Yoani Sanchez

Predictably, the Castro regime in Cuba is a little bit scared of the various revolutions engulfing the Middle East. According to this Fox News report by Serafin Gomez, the Cuban government has started cracking down on dissidents through violence and intimidation. Yet, paradoxically, we also learned that, instead of knocking on her door and abducting Yoani Sanchez–author of the forthcoming Havana Real and keeper of the blog Generation Y–in the dark of night, taking her to some prison to make her lay low until the repressed peoples of the world get this democracy stuff out of their system, the government has decided to unblock Yoani’s blog inside Cuba.

In other words, now Cubans can actually read one of the most popular Cuban bloggers in the world.

Why this confusing turn of events? As Yoani herself speculates, it may have had something to do with the 2011 Havana International Computer Science Fair that was held last week, a conference that brought many foreigners to Havana to discuss the wonders of digital technology. The government may have calculated that “it is better to show them an image of tolerance, of supposed openings in the realm of citizen expression.”

Yet Gomez’s report suggests something a bit more sinister. Only 14% of the Cuban population actually has access to the internet. Considering this in addition to the fact that you have to receive a special permit to even own a computer in Cuba, the government’s lifting of the block on Generation Y may be meant as something of a dare. They may be saying, in effect, go ahead and try to read this blog. We can still block access whenever we want.

Whatever the reason for the inconsistencies in their online strategy, Castro’s government is clearly shaken. And this excerpt from a post by Sanchez after Mubarak resigned is as clear a reason as any as to why they should be:

Darkness and light in Tahrir Square, a red phosphorescence glow interrupted by the camera flashes and the glowing screens of mobile phones. I wasn’t there, and yet I know how each one of the Egyptians felt, gathered last night in downtown Cairo. I, who have never been able to shout and cry in public, overwhelmed by happiness that the cycle of authoritarianism under which I was born has ended, I know I would do the same until I had no voice left, I would hug everyone, I would feel light as if a huge burden had fallen from my shoulders. I have not experienced a revolution, much less a citizen revolution, but this week, despite the caution of the official news, I have the sense that the Suez Canal and the Caribbean Sea are not so far apart, not so different.