English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Dimas Castellanos, Havana, 29 November 2021– “The U.S. government is following a script, seeking to portray Cuba as a failed state,” grumbled Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla on Wednesday, November 10, during his appearance before the accredited diplomatic corps in Cuba. Among the defining elements that characterize a failed state, those related to its economy are … Continue reading “Yes, Cuba is a Failed State / Dimas Castellanos”
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”
Dimas Castellanos, 18 January 2016 — A commentary on five foreign policy issues raised by the Cuban president, Raul Castro, on December 29, 2015 during the closing session of the National Assembly of People’s Power. 1. Since 2015 there have been benefits from mutually advantageous, cooperative relationships with various countries, particularly the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. True, but … Continue reading “What People Are We Talking About? / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 30 November 2015 — The unstoppable exodus of Cubans has become a crisis once again. While thousands of our compatriots are stuck at the border between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the Government of Cuba chooses to ignore the main cause. In recent months, thousands of Cubans have been traveling through Central America for the … Continue reading “The Cuban Exodus: Causes and Effects / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 6 February 2015 — The conversations about normalisation of relations between Cuba and the United States, which were held in Havana on 21st and 22nd January, didn’t, as far as we know, advance the matter of human rights, because of differing understandings about the topic. From the Magna Carta in 1215, up to … Continue reading “What Human Rights Are They Talking About? / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 3 July 2015 — The leaders of Cuba and the United States have just announced the first and most important result of the process of normalizing relations between the two countries: the reopening of their embassies in Washington and Havana. The 196 days elapsed between 17 December 2014 and 1 July 2015 is 100 … Continue reading “Cuba Will Change To the Degree That We Cubans Change / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 10 April 2015 — If by “civil society” we mean a group of autonomous associations, public spaces, rights, and liberties by which citizens exchange opinions, make decisions and participate in political, economic and social matters that interest them–with no more authorization than what emanates from the laws of the land–then we need to … Continue reading “The Reestablishment of Civil Society: An Unavoidable Necessity / Dimas Castellanos”
The Information Society (IS) is an effect of a process of convergence among technological advances, the democratization of information, and communications, which erupted in the 1980s with such force that it caused the United Nations to call a world summit on information, which took place in the Swiss city of Geneva in 2003. At this … Continue reading “Computerization The Old-Fashioned Way / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 24 April 2015 — Elections for delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People’s Power were held in Cuba on April 19. In light of the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with the United States, they highlight the pressing need to expand the reforms to the political arena. For the first time close to one … Continue reading “Elections Highlight Need for Political Change in Cuba / Dimas Castellanos”
Dimas Castellanos, 16 April 2015 — On December 17, 2014 the presidents of Cuban and the United States announced their decision to reestablish diplomatic relations. It was the single most important political event for Cuba in the last half century. The Revolutionaries who took power in 1959 replaced the existing constitution with a few statutes. … Continue reading “Cuba and the United States, a Return to Politics / Dimas Castellanos”
In accordance with the new Foreign Investment Law*, workers will be engaged by an State-run employing organisation. When you factor in the fact that the only union permitted is the one representing the interests of the State, we are looking at a capitalist-style relationship in which the workers have no-one to defend them. Although we … Continue reading “Wages in Mariel: One Good Thing and a Lot of Bad Things / Dimas Castellanos”
One hundred and twenty-five years after his death on August 11, 1888, the scientific results that the eminent chemist, physiologist, agronomist, industrial technologist and science writer Alvaro Reynoso y Valdez bequeathed us are still on the waiting list. While the official Cuban press pays exaggerated attention to events and people linked to politics and wars, … Continue reading “Current Ideas / Dimas Castellanos”
The facts and news about the sport of balls and strikes, learned during the recently concluded month of July, settle the dispute between amateur and professional baseball in favor of the latter. It started with the debut of Yovani Aragón in the World Port Tournament of Rotterdam, a less demanding event than the Olympic Games and the … Continue reading “Free Baseball vs. Slave Baseball / Dimas Castellanos”
Interview of Dimas Castellanos by Ernesto Santana Zaldivar, published on April 26 and 29, 2013 in Cubanet. Although still uttered timidly, recently you have begun to hear the word “negotiation” in some statements by the Cuban political opposition. Despite having diverse opinions about it, a negotiation is, in general, a process in which two or … Continue reading “Political Opposition and Negotiations in Today’s Cuba / Dimas Castellanos”
At an extended meeting of the Council of Ministers held last Friday, May 13, the head of Foreign Commerce and Overseas Investments reported finding irregularities in business operations involving foreign capital and international contracts. Likewise, the minister of Finance and Planning spoke of irregularities and evidence of criminal activity related to fuel sales. Meanwhile, the … Continue reading “The Morality of the Survivor / Dimas Castellanos”