English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Havana, 12 July 2019 — Former political prisoner Ricardo Bofill Pagés, a renowned human rights activist in Cuba, died at the crack of dawn in Miami at 76 years old, according to friends and family members speaking to Radio y Televisión Martí. “I received a call with the bad news from Yolanda Miyares, his partner … Continue reading “Former Cuban Political Prisoner Ricardo Bofill Dies in Miami”
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, 14 January 2019 — The dissidence, as an organized civic movement, wasn’t born in Cuba until 1983. At the beginning of October of that year, I found myself in Combinado del Este prison, serving eight years for a manuscript critical of the political system, when I met a new prisoner: Ricardo Bofill … Continue reading “The Triumph and Defeat of the Cuban Dissidence”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Miami, 3 January 2018 — Representatives of the Cuban exile community in Miami, on Wednesday, called Cuba’s new immigration rules “abusive and aberrant”; the rules would allow children born abroad to Cuban parents to qualify for Cuban citizenship, but would deny it to such children of parents opposed to the ideology of the … Continue reading “Denying Citizenship to Children of Cuban Opponents is An "Aberration"”
Ivan Garcia, 12 December 2017 — On 28 January 1976 in Havana, Ricardo Bofull founded the Cuban Committee For Human Rights, along with Edmigio López and Marta Frayde. Forty-one years later, the independent journalist Tania Díaz Castro, in her house in Havana’s Jaimanitas neighborhood, west of the capital, surrounded by dogs and books, recalls that era. “I … Continue reading “Cuba: ’The Human Rights People’ / Iván García”
Iván García, 3 May 2017 — Let’s step back in time. One morning in 1985, Yndamiro Restano Díaz, a thirty-seven-year-old journalist with Radio Rebelde, took out an old Underwood and wrote a clandestine broadsheet entitled “Nueva Cuba.” After distributing the single-page, handmade newspaper up and down the street, one copy ended up pinned to a wall … Continue reading “Independent Journalism Seeks to Revive Press Freedom / Iván García”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 17 January 2017 — Talking with Belkis Cantillo these days can be an impossible mission. With her home raided on several occasions, a daughter about to give her her first granddaughter and the foundation of the new Dignity Movement, the life of this woman is a whirlwind. A resident of Palmarito del Cauto, Santiago … Continue reading “Belkis Cantillo Launches A New Fight From Santiago De Cuba / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 5 January 2017 — The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN), a dissident group, denounced today that it had documented at least 9,940 arbitrary arrests for “political reasons” in 2016, the highest figure of the last six years. With a monthly average of 827 arrests, the opposition organization said … Continue reading “Dissident Group Denounces At Least 9,940 Arbitrary Arrests In Cuba In 2016 / EFE,14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 2 November 2016 — The arbitrary arrests of peaceful dissidents in Cuba marked the highest figure in the last three months in October, with 620 cases, according to the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation’s (CCDHRN) monthly report, released Wednesday. The report also cites 17 physical assaults, 39 acts of police harassment … Continue reading “Cuban Human Rights Group Denounces “Unstoppable Deterioration Of Civil And Political Rights” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, 5 October 2016 — The Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) reported Wednesday that, during the month of September, there were at least 570 arbitrary arrests for political reasons, more than the 517 similar arrests of the previous month. The monthly report of the independent organization, headed by activist Elizardo Sanchez, … Continue reading “Cuban Human Rights Group: 570 Arbitrary Arrests in September / 14ymedio”
Ivan Garcia, 28 May 2016 — Thirty-one years after its founding, the government annoyingly continues to jam broadcasts by Radio Marti and its television signal still cannot be picked up in Cuba. Its website is censored and this media empire was a point of contention in negotiations with the Havana government to normalize relations with … Continue reading “Radio and Television Marti: Notes from Havana / Iván García”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 5 May 2016 — Since early this month, members of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) have begun to disseminate the document Minimum Program and Projections, which outlines guidelines for the actions of the opposition organization, forms of struggle, and a proposal for the country ‘s future. With the publication of this text, … Continue reading “Patriotic Union Of Cuba Launches A Political Program / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
14ymedio, Havana, 3 May 2016 – A report released on Tuesday by the Cuban National Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation (CCDHRN) announced that during the April there were “at least 1,380 arbitrary arrests for political reasons” in Cuba. A situation that “confirms the ultra repressive policy adopted at the highest level of the government of the … Continue reading “Rights Commission Counts 1,380 Political Arrests in Cuba in April / 14ymedio”
Luis Felipe Rojas, 28 March 2016 — With mouths agape and arms extended to the heavens, Cubans of goodwill are still awaiting the night on which Raúl Castro will liberate all political prisoners and fling into the garbage can that judicial aberration which is the current Penal Code. Meanwhile, Elizardo Sánchez Santacruz, president of the Cuban … Continue reading “A Glossary Against the Deafness of Raul Castro / Luis Felipe Rojas”
Ivan Garcia, Havana, 24 March 2016 — On any given day, getting to the residence of the press attaché for the United States public affairs office in Cuba, located at 7th Avenue and 24th Street in the Havana suburb of Miramar, never takes more than twenty minutes by taxi from the center of Havana. But Obama’s … Continue reading “Ben Rhodes: "I Am Optimistic About Obama’s Policy Towards Cuba" / Iván García”
EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 22 March 2016 – Several dissidents who met with President Barack Obama in Havana this Tuesday, assessed the meeting as “positive” and “frank,” and one of them delivered a list of 89 political prisoners recorded by the group he leads. Elizardo Sanchez, spokesman for the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National … Continue reading “Dissidents Call Meeting With Obama Positive And Give Him A List Of Political Prisoners / EFE, 14ymedio”
