but where one can create 
interesting debate areas,

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generate productive dialogues

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where we are learning a little

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to be more comprehensive,

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to respect the voice of others,

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to understand every blog is
an unique individual experience

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that doesn't have to fit 
with everybody.

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That teaches us to respect others,

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to understand the terms

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or the respect to differences
thanks to the Internet.

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In Cuba, i think there is only 
the media of the government,

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correct me if i am wrong.

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We have the official media, 
which are state-owned.

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Cuban official media belong to the State.

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The Workers Central Union of Cuba,
for example,

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has its own media; the Communist Party,

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Cuba's Young Communist Union also has 
its own media...

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As for university students,

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they have the Alma Mater magazine,

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and almost every sector
is represented,

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Although the most recognised media
are state-owned

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the relationship with the blogosphere
with the state-owned media

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is very interesting,

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even if at the beginning

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they were not very listened or read

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because we were very few.

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Nowadays we are fairly read and quoted,

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Cuban bloggers are interwied
in press

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and there are also many topics

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that concern the citizens

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and then are taken by the
traditional journalism.

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They fulfil deeper researches,
investigations,

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and then it starts to exist a dialogue

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between bloggers and 
traditional journalists.

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I don't think it is a relationship 
of deep aversion

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or discredit to bloggers

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for the fact of being bloggers.

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If there is a discredit to bloggers

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it is for certain political tendencies

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but on the basis of political documents,

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not for being a blogger

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or using new technologies
to tell your reality,

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as it can happen in other countries

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where not having
a journalism degree

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can invalidate a citizen.

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I don't think it is the case of Cuba,
yet.

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At least not for the moment.

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Thank you, Elaine.