Making a newspaper is not easy at all. Doing it from Cuba is even more complicated
14ymedio, Mario J. Pentón, Miami, May 23, 2024 — The first time I heard about Yoani Sánchez was on the midday news on Cuban television. Mariuska Díaz, the announcer, called her a “cyberterrorist” and an enemy of the country. Dark hands were writing on a keyboard and behind her appeared the American eagle, dollars and what was then United States Interests Section in Havana.
By then I could already understand that the regime wanted to hide something when that woman, who was exposed on official television, was not allowed to defend herself or offer her point of view. And one of my first searches, on the day I was finally able to access the internet, was the name Yoani Sánchez.
Mariuska, by the way, that firm defender of Castroism who read those pamphlets, went to live under brutal capitalism, first in Mexico and then in Spain.
That is how I met 14ymedio, Yoani’s niño pequeño, this newspaper that is now 10 years old. And that is how I decided to collaborate with it. At first with a lot of fear, like all Cubans born and raised under the totalitarian regime. Later with passion and dedication, so that the people of Cuba would be more informed.
My first texts in ’14ymedio’ were a real labor and delivery. Years of study in Cuban universities do not teach you how to do journalism
My first texts in 14ymedio were a real labor and delivery. Years of study in Cuban universities do not teach you how to do journalism, but the sustained support of the editors of the 14ymedio Newsroom in Madrid allowed me to correct those deficiencies.
Trying to connect with people, tell their stories, talk about what really matters to people is not something that interests the Communist Party. Their interest is propaganda, defending a model that is falling apart and repeating the ‘guide
