Search results for: FIVE GREY YEARS

The ‘Five Grey Years’ Kept Going Much Longer Than a Decade, Primarily Because of Fidel Castro / Cubanet, Luis Cino

That dark, inquisitorial period lasted much more than five years. It did not, as some would like to pretend, end in 1976. Cubanet, Luis Cino, Havana, 7 June 2025 – It was the late essayist Ambrosio Fornet who coined the term, “The Five Grey Years,” to refer to the repression of artists and intellectuals during … Continue reading “The ‘Five Grey Years’ Kept Going Much Longer Than a Decade, Primarily Because of Fidel Castro / Cubanet, Luis Cino”

The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet

By Ambrosio Fornet / See here for background information on this series of posts. 1 It seemed as if the nightmare was something from a remote past, but the truth is that when we awoke, the dinosaur was still there. We haven’t found out — and perhaps will never know — if the media folly was … Continue reading “The Five Grey Years: Revisiting the Term / Ambrosio Fornet”

Another Building Collapse in Havana, Where Housing Construction Fell 86 Percent in Four Years

The outcome: A six-year-old boy with minor injuries 14ymedio, Havana, 28 May 2024 — Debris piled up this morning at number 57 Malecón, between Cárcel and Ángeles, in Central Havana. Hours earlier, a set of stairs had collapsed in the building, leaving a six-year-old boy with minor injuries. According to neighbours, the child has been … Continue reading “Another Building Collapse in Havana, Where Housing Construction Fell 86 Percent in Four Years”

‘With the Years You Learn That You Don’t Have to Dissent’

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, Spain, 29 December 2022 — The only mention of Delfín Prats in the Historia de la Literatura Cubana [History of Cuban Literature] is a piece of critical sanitation, a general cleansing. Lenguaje de mudos [Language of Mutes] (1968), explains the text, was “a book that, for short-term reasons derived from an extremely deficient cultural … Continue reading “‘With the Years You Learn That You Don’t Have to Dissent’”

Fifteen Years of a ‘Little Grey War’

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, 19 June 2022 — When I met Desiderio Navarro he was already an old man worn out by cancer. He used crutches and had little muscle left, little desire to speak. I did not know—he did—that the entire “universe” of Criterios*, the magazines, books, and translations, was about to disappear, to the relief … Continue reading “Fifteen Years of a ‘Little Grey War’”

Cuban Intellectual Ambrosio Fornet, Who Baptized the’Five Gray Years’, Dies

14ymedio, Havana, 5 April 2022 — The Cuban film writer and screenwriter Ambrosio Fornet Frutos died this Tuesday at the age of 90, the Casa de las Américas reported on its social networks. “His work constitutes a fundamental part of the nation’s culture, which he always defended,” the institution wrote, recalling that the intellectual was “one of its … Continue reading “Cuban Intellectual Ambrosio Fornet, Who Baptized the’Five Gray Years’, Dies”

Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa

It took five minutes of broadcast television for his brief resurrection to send a shudder to Havana. In January 2007, the first broadcast of Impronta (Imprint), a space that sought to the highlight relevant names of Cuban culture, generated amazement and protests. Those who saw this very short program couldn’t get over their shock or … Continue reading “Luis Pavon Tamayo: Symphony in Grey Minor / Norge Espinosa”

My Article about Eliécer Avila… Three Years Later / Ernesto Morales Licea

On November 6, 2008, published my first digital article on the site Kaosenlared (Chaos on the Web). Three months earlier I had graduated in journalist at the University of the Oriente, did not have this blog, and was about to begin working at the radio station where I would be located during my Social Service. … Continue reading “My Article about Eliécer Avila… Three Years Later / Ernesto Morales Licea”

A Commandante Hits the Screens

Pavel Giroud talks about his new film, ’Comandante Fritz,’ inspired by Fidel Castro’s gift of a Cuban island to the GDR. 14ymedio, Jorge Fernández Era, Havana, 22 June 2025 — If any film in recent years starkly depicts the political exclusion following Fidel Castro’s revolutionary triumph, it is The Padilla Case. Despite being a documentary … Continue reading “A Commandante Hits the Screens”

Casa de las Americas Licks Its Wounds on Its 65th Anniversary and Longs for Its Influence in the Region

14ymedio, Juan Izquierdo, Havana, April 27, 2024 — After 65 years operating as a kind of second ministry of culture, Casa de las Américas longs for the time when the institution was more powerful and influenced the cultural debates of the continent. On the eve of the anniversary, its president, cultural commissioner Abel Prieto, regrets … Continue reading “Casa de las Americas Licks Its Wounds on Its 65th Anniversary and Longs for Its Influence in the Region”

Cuban Writer Eduardo Heras Leon, ‘Counterrevolutionary’ and Loyal to Fidel Castro, Dies

14ymedio, Havana, April 13, 2023 — Cuban writer, journalist and publisher Eduardo Heras León, National Prize for Literature in 2014, passed away this Thursday in Havana at the age of 82. Founder of the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Literary Training Center, he was one of the intellectuals “parameterized”* during the so-called Grey Quinquennium, the Five Grey … Continue reading “Cuban Writer Eduardo Heras Leon, ‘Counterrevolutionary’ and Loyal to Fidel Castro, Dies”

Cuba: The ‘Stockholm Letter’

14ymedio, Yunior García Aguilera, Madrid, 12 October 2022 — On August 23, 1973, in the Swedish city of Stockholm, Jan-Erik Olsson attempted to rob a bank. His four hostages, despite the violence and threats to their lives, ended up protecting their captor and demonstrating vehement empathy toward him. Upon seeing this strange reaction of the … Continue reading “Cuba: The ‘Stockholm Letter’”

The Reclusive Poet / Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Regina Coyula

By Carlos Manuel Álvarez, published in Univision News, 19 May 2016 Published in Malaletra, a Blog Made in Cuba, Regina Coyula, 11 July 2016 He looks like a god but is a heretic. He seems carved in stone, but is a nervous wreck. He looks like the first among men, but is just the last … Continue reading “The Reclusive Poet / Carlos Manuel Alvarez, Regina Coyula”

Remnants of the Cuban Censor Who Attends Me

14ymedio, Xavier Carbonell, Salamanca, May 22, 2022–Those who think that all ciberclarias* are slick and anonymous are mistaken. Some come with pedigree and martial ranks. There is a group of ever-loyal comrades, trained in military or Party schools, who do not understand the Five Grey Years, nor the special periods, nor have they foreseen crises … Continue reading “Remnants of the Cuban Censor Who Attends Me”

The Honorable Allure of Censorship

“This house has to be torn down!” Drink, in ‘The night of the murderers’, by Pepe Triana 14ymedio, Madrid, Yunior García Aguilera, December 21 2021 — In 2013 I had the good fortune to meet one of the greatest Cuban playwrights of all time: José Triana. I found myself visiting London for the premiere of Feast, … Continue reading “The Honorable Allure of Censorship”