In 2013, Yoani S谩nchez was already an international celebrity thanks Generaci贸n Y, her candid and critical blog about life under Cuba鈥檚 communist regime. Time Magazine of the world's 100 most influential people. When she visited Miami that year, she was enthusiastically hailed at venues like the downtown Freedom Tower as a fresher, more hopeful face of Cuban dissent.
But S谩nchez had an even bolder second act up her sleeve.
鈥淒uring that visit to Miami I began to feel what was missing in Cuba was a real and professional independent daily journalism outlet鈥� to underpin that nonconformity, S谩nchez told 港澳天下彩from Havana.
So she, her husband Reinaldo Escobar and colleagues inside and outside Cuba created the online newspaper . The name is a combination of the Spanish word for "media," the 14th floor apartment in Havana where it was first produced and the "Y" in S谩nchez's popular blog.
14ymedio last month 鈥� no easy feat in a heavily speech-restricted country like Cuba.
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鈥淭he regime鈥檚 allergy to anything that looks like a free press in Cuba was our first obstacle,鈥� S谩nchez says.
鈥淲e experienced everything from arbitrary cuts to our internet service 鈥� to arbitrary arrests,鈥� including that of her husband in 2015. (He was later released.)
Cubans on the island themselves "were wary of us at first," S谩nchez recalls, "because they didn't know what to make of us."
But 14ymedio quickly built readership thanks in no small part to one big event: then President Obama鈥檚 normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba in 2014.
鈥淭hat put the eyes of the world on Cuba,鈥� S谩nchez says. 鈥淎nd in turn 鈥� on the work 14ymedio was doing.鈥�
More Cubans inside Cuba turned their eyes to that work, too 鈥� especially as the newspaper began breaking important stories like the invasion of giant, disease-carrying African snails in Cuba that critics said the regime had been trying to keep under wraps. (Cuban officials denied that.) Or the government鈥檚 seemingly secretive opening of so-called 鈥渄ollar stores鈥� 鈥� an admission of the collapsed economy鈥檚 desperate need for hard currency.
Events like the 2021 anti-government protests may catch everyone by surprise, but Cubans know we are here to help them make sense of it.Yoani S谩nchez
鈥淭he most important effect for us was that people inside Cuba started sending us stories they were seeing day to day,鈥� says Bertrand de la Grange, who co-produces 14ymedio from Madrid, Spain, where much of the daily's business operation is headquartered.
De la Grange, a Morocco native and veteran Latin America correspondent and author who worked for many years in Cuba, says he believes that 14ymedio 鈥� like the long overdue introduction of universal access to the internet itself on the island six years ago 鈥� has helped liberalize the Cuban mindset about news and information.
鈥淧eople started knowing things that they didn鈥檛 know," De la Grange says. "They didn鈥檛 have to listen only to Radio Mart铆 or media from outside Cuba anymore to know about what was going on inside Cuba. They had the feeling that they now had people inside Cuba who were telling the truth, telling real stories. And then, even the official press started responding" to what 14ymedio was reporting.
Up at 3 a.m.
And so did Cubans outside Cuba.
14ymedio is independent from the Cuban regime; but it鈥檚 also detached from the Cuban exile leadership in Miami.
That group, for example, insists there is no such thing as a private sector, or pymes, in Cuba. But 14ymedio has found that while certainly some Cuban entrepreneurs and enterprises are linked to regime or military officials, many others are not. Or, as editor Yoani S谩nchez told WLRN, 鈥渕any are breaking their backs to create genuine private businesses鈥� there that help Cubans mitigate their economic suffering.
That more balanced, on-the-ground reporting is 鈥渨hy every day I read 14ymedio," says Cuban expat Guennady Rodriguez, host of the popular podcast in Miami.
"I feel a lot of respect for them, because they鈥檙e not promoting a political agenda 鈥� they are still keeping their objectivity, and that鈥檚 something very rare in Cuba鈥檚 independent media. It鈥檚 a good service to the Cuban community in general.鈥�
Ten years on, that service is itself a viable private enterprise: it has an estimated 600,000 readers worldwide, and 60% of its budget is covered by advertising.
More important, 14ymedio has helped make key Cuban events objectively clearer to people on both sides of the Florida Straits, from the death of Fidel Castro in 2016 to the unprecedented anti-government protests of 2021.
鈥淭hat upheaval caught everyone by surprise,鈥� says 14ymedio's S谩nchez. 鈥淏ut Cubans knew we were here to help them make sense of it.鈥�
S谩nchez points out something else that鈥檚 made 14ymedio鈥檚 work harder is losing journalists to the massive exodus of Cubans off the island in recent years. Or their expulsions. Last week, for example, the Cuban regime released independent journalist L谩zaro Yuri Valle Roca from prison, but exiled him to Miami. Although Valle Roca was not a direct contributor to 14ymedio, his exit is indicative of what independent journalism faces in Cuba.
Still, as for 14ymedio, S谩nchez insists, 鈥淲e鈥檙e not going anywhere. I mean, I don't have to get up at 3 a.m. every morning to deal with the internet situation as we did when we started out," she adds, laughing. "But I feel we still have a ways to go before we achieve the level of journalism we're capable of here.
"This is a serious commitment.鈥�
One its readers hope will last at least another 10 years.
