Cuban blogger Yoani Sanchez attacked on way to march

Cuban blogger Yonai Sanchez has been attacked while on her way with three friends to a march of young Cubans opposed to the Communist regime.

It is presumed that the attackers, who tried to force them into a car, were state security agents.

Whenthe four refused to get into the car, they were brutally attacked.

Sanchez and one of her friends were thrown in and driven a short distance and then thrown into a street, while two others were taken to a police station in a patrol car (summoned by their orginal attackers) and then released.

On her blog Generation Y, Sanchez vividly describes the assault and attempted kidnap:

Near 23rd Street, just at the Avenida de los Presidentes roundabout, we saw a black car, made in China, pull up with three heavily built strangers. "Yoani, get in the car," one told me while grabbing me forcefully by the wrist. The other two surrounded Claudia Cadelo, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, and a friend who was accompanying us to the march against violence. The ironies of life, it was an evening filled with punches, shouts and obscenities on what should have passed as a day of peace and harmony. The same "aggressors" called for a patrol car which took my other two companions, Orlando and I were condemned to the car with yellow plates, the terrifying world of lawlessness and the impunity of Armageddon.

Sanchez told El Nuevo Herald: "No blood, but black and blues, punches, pulled hairs, blows to the head, kidneys, knee and chest...in short, professional violence."

Last year, Harry's Place reported on how Cuban Ministry of the Interior agents tried to prevent Yoani Sanchez and her husband from holding a workshop for bloggers in Pinar del Río.

Time magazine has named Sanchez one of the world's 100 most influential people. Last month, the Cuban government refused to let Sanchez visit New York to receive a top journalism prize, while her blog Generation Y is often blocked in CUba.

Recently, Yoani Sanchez has blogged about a visit to the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Arts and Industry, where several blogger friends of hers were prevented from entering, despite the event being free for all, and journalist José Alejandro, who had the courage to speak out against media censorship in Cuba.

Along the Malecón reports that some supporters of Yonai Sanchez are using her photo as their Facebook profile photo in order to show their solidarity.

The Miami Herald also reports that a dozen Cuban bloggers and over one hundred Internet Sites recently took part in a virtual protest, "using Tweets, text messages and blog posts to send out messages like ``Freedom'' and demanding the release of all political prisoners".

One country that is not bothered by the repressive regime in Cuba is Russia. According to General Nikolai Makarov in September, the Russian military will help train Cuban military personnel and repair old Soviet military equipment.