Cuban journalist/blogger Yosvani Anzardo arrested (UPDATED)

 

Yosvani Anzardo Hernández

Veteran Cuban independent journalist Yosvani Anzardo Hernández was arrested this morning after police raided his home in Urbano Noris, in Holguín province in eastern Cuba, in apparent attempt to shut down "Cadonga," a digital magazine edited by Anzardo, according to a report posted at CubaEncuentro.com.

Luis Felipe Rojas, another journalist/blogger arrested this morning but later released, said officials were threatening to charge Anzardo, 35, under the notorious Law 88, which has been used to sentence numerous other dissidents to lengthy prison terms, because of his work as an independent journalist.

During the raid at Anzardo's home, the Castro goon squad seized  a computer, a fax machine, a mobile telephone, books considered "subversive" and other items. Anzardo was able to destroy another computer, which earned him a beating by the officers, according to the reports.

The dictatorship is fighting a losing battle against modernity and the will of the Cuban people to be part of the larger world, said Anzardo's wife, Lourdes Yen.

"No repression will stop the fight for a basic right like free access to the Internet for all Cubans," said Yen, executive director of the dissident Latin American Federation of Rural Women.

Her husband's arrest, said Yen, is "an example of the intolerance and the express will of this government to crack down on people whose only crime is to fight for the right of Cuban youth to have free access to the benefits of the modern world."

Yen implored the international community to demand her husband's release.

Rojas, who was released after four hours in police detention, said he, too, was threatened for prosecution under Law 88 because of his work for the Madrid-based CubaEncuentro.com and U.S.-based Radio Martí.

Ironically, Anzardo was arrested on the same day that the Committee to Protect Journalists issued a study on the blogger movement in Cuba.

The report definitely puts today's developments in a helpful perspective.

UPDATE, Sept. 13

As of Saturday, Anzardo remained in jail.