DATA OF INTEREST
GUEST:
REINALDO ESCOBAR
HOST:
TANIA BRUGUERA
Synopsis:
Everything you want to know about independent journalism in Cuba, in the voice of one of its oldest protagonists still living in Cuba. The story of 14ymedio, the digital media outlet directed by Yoani Sánchez.
Bio:
Reinaldo Escobar
(Camagüey Cuba, 1947)
Reinaldo Escobar holds a degree in journalism from the University of Havana and has 50 years of experience in the profession. He is currently editor in chief of the digital newspaper 14ymedio. He worked for over 15 years at the magazine Cuba Internacional and almost two years at the national newspaper Juventud Rebelde, which fired him in 1988 for his discrepancies with the communist party line. Since January 1989 he has worked as an independent journalist publishing in different European media (Wohenpopst and Tages Zaitung, the Spanish radio station of Deusthe Welle in Alemania and The Guardian in Great Britain), and independent media such as the magazine Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana and the website Diario de Cuba. From December 2004 to mid-2007 he worked as editor in chief of the digital magazine Consenso; in 2008 he starts his personal blog Desde Aquí and in April 2014 he founds, together with his wife Yoani Sánchez, the newspaper 14ymedio where he also works as a columnist. In 2013 he won the Sociedad Interamericana de Prensa (SIP) award in the opinion genre for his article titled ¿Qué fue el fidelismo? and in 2018 the Premio Iberoamericano de Novela granted by Verbun for his novel La Grieta. Due to his activity as an independent journalist Reinaldo Escobar has suffered numerous arbitrary detentions and in November 2009, an act of repudiation organized by State Security. On several occasions he has been arbitrarily prohibited from leaving his home and since 2019 he has been “regulated,” which means that he is not permitted to leave Cuba.
