English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Declaration of San Juan The first Cuban National Conference met in San Juan, Puerto Rico from August 13 to 15, 2015. Twenty-three organizations from the Cuban archipelago and 32 from the exile participated, duly represented by more than 100 of their leaders. The event was organized by United Cubans of Puerto Rico. Animating us was … Continue reading “Declaration of San Juan / Cuban National Conference”
14ymedio, 20 June 2015 – This Monday, a group of protestors outside the new Cuban embassy in Washington accompanied the speech by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez with shouts of “Cuba sí, Castro No”; “Freedom for Cuba”; “Democracy.” While some chanted, “Viva Cuba,” others responded, “Freedom.” At some points “Castro sí” was also hears. “Never … Continue reading “Cubans Expect Thaw to Lead to Improvements For All The People / 14ymedio”
Interview with Rosa Maria Paya Leader of the Christian Liberation Movement and Cuba Decides From El Pais “The United States is negotiating with the Cuban caste.” Cuban regime opponent, daughter of Oswaldo Para, speaks of the shortcomings of the thaw. Alba Casas Madrid, 3 July 2015, 23:03 CEST To Rosa Maria Paya (b. January 1989, … Continue reading “MCl Leader for the Freedom of a Cuba without Castros / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, Panama, 8 April 2015 — Young Latin American leaders gathered Tuesday on the second day of the 2nd Youth and Democracy Regional Forum in Panama and addressed issues such as the rise of populist regimes in the region, and agreed on the need to organize civil society at the hemispheric level to fight against political … Continue reading “Young Latin Americans call to fight against political apathy / 14ymedio”
PanAm Post, Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo, 8 April 2015 — A ghost ship haunts the halls of this week’s Summit of the Americas in Panama: the Chong Chon Gang. The vessel, seized in the Panama Canal in July 2013, contained a deadly cargo hidden under 250,000 bags of sugar. The contraband ammunition and weapons on … Continue reading “The Specter of Castro Haunts Panama Summit / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 April 2015 — The Second Regional Youth and Democracy Forum started Monday in Panama City with the challenge of becoming a “dialogue space for young leaders of student, social and political movements in the region.” The meeting, which runs until Tuesday and is organized by the Latin American Youth for Democracy Network … Continue reading “Young people call to fight against fear and self-censorship / 14ymedio”
LET THE OLD DEAD GIVE WAY TO THE NEW DEAD Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo The title is, of course, a quote from the Czech, Milan Kundera, an obsolete reference for the rest of a world, which believes it is living in the post-communist era. But in Cuba, it continues to be something referring to the … Continue reading “Castrobama / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernandez, 22 January 2015 — In July of last year, when I talked to some of the victims of the “Marzo de 13” Tugboat massacre in the Bay of Havana, I found a list of horrifying statistics. Two of them would make any halfway decent human being shudder: the bodies recovered from … Continue reading “A Question for Roberta Jacobson / 14ymedio, Clive Rudd Fernandez”
“But Cubans are tired, Cubans want changes. More than ten years ago more than 25,000 Cubans supported a legal reform project. Called the Varela Project, it called for a plebiscite to ask the people, yes or no, did they want free elections. The Cuban Constitution establishes that if more than 10,000 people support a legal … Continue reading “Letter to Pope Francis from the Christian Liberation Movement Youth”
Poster: Rolando Pulido Luis Leonel León: The Black Eyes of Rosa María Payá From El Nuevo Herald The magazine “People en Español” chose her as one of the 25 most powerful Latin women. On a list that includes Jennifer López, Sofía Vergara, Kate del Castillo, Lupita Jones, Paulina Rubio, Doctor Polo and other celebrities across … Continue reading “The Truth in the Gaze / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Shooting themselves in the foot Photo credited to UN Watch. UN Watch and Human Rights Foundation brought famous dissidents to testify at the UN headquarters on 4 November about on the state of human rights in their countries. From left to right: Chinese dissident Yang Jianli, Cuban dissident Rosa Maria Paya, Saudi dissident Ali al-Ahmed, … Continue reading “Prison Diary LXV: Cuba in the Human Rights Council: How to Demand What has Not Yet Been Met / Angel Santiesteban”
Photo: LFelipe Rojas An event has shaken the forums on Cuba and Cubans lately. The trips abroad of some Cuban opponents of the regime has focused attention on the tendency of we Cubans to be who we are: passionate, extremists, relaxed, dazzling, contemptuous, in short, human. But there are three women in particular I want … Continue reading “Useless? Without Virtue? / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Translated by Alex Higson. From Sampsonia Way Magazine. You must have nearly suicidal courage to accuse Cuban State Security, an offshoot of the Soviet KGB which has thousands of officials and millions of collaborators on and off the island, of a double murder. The accusation comes from Madrid, from Ángel Carromero, of the youth wing … Continue reading “Carromero’s Courage / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
I waited until the end of the line, after hundreds of mourners had filed past his casket. It was the month of July, criminally hot. In the Savior of the World parish in Havana’s Cerro municipality, the wake was being held for the founder of the Christian Liberation Movement (MCL): Oswaldo Payá, 1952-2012. I bent … Continue reading “One Year After the Scaffold / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
In my Cuban childhood, during the horrendous ‘70s, years of scarcity and closure, the United States was a mythical space. It was the unknown, the outside, the other, freedom, illusion: a chimera of hope in the midst of the sterilizing infirmity of Real Socialism. In my childish imagination, perhaps because the maps imported from Eastern Europe were … Continue reading “My United States / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
