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, 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, 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, Madrid, 31 January 2022 — The Council for Democratic Transition in Cuba has proposed to the European Parliament that it award the 2022 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression to José Daniel Ferrer, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Félix Navarro Rodríguez as representatives of the July 11th Demonstrators from the spheres of politics, culture … Continue reading “Petition to the European Parliament to give the Sakharov Prize to the Cubans of 11J”
We know the agent Fernando — whose real name is Carlos Leonardo Vázquez González, a doctor by profession — as a mock nemesis of Yunior García Aguilera. The Cuban regime took this doctor out of the closet at the beginning of November to discredit the playwright and the visible face of the Archipiélago, whom he … Continue reading “Agent Fernando, a Cuban Doctor at the Service of State Security”
14ymedio, Madrid, 18 November 2021 — On Thursday, Assembly of the Community of Madrid approved a resolution in defense of human rights in Cuba and against the dictatorship. In this “non-law proposal,” as it is called in legal terms, presented by the People’s Party (PP, conservative), majority in the regional parliament, they ask the Spanish … Continue reading “Madrid’s Parliament Asks for the Embassy in Cuba to be Opened to the Dissidents”
