9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
exactly the same

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
freedom of expression

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have taken place.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
people were talking about.

0:00:00.653,0:00:02.979
Hello Eliane, tell me about...

0:00:05.439,0:00:07.561
Well, besides your life in Cuba

0:00:08.006,0:00:09.677
and everything

0:00:09.677,0:00:12.511
how do you see[br]and what problems do you have

0:00:12.511,0:00:15.017
in the coverage you do[br]for Global Voices

0:00:15.017,0:00:16.698
on the island?

0:00:17.112,0:00:20.597
I write for Global Voices since 2010

0:00:20.597,0:00:23.608
when the regional editor in Spanish

0:00:25.051,0:00:28.845
asked me if i wanted to collaborate

0:00:29.075,0:00:30.555
and i started to write

0:00:30.555,0:00:33.639
very sad news for us:

0:00:33.639,0:00:35.335
the fall of a plane

0:00:35.351,0:00:37.724
in a province called Sacti Spiritus.

0:00:37.724,0:00:39.016
From that moment on

0:00:39.016,0:00:41.386
i tried to reconstruct

0:00:41.386,0:00:43.538
the voices of what was being said

0:00:43.538,0:00:48.668
by the bloggers in the island[br]the people who had internet

0:00:48.668,0:00:51.421
people still with limited means

0:00:51.421,0:00:52.969
and slow conection.

0:00:53.077,0:00:55.981
Currently, the main problem i have

0:00:56.073,0:00:59.752
for the coverage with Global Voices

0:00:59.752,0:01:03.394
is trying to give voice to the blogosphere

0:01:03.394,0:01:05.522
and spaces in the Internet

0:01:05.537,0:01:07.685
but many times things happen in Cuba

0:01:07.685,0:01:10.328
and it takes time to get to the Internet

0:01:10.328,0:01:13.565
especially because of[br]this limitation with technology

0:01:13.565,0:01:15.644
or with the usage of Internet.

0:01:15.674,0:01:18.955
Then we asked ourselves during the summit

0:01:18.955,0:01:21.759
if we waited and lost a week

0:01:21.759,0:01:25.170
or we tried to go on with the events

0:01:25.170,0:01:28.560
as if it was a live coverage,

0:01:28.560,0:01:33.106
without having yet[br]a reflection of the Social Media.

0:01:33.106,0:01:34.668
It is a debate that maybe

0:01:34.668,0:01:36.109
doesn't affect much to other countries

0:01:36.109,0:01:37.231
but for us in Cuba,

0:01:37.231,0:01:41.892
it belongs to our day-to-day.

0:01:41.892,0:01:45.483
We also try to make the posts[br]as comprehensive as possible.

0:01:45.483,0:01:48.894
Cuba is politically controversial

0:01:48.894,0:01:53.205
and there are distant spaces[br]in the blogosphere

0:01:53.205,0:01:55.915
opposed to each other.

0:01:55.931,0:01:57.930
It is an everyday challange

0:01:57.930,0:02:00.739
trying that the coverage in Cuba

0:02:00.739,0:02:03.123
is as neutral as possible

0:02:03.123,0:02:06.266
although i personally think

0:02:06.266,0:02:07.782
it is something difficult to achieve.

0:02:07.797,0:02:12.306
At least we try[br]it is as balanced and honest as possible.

0:02:15.460,0:02:18.586
From all the articles you have written

0:02:18.601,0:02:21.600
which reactions have you harvested

0:02:21.600,0:02:24.651
to say it somehow

0:02:24.682,0:02:27.355
thanks to comments

0:02:27.355,0:02:30.667
from the website or other means?

0:02:30.667,0:02:35.647
Well, almost all the articles

0:02:35.647,0:02:37.186
get very polemic comments

0:02:37.186,0:02:41.554
but we always try to answer them.

0:02:43.192,0:02:46.413
The most interesting thing it's happened

0:02:46.428,0:02:48.351
is all the people who try to contact me

0:02:48.351,0:02:49.436
by email

0:02:49.436,0:02:51.630
to learn more about Cuba

0:02:51.646,0:02:54.654
from what i write in Global Voices.

0:02:54.654,0:02:57.500
And also from the series i wrote

0:02:57.500,0:02:59.501
about the Wikileaks cables,[br]i mean,

0:02:59.501,0:03:02.538
what the cables said about Cuba.

0:03:02.538,0:03:06.211
It generated many comments and replicas

0:03:06.211,0:03:08.050
within the official media.

0:03:08.050,0:03:09.683
They started to copy the post

0:03:09.683,0:03:12.231
in the mainstream media

0:03:12.269,0:03:16.052
for trying an analysis in 3 posts

0:03:16.052,0:03:17.394
that i wrote essentially

0:03:17.394,0:03:19.887
about the topics

0:03:20.141,0:03:22.764
A quantitative analysys at the beginning.

0:03:22.764,0:03:25.327
Then explaining the topics, the postures

0:03:25.327,0:03:26.859
about the topics

0:03:26.859,0:03:27.759
and it was very interesting

0:03:27.759,0:03:29.067
because it was published

0:03:29.067,0:03:30.285
exclusively for Global Voices

0:03:30.285,0:03:32.969
and suddenly other media started to publish it.

0:03:33.061,0:03:36.239
Translations are also interesting.

0:03:36.239,0:03:39.488
It is not as exciting and new to me

0:03:39.488,0:03:41.481
to see the posts translated into English.

0:03:41.481,0:03:44.537
But to enter one day and see the posts

0:03:44.537,0:03:46.363
in Magyar or Aymara

0:03:46.379,0:03:48.935
or languages not very known in the world

0:03:48.935,0:03:51.308
is exremely good because you know

0:03:51.308,0:03:55.949
people there can read about Cuba

0:03:55.949,0:03:58.468
or at least have the possibility

0:03:58.468,0:04:00.551
of having those stories about Cuba.

