English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
HAVANA, Cuba, August, 2013 www.cubanet.org – At age 16, every girl who is part of an “integrated” and “revolutionary” family, automatically becomes a “federated” woman. Perhaps, like me, the only memory they retain of the Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) is when a neighbor came by the house to collect the dues. On August 23rd, … Continue reading “Federation of Cuban Women: Reasons to Celebrate? / Yaremis Flores”
You turned six and were already waiting for your neck scarf, the slogan “Pioneers for communism, we will be like Che.” Later, you started high school and, automatically, without anyone asking you, joined the Federation of High School Students (FEEM). As you continued to grow up, you ironed your skirt and under your uniform blouse … Continue reading “The Federation of Cuban Women Can’t Reinvent Itself / Yoani Sánchez”
14ymedio, Havana, 12 January 2023 — The Cuban singer-songwriter Fernando Bécquer has been confined in a penitentiary center, according to a statement published this Thursday by the People’s Provincial Court of Havana. The singer-songwriter was serving a penalty of “3 years and 4 months of limitation of freedom” (household) for sexual abuse. According to the statement, Bécquer “recently committed … Continue reading “Cuban Court Revokes House Arrest of Troubadour Fernando Becquer, Who Goes to Prison”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, Economist, 27 December 2022 — Urban, suburban and family agriculture is another of the “inventions” of the communist regime that has been in force for 35 years but which has certainly had a minimal impact on the supply of food. In other words, it does not solve the problem of lack … Continue reading “Urban Agriculture Still Doesn’t Feed Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, May 3, 2022 — R turning to Cuba from Europe — where she denounced the situation of her son who was sentenced to prison after July 11th (11J) –has not been easy for Ailex Marcano, mother of Ángel Jesús Véliz Marcano. Authorities subjected her to an interrogation for three hours and confiscated 3,000 … Continue reading “A Three-Hour Interrogation for Cuban Mother who Denounced the July 11th Trials at the UN”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 January 2021 — Misladis Carmenates Hidalgo, about 43 years old, was murdered by her partner on January 6 at her residence located in the Albaisa neighborhood, on the outskirts of the city of Camagüey. “Before the slaughter she suffered eleven stab wounds, before the murdered escaped,” the independent newspaper La Hora de Cuba reported … Continue reading “Cuba: Three Women from Najasa, Camaguey, Have Been Murdered in Four Months”
14ymedio, Elías Amor Bravo, 27 December 2021 — I remember the first time I read, back in 1996, the Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot by Montaner, Vargas Llosa Jr. and Plinio Apuleyo. I had no difficulty in identifying [Brazilian activist] Frei Betto as the protagonist of this work, a character who circulates throughout … Continue reading “Frei Betto and the ‘Excessive Appetite’ of Cubans”
14ymedio, Havana, 24 August 2021 — “We have decided not to attend the meeting called by the country’s presidency (…), in order to preserve Masonic unity,” stated a letter signed by Grand Master Ernesto Zamora Fernández on Monday and disseminated by various Masons on their social networks. That community had been summoned this Tuesday to a meeting … Continue reading “Cuban Masons Reject President Diaz-Canel’s Invitation to Meet”
14ymedio, Havana, 31 March 2021 — Just over 10 years ago, on 17 December 2010, in a town in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi, a young street vendor, died by setting fire to himself after the police confiscated his fruit stand. Two days ago, on March 29, in the town of Guaro, in the Holguin municipality of … Continue reading “Young Cuban Commits Suicide in Holguin After Being Fined 5,000 Pesos for Selling Bananas”
14ymedio, Havana, December 20, 2020 — In a letter to the island’s authorities, a group of independent Cuban farmers call upon the government to “change course before it is too late” and to unleash the the nation’s productive capacity, which they see as the only way out of the current crisis. Economic measures included in the … Continue reading “Cuban Farmers Call on Government to Open Up or Face Social Upheaval”
14ymedio, Havana, August 13, 2020 — “We’re approaching a famine that can be avoided,” begins the letter that the League of Independent Cuban Farmers and the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (Flamur) delivered to the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet. The authors of the letter request an urgent intervention from the … Continue reading “The Cuban State “Is Intensifying Its War Against Farmers,” Farmers’ Groups Inform Bachelet”
14ymedio, Havana, 5 August 2020 — The front opened by Cuban authorities against the “scoundrels,” advanced in recent days by a media campaign, is already on the ground. According to Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, 3,054 groups have been created with 22,281 people to pursue coleros (people who stand in line for others), hoarders and illegal … Continue reading “Cuban Army, Police and Block Watch Committees Lead More than 3,000 Groups to Persecute ‘Coleros’ and ‘Hoarders’”
(Translator’s note: this article makes reference to the Elo rating system, which is used to evaluate the relative skill levels of chess players. Amateur chess players typically have Elo ratings in the 1000-2000 range, while a rating of over 2600 places you in the world elite. The world champion currently has an Elo rating of … Continue reading “An Official ‘Check’ to Cuban Chess”
14ymedio, Havana, 29 April 2020 — The League of Independent Farmers and the Cuban chapter of the Latin American Federation of Rural Women (Flamur) have launched a campaign directed at the Cuban Government demanding the liberalization of agriculture in Cuba in the context of the Covid-19 health crisis. In their opinion, the crisis could lead … Continue reading “A Group of Independent Cuban Farmers Calls for the Liberalization of Agriculture”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, 18 September 2019 — Cuba’s Head of State, Miguel Díaz-Canel, received Estela Barnes de Carlotto, the president of the Argentine association Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, in Havana this Tuesday. The treatment offered to the Argentine activists contrasts with the systematic repression that the Cuban Government exercises against Cuba’s Ladies in White, who are harassed by … Continue reading “Cuban President Diaz-Canel Receives the Argentine Grandmothers, But Not the Ladies in White”
