On the afternoon of this Thursday, the computer engineer Iroel Sánchez Espinosa, one of the most extremist voices of official Cuban propaganda, died in Havana at the age of 58. Known for his constant smear campaigns against dissidents and the independent press, until now the cause of his death has not been made public, although it began to circulate a few months ago. the rumor about a cancer which led to his hospitalization.
Born in Santa Clara in September 1964, Sánchez graduated from what was then called José Antonio Echeverría University City (Cujae), but most of his professional life he worked as a Communist Party cadre at the head of different cultural and the comunications.
Sánchez was part of the thousands of Cubans who participated in the armed conflicts in Angola and upon his return from Africa he went on to direct the Casa Editora Abril. He was later appointed president of the Cuban Book Institute and of the Organizing Committee of the Havana International Book Fair, positions from which he spread literary censorship, political sectarianism, and opportunism.
His arrival in that entity coincided with the appearance of the first independent blogs in Cuba and Sánchez became the spearhead against the new information phenomenon.
In 2009, an alleged verbal confrontation with the then Minister of Culture, Abel Prieto, cost him his departure from the Institute and he went on to work at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications under the aegis of Ramiro Valdés. His arrival at that entity coincided with the appearance of the first independent blogs in Cuba and Sánchez became the spearhead against the new information phenomenon.
From there, the computer engineer launched constant attacks on independent journalists, created numerous firing squad campaigns for the reputation of activists and dissidents, in addition to presenting himself in countless public spaces as an authority on communication issues, digital media, and computerization of the society.
Sánchez promoted the creation of the Ecured encyclopedia, an attempt to emulate the collaborative project of Wikipedia and in which the files dedicated to opponents, exiled artists and ousted officials are marked by an obvious ideological bias and riddled with omissions and falsehoods.
From his blog the sleepless pupil He maintained his crusade against all forms of dissent and established himself as one of the most radical voices in official propaganda. A style that he maintained and extended to the television program the astonished pupil, space that he directed until the moment of his death.
His editorial production also focused on vilifying those who promote democratic change on the Island, with titles in the style of S suspicions and disagreements. A Cuban look on the net either Cuba against the good neighbor. Between the contract and heresy.
Among the projects to which he breathed his sectarianism and his visceral rejection of all political divergence are the program Round table, the digital site cubadebate and television spots Squaring the Box and With Edge, the latter aimed at discrediting artists, activists and participants in the popular protests that shook Cuba in July 2021.
Feared by his work colleagues, protected by Commander Ramiro Valdés and given to bravado, Iroel Sánchez was a Taliban of official thought and one of the most finished products of radicalism mixed with careerism. With his early death, questions arise as to whether the projects he helped create will run out of steam.
The victims of his defamations have lost the possibility of taking him before a court of the future democratic Cuba.
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