A bit less than a year ago, I traveled to Cuba and wrote about Claudia Marquez, a young independent journalist who just could not abide and keep her mouth shut. For her work--writing about the seamy underside of Cuba and occasionally sticking it to Fidel--she was repeatedly interrogated by state security and threatened with the lose of her eight-year-old son, Cristian. Meanwhile, Marquez's husband, Osvaldo Alfonso, was a political activist in his own right and tossed in jail during Castro's 2003 crackdown. He"confessed" to having been influenced by the U.S.--a move that ended up breaking up their marriage, and one that brought suspicion from other dissidents not just onto Osvaldo but Claudia too. From my profile:
''Some people suspected Claudia was working for state security or at least had been weakened to the point where she was helping them,'' says Sauro Gonzalez, a researcher at the Committee to Protect Journalists, who adds that the suspicions don't appear to have any basis in fact. ''The state managed to drive a wedge between the families.''So Claudia was stuck in Havana, hassled by state yet seemiingly shunned by many of its opponents. All of which makes me very happy to report that Claudia is no longer in Havana. She's in Naples, Florida.
Bienvenido Claudia--y Cristian! Anybody looking for a whip-smart Spanish-speaking reporter should look her up.
Truly wonderful news, Eric. Bienvenidos Claudia y Cristian!
Posted by: Randy Paul | June 13, 2005 at 07:31 PM
Paying with cash instead of plastic at the grocery store leads to more careful spending and healthier food choices, a study in the Journal of Consumer Research finds.
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Posted by: Eric | October 28, 2010 at 10:40 AM