English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
By Dimas Castellano, 9 February 2016 Property and crisis Once the Cuban Government arrived in power, imbued by an exacerbated voluntarism, it ignored the laws that govern the economy and subordinated them to ideology. From this moment on, the loss of the autonomy that is required by economic processes was converted into a factor of … Continue reading “Crisis in Agriculture: Land for Those Who Work It / Dimas Castellanos”
14ymedio, Regina Coyula, Havana, 10 February 2016 – The Uruguayan journalist Fernando Ravsberg has spent years living in Cuba. But after reading his article Uncle Sam’s Cuban Cousins, and pondering it, I think what happened to Ravsberg in Cuba is the same thing that happened to the “disoriented Swede in Burundi” he references in his article. One … Continue reading “A Swede in Burundi, a Uruguayan in Cuba / 14ymedio, Regina Coyula”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 3 February 2016 – In a recent interview, the young playwright and actor Yunior García Aguilera affirmed that he was “dissatisfied with everything.” A finalist for the Virgilio Piñera Prize for his work Sangre (Blood), and highly praised by critics for his piece Semen (Semen), this graduate of the National School … Continue reading “Yunior García’s Uncomfortable Questions / 14ymedio, Luz Escobar”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 28 January 2016 — Journalism is a high-risk profession. Death threats and imprisonment are just around the corner for thousands of journalists throughout the world. In Cuba, as an illustrious writer said, in the last five decades “they haven’t killed journalists because they have killed journalism.” One organization defends the rights of the … Continue reading “A Decade Of Work On Press Freedom For Cuba / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Ivan Garcia, 13 January 2016 — There were more than seven thousand arrests of dissidents in 2015, with most detentions lasting several hours. Beatings, harassment, acts of repudiation and degrading treatment by police are common in Cuba. Political reforms are not part of General Raúl Castro’s agenda. Despite the repression in Havana there is one … Continue reading “Opposition Marchers Should Change Their Strategy / Ivan Garcia”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, 11 January 2016 – The sun wasn’t even up when they heard the pounding on the door and the house became a chaos of police and demolition brigades. Amid the screams of the family’s children and the alarm of the faithful, the temple of the Fire and Dynamics evangelical movement in Camaguey … Continue reading ““They See Us as a Threat” / 14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar”
Eliecer Avila, 31 December 2015 — To offer a comprehensive summary of the work realized by the Somos+ movement in 2015, we would need the pages of a book. Thus, I will only try, in a strong exercise of memory, to highlight some details and successes of our recent history that characterize the performance and demonstrate … Continue reading “A Year That Counts in Our Favor / Somos+, Eliecer Avila”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 29 December 2015 — Cuba is the only country in this hemisphere that does not conduct democratic multi-party elections, which is what the Revolution of 1959 fought for and what different wings of the democratic left and the opposition forces of all stripes have been advocating for years. Democratization of the … Continue reading “Cuba Also Needs Democratic Multiparty Elections / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 17 December 2015 – Several articles have already appeared alluding to the first anniversary of the normalization of relations between Cuba and the USA and evaluating the results. For some nothing has happened: nothing has changed. But diplomatic relations were restored and there have been some institutional agreements on drug control, human … Continue reading “One Year After December 17, Who Took The Lead? / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
Demands of the Forum for Rights and Freedoms (Road Map) Immediate release and annulment of sentences for all political prisoners (Amnesty Decree) With regards to the Constitution, laws, regulations, procedures and administrative practices: Repeal all articles that violate the United Nations International Covenants on Human Rights. Protect freedoms of expression, association, assembly, movement, conscience, religion, … Continue reading “Forum for Rights and Freedoms Road Map”
Diario Las Americas, Leonel Luis Leon, 5 December 2015 — Rosa María Payá, daughter of the deceased Cuban opposition leader Oswaldo Payá – who received the Andrei Sakharov Human Rights Prize from the European Parliament and founded the Varela Project for a citizen plebiscite in Cuba – received a major recognition of her civic activism on being … Continue reading “Rosa María Paya: Totalitarianism Does Not Tolerate Participation / Leonel Luis Leon”
14ymedio, Pedro Campos, Havana, 25 November 2015 — The current immigration crisis created by the presence of thousands of Cubans in Central America in transit to the United States has put the issue of human rights in Cuba back in the international arena, in particular the civil, political, social and economic rights of Cubans. The … Continue reading “The Exodus Is Due To The Lack Of Freedom / 14ymedio, Pedro Campos”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Miami, 7 November 2015 — Nicolas Maduro knows he will lose the election on December 6. The disaster is too intense. So say all the polls. Ninety percent of Venezuelans want a change. Eighty percent blame Maduro. Seventy percent are determined to vote against this thoroughly incompetent government. Venezuelans are tired of lining … Continue reading “Nicolas Maduro’s Two Plans / 14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 October 2015 – The Cuban political police intend to prosecute lawyer and journalist Roberto de Jesus Quinones for a crime called “spreading false news about international peace,” according to what the independent journalist told this daily a few hours following his release after having been arrested October 5. Monday a group of … Continue reading ““They Want To Frighten Me and Other Independent Journalists” / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 October 2015 — At six in the morning on Monday, a group of 15 Interior Ministry troops stormed the house of lawyer and an independent journalist Jesus Quiñones Haces, in the city of Guantanamo. The troops conducted a thorough search and took the reporter, without specifying the reasons for his arrest or his … Continue reading “Independent journalist Roberto de Jesus Quiñones Arrested in Guantanamo / 14ymedio”
