English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
I have lost my little scissors, the ones for cutting fingernails. For a moment I thought the world had ended because here things are very well kept. A lot has to change to find good scissors, especially with the characteristics of the ones I thought I had lost. I was still talking with a friend … Continue reading “Who Keeps Ernesto Borges Prisoner? / Lilianne Ruiz”
14ymedio, Havana 31 October 2022 — Lorenzo Rosales, the Cuban protestant pastor condemned to seven years in prison after joining the 21 July 2021 anti-government protests, has been awarded the Patmos prize, which is given out annually by the Cuban Institute of the same name. The annual award, now in its ninth year, is presented … Continue reading “Patmos Prize Awarded to Protestant Pastor Lorenzo Rosales, Imprisoned for Protests of 11 July 2021”
Mario Lleonart, 30 October 2015 — Once again the name of Ernesto Borges Pérez returns to the public arena, generating new expectations about his release. He has served more than seventeen long years of the thirty to which he was sentenced, after his death sentence was commuted at the prosecutor’s request. Ernesto’s advance disclosure thwarted the … Continue reading “Another Prisoner Swap? / Mario Lleonart”
Ivan Garcia, 21 June 2015 — When Berta Soler, leader of one of three splinter groups of the Ladies in White, convened a referendum on her continued command of the organization following a scandal in Fall 2014 regarding alleged verbal abuse of a member, it marked a milestone in dissident circles – more so for … Continue reading “Transparency, Honesty and Free Information: Exotic Ideals in Cuba / Ivan Garcia”
Right about now, on this Father’s Day, Raúl Borges Álvarez is surely living something similar to what he has been suffering for 17 years, petitioning the prison where one of his two sons is held which will not even concede the possibility of letting him out on parole, to which he is entitled by law — all … Continue reading “Profile of a Father / Mario Lleonart”
14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Havana, 12 June 2015 – As was expected, Cardinal Jaime Ortega’s flat denial of the fact that there are still political prisoners in Cuba has leaked from the interview granted to Spain’s Ser Chain program Hour 25. It borders on the enigmatic how someone in the position of this man is … Continue reading “The Cardinal’s Bad Memory / 14ymedio, Mario Felix LLeonart”
14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart, Havana, 1 December 2014 — Last November 4, the White House reiterated that the case of citizen Alan Gross, prisoner in Cuba for bringing electronic equipment onto the Island, is not comparable to that of the Cuban spy members of the Wasp Network and that therefore there will be no exchange. … Continue reading “Alan Gross, ‘The New York Times’ And The Spies / 14ymedio, Mario Felix Lleonart”
The majority of the Cuban community will celebrate Christmas and the advent of the new year, unaware that a political prisoner, David Piloto Barcelo, is serving his punishment in the worst conditions, for defending his unobjectionable right to choose a president, to openly criticize government conduct, to protest, to demonstrate, to join the party that … Continue reading “Christmas in Cuba has no Carols, but Villains in Power”
HAVANA, Cuba, July 2013, www.cubanet.org. In Combinado del Este Prison, in the presence of a lieutenant from the Ministry of the Interior, a common prisoner threatened political prisoner Ernesto Borges with death. This past June, the common prisoner, who was appointed by the prison authorities as “Head of the Council of Prisoners” despite being a … Continue reading “Life or Death of a Political Prisoner: Instructions in a Sealed Envelope / Lilianne Ruiz”
Note: This and other photos in this post are of State Security agents. HAVANA, Cuba, June 2013, Lilianne Ruiz, www.cubanet.org — On every street in Cuba there are so-called “revolutionary vigilantes,” people who work independently for the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR). They meet periodically with an official from the State Security … Continue reading ““The Lives of Others” Cuban Version / Lilianne Ruiz”
By Lilianne Ruiz Havana, Cuba, April, http://www.cubanet.org. After having been more than a week in a punishment cell, Angel Santiesteban was seen Tuesday, April 16 by his lawyer Amelia Rodriguez Cala, who was denied a visit on April 11. The prison’s own officials had declared that Santiesteban was in a punishment cell and carrying out … Continue reading “Santiesteban depends on us”
As an unexpected Christmas present, Doors to the Imagination: New Cuban Literature arrived in Havana last week. The volume compiles the prize winners and honorable mentions from the Voices of Change writing contest, sponsored in mid-2008 by the Independent Libraries of Cuba Project. Although the formal presentation has not yet been made,a dozen copies circulated … Continue reading “Prize Winning Doors / Miguel Iturría Savón”
Announcements made by United States President Barack Obama and his administration have sparked an intense controversy about the Cuban conflict. Many opponents and civil society activists, within the island and in exile, have lamented, especially, the lack of transparency and the unilateral and unconditional nature of the new measures. It is indisputable and indispensable that … Continue reading “Forum for Rights and Freedoms / Estado de Sats (see endnote)”
During the summer of 1994, death ruled with impunity in my country. During that period, Cuba, which had been a civilian graveyard for decades, more closely resembled the gallows. In the early hours of July 13, the whirlwind of violence to which the Cuban state was subjecting its citizens came to its criminal climax. The … Continue reading “Remembering the Tugboat Massacre of 1994 / Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo”
Tomorrow, May 1, the United Nations Human Rights Council will meet in Geneva, where Cuba will present a report with notes on its prison policy. “Dressing up” for the occasion, for the first time in nine years the Castro regime opened its jails to the national and international press accredited in Cuba. It is public … Continue reading “The United Nations Human Rights Council and its Great Challenge With Cuba / Angel Santiesteban”
