English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Marta Requeiro, Miami, 15 July 2017 — July 13, 1989, began with a morning of radiant sun, however since that day, the fear of injustice and a terrible coldness stole from me that peak of inner tranquility that I might have had and for a long time now has crushed me. I did not … Continue reading “The Day They Shot Ochoa”
IGNACIO VARONA, 14ymedio, Havana, Cuba | 13 July 2014 — The Cuban government’s support for the Soviet tank invasion of Czechoslovakia, the failure of the 10 Million Ton Sugar Harvest, the case of Heberto Padilla, the repudiation rallies of 1980, and Cuba’s Black Spring are chief among the breaking points for many who at one time … Continue reading “The Ochoa Case: A Turning Point / 14ymedio”
14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 14 March 2024 — The most recent edition of the Cuban TV Con Filo* program has touched on “a slaughter” against Cuba’s ousted Minister of Economy and Planning, Alejandro Gil Fernandez. The most unpopular program on Cuban television began by quoting Che: “this counterrevolutionary must be persecuted and annihilated.” They then established … Continue reading “Cuban TV Program ‘Con Filo’ Campaigns for the Execution of Ousted Economy Minister Alejandro Gil”
14ymedio, Havana, Reinaldo Escobar, 8 March 2024 — An unusual “official note” made public the depth of the fall of Alejandro Gil Fernández, Cuba’s now ousted Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Planning. Readers of the the Communist Party press already know that this headline discloses the most important information, but this note … Continue reading “Alejandro Gil Will Not Be the Only One To Fall”
THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL Cuban Dissidence Task Group Havana City, June 27, 1997 INTRODUCTION I – HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION II- IN THE NAME OF UNITY III- THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IV – THE PLAN FOR SOLVING THE CRISIS V – CONCLUSIONS VI – RECOMMENDATIONS Original in Spanish here Authors: Felix Antonio Bonne Carcasses, Rene Gomez Manzano, Vladimiro Roca Antunez, Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello Translated … Continue reading “THE HOMELAND BELONGS TO US ALL – Cuban Dissidence Task Group 1997 – Historic Document”
14ymedio, Madrid, January 25, 2024 — Former Colombian drug trafficker Carlos Lehder, who has just published his memoirs under the title Life and Death of the Medellín Cartel, continues to reveal details about the relationship of the criminal organization with Cuba. In a telephone interview with journalist Vicky Dávila on Semana magazine’s television program, the former criminal … Continue reading “‘Fidel Castro Had to Know’ Says Former Colombian Drug Dealer Carlos Lehder”
14ymedio, Clara Riveros, Miami, 14 January 2023 — The complicity between drug lords and the political leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly Cuba, was key to the rise, positioning and expansion of the Colombian cartels in the decade of the 1980s, as extracted from Vida y muerte del cartel de Medellín [Life and Death … Continue reading “Former Colombian Drug Trafficker Carlos Lehder Recounts His Meeting with Raul Castro in Cuba”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico, 20 May 2023 — The Mexican academic Andrés Ordóñez regretted this Saturday the radicalisms in the debates on the Cuban Revolution and considered that they are not something exclusive to the Island but a trend in today’s world. “We are living in times of polarization. That intolerance, that propensity to disqualify … Continue reading “Polarization in Cuba Is Part of a General Crisis, Says Academic Andres Ordonez”
14ymedio, Frank Calzón, Miami, 3 September 2022 — Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader who wanted to salvage communism with his reforms and openings known as glasnost and perestroika, could not convince Fidel of the pragmatism of these reforms during his visit to Cuba in 1989. Fidel did not like the interest generated by the Russian … Continue reading “Cuba: Fidel Castro’s Tantrum with Gorbachev”
14ymedio, Carlos Alberto Montaner, 22 July 2022 — It has been 10 years since Oswaldo Payá and Harold Cepero were assassinated in Cuba. It was July 22, 2012. We’ll get to that later. Ángel Carromero, a Spaniard, and Aron Modig, a Swede, were, more or less, witnesses to the murder. Carromero was a delegate of … Continue reading “‘Give Him Death’”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 16 July 2022 — Ernesto Guevara’s incursion into Bolivia to organize a guerrilla is the only espionage story that Castroism tells children. The story has all the ingredients of a James Bond movie: a charismatic and cynical protagonist, false passports, codes and code words, disguises to mislead the enemy and, of … Continue reading “Che Guevara Was Not James Bond and That’s Why it Ended Badly”
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 1 July 2022 — The unexpected death of General Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Calleja has given way to a list of questions and a mountain of speculation. [See also.] Among the questions that have arisen since Friday, we should mention those that refer to his possible successor and whether whoever replaces him will … Continue reading “Lopez-Calleja, the Key Piece that Fell from the Cuban Political Board”
14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 21 May 2022 — Holguín exists thanks to a plague of ants and bibijaguas [leaf cutter ants]. It is the strangest and most enigmatic region of the Island. Columbus entered Cuba through it and in Nipe – the largest bay in the archipelago – the Virgin of Charity was found. In … Continue reading “‘That Secret Symphony’, Holguín’s Poetic Dissidence”
14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 22 July 2021 — The month of July has borne witness to a number of events that have been turning points in Cuba’s history: Fidel Castro’s assault on the Moncada Barracks in July 1953, which ignited the revolution; the execution of the revolutionary general Arnaldo Ochoa that shocked many Cubans in 1989; and … Continue reading “A New Generation of Cubans Will Not Be Silenced”
14ymedio, Havana, 13 July 2020 — The official newspaper Granma chose to commemorate the arrival in Cuba of the alleged remains of Ernesto Che Guevara, while it hid the anniversary of the sinking of the ’13 de Marzo” Tugboat, and the anniversary of the shooting of General Arnaldo Ochoa on Monday, both events that occurred on July 13, 1994 and 1989 respectively. The … Continue reading “‘Granma’ Hides the Anniversary of the Sinking of the ’13 de Marzo’ Tugboat”
