English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
Lilianne Ruiz, 29 July 2016 — Guillermo ‘Coco’ Fariñas lost consciousness on Thursday, 28 July at noon, the eighth day of his hunger and thirst strike. He had to be taken to the main hospital of Santa Clara by the group of activists who are with him in the strike. He had spent the morning with much … Continue reading “Guillermo "Coco" Farinas; Hunger and Thirst Strike Continues / Lilianne Ruíz”
Psychologist and freelance journalist, 48-years-old, based in Santa Clara, Cuba. He joined the opposition and since then has spent 11 years in prison. His most recent hunger strike before now was in 2006, to demand unrestricted Internet access for all Cubans. It resulted in many after effects and this time his family fears that the … Continue reading “Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 6 August 2022 — Cuban opponent Guillermo Fariñas remained under arrest this Friday for several hours, according information from his family speaking to EFE. Fariñas’s mother, Alicia Hernández, confirmed by phone that her son was released, after he was stopped by the police who were waiting for him nearby when he left his … Continue reading “Cuban Opponent Guillermo Farinas Returns Home After a Short Arrest”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, 12 May 2022 — Cuban opponent, Guillermo Coco Fariñas, explained on Wednesday that he has been freed after being interrogated for several hours by security forces upon his return to Havana from a trip to Europe and the U.S. The 2010 recipient of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought stated … Continue reading “Cuban State Security Prevents Farinas from Leaving Santa Clara After His Trip to Europe and the U.S.”
EFE (via 14ymedio), 8 September 2016 – From Puerto Rico, the daughter of Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas called today on the international community to join together tomorrow at noon in a campaign on social networks to support her father, who on Thursday completed 50 days on a hunger strike. “At any moment, he could die … Continue reading “Guillermo Farinas’ Daughter Calls For A Social Campaign In Support Of Her Father / EFE, 14ymedio”
Lilianne Ruiz, 19 August 2106 — Guillermo “Coco” Fariñas had to be taken to the hospital again yesterday, at 4:40 in the afternoon The photo at the top of this post was taken several weeks ago but it shows how FANTU activists take him to the hospital. As stipulated in the World Medical Association’s Declaration … Continue reading “Coco Farinas Lost Consciousness Again / Lilianne Ruíz”
To walk together as two good friends breathing freedom through the quiet streets of Warsaw just a few days ago; to happily chat with the man who today is receiving the Andrei Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in Strasbourg, this seemed like an impossible dream just four years ago. Then, I could barely greet … Continue reading “Hail, Coco! / Mario Lleonart”
I met Boris by an odd coincidence. One day he came to my house to find some music and we ended up talking about literature. I discovered that we had a world in common: the desire to be free, to know the truth, to dream about another, less battered, Cuba. He left me this text … Continue reading “Homage to Coco Fariñas / Claudia Cadelo”
Psychologist and independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas, who was on hunger strike for four months while he demanded freedom for 26 political prisoners, is of the opinion that a step has been taken in favor of the political pulse that sustains the Cuban opposition in the face of the Castro government. But Farinas is not completely … Continue reading “Guillermo Fariñas: I believe the European Union should maintain its Common Position on Cuba / Iván García”
Imagen: La redención de Horus, por Luís Trápaga Taken from the blog Hunger Strike Request from Guillermo Fariñas Hernández with regards to the interview by Deisy Francis Mexidor, of the newspaper Granma, Saturday, July 3, 2010, with the Chief of Intensive Care at the University of Arnaldo Milián Castro Hospital. The request was dictated by … Continue reading “Request from Guillermo Fariñas Hernández to the Newspaper Granma”
Saturday’s Granma newspaper featured an extensive interview with the doctor treating Guillermo Fariñas at the hospital in Salnta Clara. I was overwhelmed by so many technicalities. Although the interview does not mention figures, I sense that so much attention could cost a considerable sum of money. Money that could be saved. The unusual presence of … Continue reading “Guillermo Fariñas in the Newspaper Granma”
In the poor, out-of-the-way neighborhood of La Chirusa, in the city of Santa Clara of Villa Clara Province, about 185 miles east of Havana, Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez, 48 years of age, is quite a character. When a stranger, asking for directions, asks where Guillermo Fariñas lives, all of the neighbors widen their eyes and don’t … Continue reading “Fariñas, Ready to Die, Like Zapata”
14ymedio, Ariel Hidalgo, Miami, 9 November 2022 — With the increasingly profound crisis of popular representation in the Cuban dictatorship and a government about to collapse, there will come a time when a power vacuum requires the constitution of a Civic Board composed of people who have earned the respect of the population in their … Continue reading “The First Decrees of the New Cuba”
14ymedio, Havana, 21 September 2018 — The United Antitotalitarian Forum (FANTU) together with the National Front of Civic Resistance “Orlando Zapata Tamayo” (FNRC-OZT) and the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) describe the referendum on constitutional reform as a “huge electoral and media fraud” in a joint statement that the three opposition organizations have launched to … Continue reading “Three Opposition Organizations Describe the Referendum on Constitutional Reform as "Enormous Fraud"”
14ymedio, Havana, July 13, 2023 — Cuban activist Anamely Ramos, now in exile in the US, reported this Wednesday on her Facebook profile that rapper Maykel Castillo Osorbo tattooed the slogan “Patria y Vida” on his forearm and that he threatened to sew up his mouth, as a gesture of protest against the mistreatment suffered in the Kilo … Continue reading “Cuban Activist Maykel Osorbo Threatens to Sew His Mouth Shut Because of Ill-Treatment in Prison”
