English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
EFE (via 14ymedio), Madrid, 11 February 2022 — The Spanish-Cuban activist Carolina Barrero said this Friday at a press conference held at the Ateneo de Madrid that “the [Cuban] dictatorship has never been in a moment of weakness as great as it is now.” “They know it, that’s why they look for ways to repress, … Continue reading “The Cuban Dictatorship Represses Because it is Weak, Says Activist Carolina Barrero”
14ymedio, Madrid, 4 February 2022 — On Thursday, Carolina Barrero became the latest case, to date, of an activist forced into exile. The art historian traveled on Thursday to Madrid after being informed by State Security that she had 48 hours to abandon the Island, according to her own account on Facebook. The activist was … Continue reading “Activist Carolina Barrero Left Cuba, Forced into Exile by Threats of the Regime”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 March 2021 – The criminal case against Carolina Barrero for “clandestine printing” has been shelved this Thursday, as she herself confirmed on her social networks. “Together we can build a culture of law, we have to know that we can defend ourselves against arbitrariness and fight for our legal rights,” she wrote … Continue reading “The Case in Cuba Against Carolina Barrero for ‘Clandestine Printed Matter’ Has Been Shelved”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 February 2021 — The art historian Carolina Barrero reported this Saturday that Cuban State Security has opened a police file on her for the alleged crime of “clandestine printing.” During an interrogation, a State Security agent urged the young woman to return to Spain, where she currently lives. The complaint against Barrero was … Continue reading “The Political Police Threaten Carolina Barrero and ‘Advise’ Her to Leave Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 24 November 2023 — Before the of the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Eamon Gilmore, landed in Cuba, State Security had already detained Professor Pedro Albert Sánchez and Dr. Fernándo Vázquez, both activists, who had announced their intention to meet with the Irish senior official. Ana Elvis Amaya, wife of Pedro … Continue reading “Political Police Isolate Opponents During EU Representative Eamon Gilmore’s Visit to Cuba”
14ymedio, Madrid, 10 October 2023 — Despite the numerous complaints against its candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council, Cuba obtained 146 votes in its favor on Tuesday. The Island, systematically accused of violating basic rights and freedoms, and with 784 political prisoners, will be part of the Council from 2024 to 2026. The Cuban … Continue reading “Cuba Re-Elected to the UN Human Rights Council Despite Its History of Repression”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 8 September 2023 — About 20 Cuban opposition organizations and 30 individual dissidents, mostly based abroad, signed a statement that rejects the recently announced candidacy for the re-election of Cuba to the UN Human Rights Council for the period 2024-2026. The document, published this Thursday, states that the Cuban State “does … Continue reading “Cuba’s Candidacy for the UN Human Rights Council Is Being Challenged”
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 December 2022 — About twenty activists from Amnesty International (AI) and friends of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara gathered this Friday in front of the Cuban Embassy in Madrid to remember the birthday of the artist, who has been in prison since July 11, 2021, and to demand his release . Olatz Cacho, spokesperson … Continue reading “Cuban Embassy in Madrid Activates an Alarm to Ward Off Otero AlcAntara’s Friends”
14ymedio, Havana, September 20, 2022–Writer María Cristina Garrido, her sister Angélica, and activist Lizandra Góngora, arrested for their participation in the 11J protests [11 July 2021], announced on Tuesday their refusal to wear common prisoner uniforms and declared the start of a hunger strike. The prisoners signed a note from the women’s prison in Guatao, … Continue reading “The Garrido Sisters, Convicted in Cuba for July 11th (11J), are ‘Plantadas’ and Demand their Freedom”
14ymedio, Havana, 30 August 2022 — “If a door were opened for me right now, where I could go into exile, brother, I’d go, do you understand?” The words of Maykel Castillo Osorbo, in a telephone conversation from prison with Armando Labrador, owner of the Cántalo TV YouTube channel, suggest that the artist is willing to … Continue reading “From Jail, Rapper Maykel ‘Osorbo’ Suggests He is Willing to Leave Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 22 July 2022 — The Cuban opposition figure and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara informed his family on Wednesday that he is suffering “harassment” by a prisoner in the Guanajay maximum security prison. According to the curator Claudia Genlui, the inmate has a 51-year sentence and State Security has instructed him “to attack Luis … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Used a Common Prisoner to Harass Otero Alcantara in Prison”
14ymedio, Havana, 19 June 2022 — Due to the “episode of repression” that activist Saily González Velázquez suffered last Thursday, she decided to leave Cuba and this Sunday she arrived in Miami in the United States. According to what she made known through her social networks, her decision was made “very hastily and I have told … Continue reading “Saily Gonzalez Arrives in the US in the Face of Growing Threats from the Cuban Police”
14ymedio, Madrid, 30 May 2021 — On Monday, May 30th, an impenetrable operation guarded the Tribunal in Marianao in Havana, where the first day of the trial was held for Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo. Some witnesses who were able to attend the oral arguments relayed to 14ymedio that, based on the behavior of the Tribunal and … Continue reading “Arrests and Threats for Cuban Activists During the Trial of Alcantara and Osorbo”
14ymedio, Macarena Soto, Madrid, 16 April 2022 — Madrid has become, in recent months, a place of “refuge” for Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan dissidents who have found other opponents in the Spanish capital and another tone from which to raise their voices against the governments of their countries. Ever since Venezuelan opponents such as businessman … Continue reading “Madrid, the New Miami for the Latin American Dissidence”
14ymedio, Madrid, 3 February 2022 — The Madrid-based Cuban Observatory of Human Rights (OCDH), denounced the continuing “repressive spiral in Cuba,” amid the silence of Spain, the European Union, and Latin America. In its last report, the organization documented 643 repressive actions in January, of which 136 were arbitrary detentions and 507 other types of … Continue reading “At Least 184 of the 187 Trials in Cuba in January were for the July 11th (11J) Protests”