0:04:02.966,0:04:07.379
You take part in the Cuban blogosphere

0:04:07.887,0:04:11.878
How is the relationship with your parents?

0:04:11.924,0:04:14.469
To take part in the cuban blogosphere

0:04:14.469,0:04:15.691
is something complicated and complex.

0:04:15.691,0:04:18.300
A blogosphere is in constant growth.

0:04:20.107,0:04:23.992
Cuba has almost 600 blogs nowadays.

0:04:23.992,0:04:25.233
It can seem not much,

0:04:25.233,0:04:26.698
but for a country with just a 14%

0:04:26.698,0:04:29.799
of Internet penetration, it's a lot,

0:04:29.799,0:04:31.877
because some people are dedicating

0:04:31.877,0:04:33.948
their free time[br]and the connection from their jobs,

0:04:33.948,0:04:36.311
because they hardly ever have at home,

0:04:36.311,0:04:38.822
to tell something about reality in Cuba.

0:04:38.822,0:04:42.172
Suddenly being immersed in this dynamics

0:04:42.172,0:04:46.776
in 2009 when i created my blog[br]it was something

0:04:46.776,0:04:50.126
very solitary, there were not many people

0:04:50.126,0:04:52.147
not many bloggers

0:04:52.147,0:04:53.986
and we barely talked to each other.

0:04:53.986,0:04:56.082
But in 2012[br]some national in-person meetings

0:04:56.082,0:05:00.478
of bloggers in Cuba

0:05:00.478,0:05:02.684
There have been citizen actions

0:05:02.684,0:05:04.834
such us the cleaning [br]of the river Almendares

0:05:04.834,0:05:07.094
completely announced by the social network

0:05:07.109,0:05:10.135
that gathered people from inside [br]and outside Cuba.

0:05:10.135,0:05:12.675
There have been computer teaching

0:05:12.691,0:05:15.567
programs related to technology

0:05:15.567,0:05:19.304
for citizens with less knowledge.

0:05:19.304,0:05:22.387
It starts to be a big community

0:05:22.387,0:05:25.352
where it is still difficult [br]to reach a consensus

0:05:25.352,0:05:29.927
but where one can create [br]interesting debate areas,

0:05:29.927,0:05:33.059
generate productive dialogues

0:05:33.059,0:05:36.404
where we are learning a little

0:05:36.420,0:05:39.276
to be more comprehensive,

0:05:39.276,0:05:41.239
to respect the voice of others,

0:05:41.239,0:05:44.170
to understand every blog is[br]an unique individual experience

0:05:45.689,0:05:48.932
that doesn't have to fit [br]with everybody.

0:05:48.932,0:05:51.391
That teaches us to respect others,

0:05:51.407,0:05:54.149
to understand the terms

0:05:54.149,0:05:58.522
or the respect to differences[br]thanks to the Internet.

0:05:58.722,0:06:08.465
In Cuba, i think there is only [br]the media of the government,

0:06:08.465,0:06:10.143
correct me if i am wrong.

0:06:10.143,0:06:12.510
We have the official media, [br]which are state-owned.

0:06:12.510,0:06:18.172
Cuban official media belong to the State.

0:06:18.172,0:06:21.107
The Workers Central Union of Cuba,[br]for example,

0:06:21.137,0:06:23.612
has its own media; the Communist Party,

0:06:23.612,0:06:27.645
Cuba's Young Communist Union also has [br]its own media...

0:06:27.645,0:06:29.047
As for university students,

0:06:29.047,0:06:30.787
they have the Alma Mater magazine,

0:06:30.787,0:06:33.040
and almost every sector[br]is represented,

0:06:33.040,0:06:34.368
Although the most recognised media[br]are state-owned

0:06:39.079,0:06:41.358
the relationship with the blogosphere[br]with the state-owned media

0:06:41.373,0:06:43.097
is very interesting,

0:06:43.112,0:06:45.185
even if at the beginning

0:06:45.185,0:06:46.869
they were not very listened or read

0:06:46.869,0:06:48.313
because we were very few.

0:06:48.313,0:06:52.539
Nowadays we are fairly read and quoted,

0:06:52.539,0:06:55.003
Cuban bloggers are interwied[br]in press

0:06:55.003,0:06:57.173
and there are also many topics

0:06:57.173,0:06:59.755
that concern the citizens

0:07:01.596,0:07:06.177
and then are taken by the[br]traditional journalism.

0:07:06.177,0:07:09.390
They fulfil deeper researches,[br]investigations,

0:07:09.390,0:07:12.200
and then it starts to exist a dialogue

0:07:12.200,0:07:14.936
between bloggers and [br]traditional journalists.

0:07:14.936,0:07:18.584
I don't think it is a relationship [br]of deep aversion

0:07:18.599,0:07:20.985
or discredit to bloggers

0:07:20.985,0:07:22.832
for the fact of being bloggers.

0:07:22.832,0:07:24.848
If there is a discredit to bloggers

0:07:24.848,0:07:27.383
it is for certain political tendencies

0:07:27.383,0:07:31.398
but on the basis of political documents,

0:07:31.398,0:07:32.167
not for being a blogger

0:07:32.167,0:07:35.553
or using new technologies[br]to tell your reality,

0:07:35.553,0:07:37.304
as it can happen in other countries

0:07:37.304,0:07:39.693
where not having[br]a journalism degree

0:07:39.693,0:07:41.809
can invalidate a citizen.

0:07:41.809,0:07:44.489
I don't think it is the case of Cuba,[br]yet.

0:07:44.489,0:07:47.611
At least not for the moment.

0:07:47.611,0:07:50.000
Thank you, Elaine.