Yoani Sánchez

Yoani María Sánchez Cordero is a philologist, digital journalist, and activist. She was born on September 4, 1975, in Havana, Cuba.

Graduated from the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Havana in 2000.

After completing his higher education, he had a very brief stint with the Gente Nueva Publishing House, which he left to teach Spanish to tourists.

In 2002, he traveled to Switzerland. There, in Zurich, he resided until 2004, when he decided to return to the Island and establish his residence there. In that same year, he co-founded the magazine Consenso with other Cubans.

In 2007, she launched her blog Generación Y, which fundamentally serves as a bridge between the daily reality of Cuba and the world. Using straightforward and unembellished language, along with a critical perspective, she documents the numerous issues of everyday life in Cuba. From this moment on, her posts began to attract increasing attention, her figure became more controversial, and she gained international recognition while facing censorship and attacks from the media and official power mechanisms in Cuba.

She has received, like many other Cuban activists, threats, detentions, house arrest, and has been subjected multiple times to intense interrogations by agents of the Cuban state security.

In May 2014, he founded the digital newspaper 14ymedio.com, which operates from the apartment where he resides in Cuba.

Both the work on his blog, which bravely confronts a system from within, and the topics he addresses have earned him numerous accolades. Just a year after launching his blog, he received the Ortega y Gasset Award for Digital Journalism (Spain, 2008), and Time Magazine included him in its list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World (United States, 2008).

He has received, among others, the following awards and distinctions:

The 10 Characters of 2008 (Gatopardo, Mexico, 2008)

100 Most Important Hispano-Americans in 2008 (El País, Spain, 2008)

10 Most Influential Intellectuals in Latin America in 2008 (Foreign Policy, United States, 2008)

The BOBs (Deutsche Welle, Germany, 2008)

Global Young Leaders Award (World Economic Forum, Switzerland, 2009)

25 Best Blogs of 2009 (Time Magazine, 2009)

Heroes of the Hemisphere Award 2009 (Pan American Foundation for Development, United States, 2009)

Young Leaders Award 2009 (International Foundation of Young Leaders, Argentina, 2009)

María Moors Cabot Prize (Columbia University, United States, 2009)

Blog of the Month in December 2009 (The Good Web Guide, UK, 2009)

World Hero of Press Freedom (International Press Institute, United States, 2010)

Award for Freedom CEPOS (Danish Center for Independent Research, Denmark, 2010)

Jaime Brunet International Award (Public University of Navarre, Spain, 2010)

The bravest woman on earth (Chosen by readers, 20 minutos, Spain, 2010)

Prince Claus Award for Journalism (Prince Claus Foundation for Culture and Development, Netherlands, 2010)

International Women of Courage Award (U.S. Department of State, 2011)

100 Women with Digital Talent (Wellcommunity, Spain, 2011)

The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers (Foreign Policy, United States, 2011)

150 Fearless Women (The Daily Beast, United States, 2012)