Obama Airs Cuba Views in Answers to Blogger

President Barack Obama reached out to one of Cuba's most prominent dissidents, blogger Yoani Sánchez, and, in an interview posted on her popular blog, challenged the island's ruling gerontocracy to permit freedom of speech. Obama's move is sure to rile the Castro regime, which appears unsure how to handle a growing movement of bloggers who use the Internet to openly criticize the government. Internet access is restricted in Cuba, but growing numbers of Cubans get some information over the Web. This month, Sánchez says she and two other Cuban bloggers were picked up by Cuban secret police, stuffed into the back of a car, and beaten. Undaunted, Sánchez soon wrote about the event on her blog. Days later, Sánchez turned a camera on Cuban secret police agents posted outside her house and put them on the blog.