Cuba is getting its first independently-owned newspaper in five decades thanks to one ambitious blogger, Yoani Sánchez.

"In recent weeks we have seen a preview of how official propaganda will demonize us for creating this medium," Sánchez wrote via her blog, Generation Y.

The online newspaper, 14yMedio, was launched on Wednesday, named after the year of its creation and its homebase, Sánchez's 14th floor apartment in Havana, according to Reuters. The website features 11 workers, including Sánchez and her husband Reinaldo Escobar, who serves as editor-in-chief. Cuban state security officials have already brought in six members of the team for questioning.

"They were pressured and told I was a bad, bad person," Sanchez said.

Criticizing Cuba's government is punishable by jail time.To help avoid this, Sánchez's team has been dubbed "typists," Reuters reports, a title that Sánchez says is the "closest thing to journalism" that the law allows.

"This is not earning a living; its a passion," Sánchez said of the typists, who will work for free.

In addition, the publication will avoid words like "regime" and "dictatorship," Escobar said.

"We want to produce a newspaper that doesn't aim to be anti-Castro, a newspaper that's committed to the truth, to Cubans' everyday reality," Escobar told Associated Press.

The 38-year-old, who already has an extensive following thanks to her award-winning blog and appearence in Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list, wrote that 14yMedio "will support and accompany the necessary transition that is going to take place in our country."

14yMedio was funded by $150,000 worth of donations from small donors, enough to keep the site running for a year.

"We don't accept any government money, only from individuals connected to journalism," Sánchez explained.

Unfortunately, many Cubans don't have easy access to Internet, so the influence of the site on Cuban residents is yet to be determined. The online newspaper will also be sharable via a weekly PDF, Associated Press reports.

---

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter:@ScharHar.