Showing posts with label Yohandry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yohandry. Show all posts

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Cuba Independiente Zeroes in on Castroite Blogger Yohandry

   



Laz at Cuba Independiente is continuing his very fine work of keeping tabs on the Castroite Blogger who uses the pseudonym "Yohandry," who I have examined myself in a recent post.  This past Thursday Laz put up an excellent examination of Yohandry, in which he uses a little touch of excess to drive home a simple point that is becoming increasingly hard to deny -- Yohandry is not one blogger, but rather a group.  And the significance of this observation is that it is becoming increasingly apparent that the attacks on Yoani are an organized effort on the part of the regime to discredit her.

I would like to post a translation of the first four paragraphs of Laz's article, which get to the heart of the issue:

"The individual who calls himself Yohandry Fontana Guethon [he has forgotten the 2nd lastname in his new blog] who at one time confessed that he was directly responsible, under different pseudonyms, for 90% of the comments that were made in Generacion Y, which itself is a full-time job with several extra hours a day incompatible with his declared profession of doctor.  Bear in mind that on average a Yoani post generates about 3000 comments, for which Yohandry averaged some 2,700 comments.  Assuming that Yohandry sleeps about 7 hours a day and takes another two hours to eat, bathe, and one hour to read what Yoani posts, to receive guidance and read el Granma, we would have his maximum available time at 14 hours.  So to get up to 2700 comments, Yohandry has to post them at a reasonable rate of 192.86 per hour or by the same count, 3.21 comments per minute.  If someone can demonstrate that he can do this day after day, the best thing they can do is to summon the Guinness judge because he has an assured record.

But that is not all, Yohandry states that he is a doctor and works as such, for which he would have to deduct another 8 hours minimum [I am not considering the trip back and forth to work because Yohandry could be a family physician who lives on the 2nd floor of the clinic.  Neither am I leaving out the time to do his "errands," union meetings, party meetings, meetings with his commander nor those which any doctor has in the clinic and the town.]; for which the real maximum effective time that Yohandry can dedicate to commenting in Yoani's blog is itself limited to 6 hours daily [14-8] and then Yohandry's efficiency and productivity reaches inhuman levels:  450 comments per hour or 7.5 per minute and if a Yohandry comment is 30 words, then he writes at the incredible speed of 225 words per minute!!!

On the other hand Yohandry says that he is 37 years old, for which he would have been born in the year 1970 or 1971; while the fashion of names that begin with "Y" in Cuba began in the 2nd half of the 70's with its boom in the 80's as Yoani explains clearly.  It is not impossible, but it is unlikely that a child born in Cuba in the year 1970 or 1971 has a name that begins with "Y" and that their parents chose a name quite unusual for the time of the cane harvest of the 10 million volunteers, when Bolshevik names were the fashion, Vladimir, Natasha, Nadia, and so on.

In a world where uncertainty reigns and the truth is more relative than ever, the sensible analysis of the circumstances of the person Yohandry indicate that he is not one person but a group that has the mission of deploying an ideological offensive from Havana in the blog world. . . ."


Laz goes on to point out that the Cuban government has been open about its plans to use the internet to propagandize the regime and he gives examples to get to the point that "Yohandry is only a crude way to put into practice the concepts that the leadership in Cuba has publicly expressed about the 'ideological battle' on the Internet."  And he continues with one of Yohandry's recent blogs which he introduces in the context of its presentation, which strengthens his point further.

I believe Laz is correct.  Yohandry cannot be one person and it is not an accident that he is getting so much publicity from official circles in Havana.

Buen Hecho Laz!

StJacques
   

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Thursday, May 29, 2008

The Gorilla Within:  Castroite Blogger Yohandry

   


I have always been a proponent of the use of the internet as a forum for free and open discussion, which I naturally believe will benefit the causes of freedom and democracy I support in this blog project.  But I also am aware that free access to the world through internet blogging brings perils along with it, and I am going to introduce one of the most dangerous bloggers I have encountered thus far in this post.  I refer to the Cuban blogger who uses the internet pseudonym "Yohandry," whose blog at the forum of the Spanish newspaper El Pais has evidently just been removed by the decision of web site's managers following a dangerously threatening post directed at renowned Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez, whose story I have been following in this blog for some time.

