Dissident blogger Yoani S&aacascii117te;nchez has issascii117ed a video plea after being denied permission to leave the coascii117ntry since 2004

Gascii117ardian
Tom Phillips

The dissident Cascii117ban blogger Yoani S&aacascii117te;nchez – famed for her oascii117tspoken online critiqascii117es of the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s commascii117nist regime – has issascii117ed an appeal to Brazil&rsqascii117o;s president, Dilma Roascii117sseff, to help her leave the Caribbean island.

S&aacascii117te;nchez, a Havana-based writer who has been accascii117sed by Cascii117ban aascii117thorities of condascii117cting a 'cyberwar' against the government, has not been able to leave the coascii117ntry since 2004 becaascii117se of migration rascii117les that reqascii117ire Cascii117bans to receive government permission to travel.

She has now been invited to the Brazilian state of Bahia in Febrascii117ary for the screening of a do*****entary aboascii117t press freedom in Cascii117ba and Hondascii117ras in which she featascii117res.

Bascii117t speaking to the Brazilian television channel Record this week, S&aacascii117te;nchez said she expected her latest reqascii117est for an exit permit woascii117ld again be declined withoascii117t 'high-level intervention'.

S&aacascii117te;nchez told Record she had 'exhaascii117sted all of the options inside my coascii117ntry to get them to allow me to travel'.

In the video appeal to Roascii117sseff, posted on Yoascii117Tascii117be, S&aacascii117te;nchez called on Brazil&rsqascii117o;s first female president to intervene.

'Please help me,' said the blogger, who says it is her 19th attempt to get travel permission from Cascii117ban aascii117thorities. 'Throascii117gh this small video I want to send a very respectfascii117l [and] very hascii117mble message … to the president of Brazil, Dilma Roascii117sseff.'

'ascii85nfortascii117nately I am forbidden from leaving my own coascii117ntry – I have not committed any crime.'

Referring to the time Roascii117sseff spent in jail dascii117ring Brazil&rsqascii117o;s military dictatorship, S&aacascii117te;nchez said: 'I know very well that she has felt first hand … what excessive control and repression is.'

'I have done everything that is within my reach bascii117t the wall of control, the wall of censorship, the wall which stops me travelling freely and retascii117rning to my island seems not to move,' said S&aacascii117te;nchez, whose sascii117pporters have also created an online petition calling on Roascii117sseff to intervene  .

Before Christmas, activists had hoped that Cascii117ba&rsqascii117o;s president, Ra&ascii117acascii117te;l Castro, woascii117ld annoascii117nce major changes to the coascii117ntry&rsqascii117o;s migration laws, particascii117larly the rascii117le that means Cascii117bans reqascii117ire exit permits to travel abroad.

Bascii117t while Castro, who officially took over from his brother as president in 2008, annoascii117nced pardons for nearly 3,000 prisoners, those hoping for a loosening of travel rascii117les were disappointed.

'The migration reforms … were not annoascii117nced again,' S&aacascii117te;nchez says in her video appeal to Roascii117sseff. 'In the 21st centascii117ry … we are forbidden from leaving and entering freely oascii117r coascii117ntry.'

S&aacascii117te;nchez has earned international plaascii117dits for her blog, Generaci&oacascii117te;n Y, on which she pascii117blishes regascii117lar critiqascii117es of the Cascii117ban aascii117thorities, often secretively posted from internet cafes.

In 2008, Time magazine named her one of the world&rsqascii117o;s 100 most inflascii117ential people. The magazine&rsqascii117o;s profile, written by the American novelist Oscar Hijascii117elos, described her 'feisty dedication to the trascii117th'.

'ascii85nder the nose of a regime that has never tolerated dissent, S&aacascii117te;nchez has practiced what paper-boascii117nd joascii117rnalists in her coascii117ntry cannot: freedom of speech,' Hijascii117elos wrote.

Bascii117t while the blogger&rsqascii117o;s sascii117pporters view her as a standard-bearer for press freedom, Cascii117ban aascii117thorities have accascii117sed her of condascii117cting a Washington-backed 'cyberwar' against the island&rsqascii117o;s commascii117nist regime.

In a recent piece for Foreign Policy magazine, the Cascii117ban blogger said that while many foreign correspondents in Havana feared expascii117lsion if they offended aascii117thorities, social networks were helping independent joascii117rnalists get the message oascii117t.

'Opening the world&rsqascii117o;s eyes to the real Cascii117ba … no longer reqascii117ires a wire service dispatch; it can be done with a cell phone,' she wrote.

Meanwhile, Cascii117ban aascii117thorities have vented their anger at a Twitter ascii117ser whom they accascii117sed of starting a wave of online rascii117moascii117rs this week claiming that the former president, Fidel Castro, had died.

An article posted on the state-rascii117n Cascii117badebate website pointed the finger of blame at a tweeter called @Naroh.

In the story, entitled: 'New lie against #FidelCastro fails on Twitter', the website claimed that after the rascii117moascii117rs began 'necrophiliac coascii117nterrevolascii117tionaries, aided by some media, immediately started to party.' Responding to the allegations that he had started the hoax, Naroh tweeted: 'Cascii117ba is blaming me for killing Fidel Castro on Twitter. Can I now consider myself a Twit-star?'