Google bans Cuban blogger

Issue 

Internet giant Google Inc. has cut off Cuban writer and essayist Henry Ubieta's access to his "La Isla Desconocida" ("The unknown Island") blog, hosted on Blogger, and blocked his access to his gmail account.

Ubieta, who has denounced the brutal media campaign waged against Cuba in recent weeks about alleged human rights violations, had published an article entitled "Demonising Cuba" a few hours before, which critiqued the political undertones that support the new media onslaught criticising Cuba for alleged human rights abuses.

In a message sent via email and published by Cuban newspaper Granma International, Ubieta denounced this decision as it blatantly violates the right to freedom of expression of Cubans on the internet.

The blogger said that, after browsing the net for topics related to what he usually writes, he logged out his blog for a few hours. To his amazement, when he tried to access his gmail account, he was met with the message: "Account temporarily disabled."

When he tried to open his blog, he was shocked by a further notice from Blogger: "Sorry, the blog 'laisladesconocida.blogspot.com' was deleted. This address is not available for new blogs."

So far, there has been no explanation from Google on the matter.

[Reprinted from RCC-ACN.]

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