I must be honest and state that, even though Yohandry is introduced elsewhere as Yohandry Fontana Guethón; I doubt this is his or her real name given that it begins with the letter "Y," which Yoani Sanchez stated was a mark of unique distinction in Cuba.  The name "Yohandry" is feminine, but the writing style is uniquely masculine and I would like to point out that posters who have responded as commentators to Yohandry's "closure" notice at the La Comunidad forum have addressed him/her as a member of either gender.  The Blog de Yohandry hosted at the El Pais website was up for at least several months; a fact I gather from other blogs that go back to last February which either reference posts from the blog, comment upon them, or even give Yohandry an opportunity to post short messages.  I cannot say more given that it is now closed.

Beyond a general tendency to proselytize the Castro party line on a number of issues, Yohandry has made a reputation for attacking at least two bloggers I am able to identify at this time; the already-mentioned Yoani Sanchez and an additional Cuban blog known as Potro Salvaje, a name that translates to "Wild Colt" (Note: the Latino music group of the same name is evidently of no relation).  Yohandry accused Potro Salvaje of being responsible for the cyber-attacks that denied Cubans on the island access to Yoani Sanchez's blog last March.  I have read a little of the Potro blog and I must say that I regard this charge as near insanity.  Potro is thoroughly dedicated to the diffusion of information regarding freedom of the press, internet freedom, and access to cyber-technology in Cuba, as well as to the provision of assistance in the way of technical advice, tips, and tricks to fellow Cubans who wish to avoid detection and discovery of their efforts to use the internet free from the retaliation of the Castro regime.  But Yohandry would have us believe that Potro was out to shut Yoani Sanchez down.  You may guess my profane response to this accusation at your own expense.

Earlier this week Yohandry published an entry at the La Comunidad forum which leveled dangerously serious allegations against Yoani Sanchez, or perhaps I should state "dangerously serious allegations understood by anyone who knows the nature of political repression in Cuba."  Since El Pais has closed the site down, I have searched for a copy of the text from elsewhere without success.  It is no longer available in the Google cache and I am only able to read second-hand didactions of its content.  On Tuesday Laz at Cuba Independiente published an entry containing details of a new crackdown on dissidents underway in Cuba that cited Yohandry's blog as evidence that the regime's repressive actions may foreshadow a move against Yoani Sanchez.  I would like to post a translated quote from that blog containing the report of Yohandry's accusations:

". . . This is a clear signal of where the next steps to Tyranny are heading.  In the same vein, the award-winning Yoani Sanchez, owner of the Blog Generacion Y, was accused by a shady and almost unknown blogger using the pseudonym "Yohandry" of working for the CIA and corresponding with the writer in exile Carlos Alberto Montaner, who also is accused of being an agent of the same agency. . . ."

Anyone who is familiar with the nature of the Castro regime in Cuba understands the seriousness of these allegations.  They can result in jail terms lasting decades.

Soon after the Cuba Independiente post, other blog sites who track the progress of human rights in Cuba picked up on the story.  Martha Colmenares opened her own discussion thread and began circulating the information among bloggers and human rights groups.  Spanish Pundit picked it up and, I believe, may have the exact translation of Yohandry's accusation, which is as follows:

". . . That is not a debate blog, that is a blog where all the scum against Cuba meets.  Yoani is lucky, she has all those people there united and not walking aroung the net.  I accuse Yoani of being linked to elements of CIA, specifically to Montaner, the true owner of that blog, I accuse her of being linked with terrorist elements who live in Europe, Montaner and I accuse of fulfilling the editorial policy imposed by Montaner, the true owner. . . ."

Again; the dangerous nature of accusations such as these for a Cuban blogger like Yoani Sanchez must be regarded as severe.  We are discussing the life and freedom of a human being when we examine this in the real world.  In the context of international political blogging and the Latin American Left, the risks are more than serious; they are life-altering.

So where does this leave us when we deal with the question of how we enter into direct discussion with supporters of the Castro regime in Cuba?  I am very sorry to say that the answer is nowhere.  Yohandry has shown only the most recent evidence of a basic psychological truth that anyone who has followed the brutal history of the repression of human freedom that will always remain as the Castro regime's legacy should understand ...

Within the heart of every Castrista lurks that inner gorilla that is always ready to brutalize and destroy anyone who dares to speak freely of the failures of the regime.

And the Spanish newspaper El Pais should put aside its support of the Spanish Socialist Party for just a few minutes -- just this once -- and apologize to the world for having provided the means of the intimidation of one of the most important spokespersons for human freedom on the third planet of this solar system -- Yoani Sanchez.

StJacques
   

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