Who Are Cuba's Most Influential Dissident Bloggers?

Far and away, Yoani Sánchez is the most well known among Cuba dissident bloggers.

However, many other dissident writers also stand up against the Cuban government with their words, including Sánchez's husband.

Here are three Cuba dissident bloggers that have helped make the state of life clearer for Cuban residents.

1. Yoani Sánchez

Thirty-nine-year-old Yoani Sánchez is behind the popular blog, Generación Y, which not only plays off her name, but also highlights one of her core messages, which asks why the Cuban government treats citizens the way it does.

American Enterprise Institute's Mark J. Perry reported, "The Cuban blogger gets more than 1 million visits a month and is translated from Spanish into 16 languages."

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All this despite the fact that she has to email her blog posts out to friends who live in different countries for her words to go live.

In 2009, Sánchez was awarded the Maria Moors Cabot Prize for outstanding reporting on Latin America and the Caribbean by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Due to travel restrictions from the Cuban government, she was unable to receive the award until 2013.


2. Reinaldo Escobar

Not surprisingly, Sánchez's husband, Reinaldo Escobar, shares her spirit and mission for government reform.

In fact, The New York Review of Books' Daniel Wilkinson reported, "Her husband and fellow blogger, Reinaldo Escobar, was subject to an 'act of repudiation' by an angry mob of government supporters on a Havana street. Such public harassment ... is commonly used against 'dissidents' on the island, along with police surveillance, loss of employment, and restrictions on travel."


3. Eliezer Avila

Cuba dissident blogger Eliezer Avila became an international sensation with one video in which he questioned Cuban statesman Ricardo Alacron publicly at an appearance at Avila's school.

The Democratic Underground reported of the following backlash.

"As a result of this video coming to light Eliezer was ultimately expelled from the university, and began his own personal transformation from staunch defender of the Revolution to someone who appears as a blogger on this site."

Avila also contributes to The Huffington Post's 90 Miles, which is dedicated to "rethinking the future of U.S.-Cuba Relations."

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